Uganda’s microfinance sector is getting a shared digital home: a new brand, a new website and a National Data Warehouse, all led by the Microfinance Forum’s Technology and Digitization Working Group.
Hostalite Managing Director Dickson Mushabe, who chairs that Working Group, recently presented this work to Hon. Shartsi K Musherure, Minister of State for Finance, Planning and Economic Development (Microfinance). He was joined by the team from the Financial Inclusion Support Unit (FISU) at the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development (MoFPED).
The meeting came as the Minister engaged the recently revived Microfinance Forum on how government can support Tier 4 institutions, SACCOs and the wider microfinance ecosystem.
About the Microfinance Forum
The Microfinance Forum (MFF) brings together microfinance institutions, SACCOs, savings groups, regulators, government and development partners to tackle sector challenges that no single institution can solve alone. The Association of Microfinance Institutions of Uganda (AMFIU) serves as its Secretariat.
Much of the Forum’s work is driven voluntarily by members through five working groups:
- Lobby, Advocacy and Policy
- Research, Capacity Building and Information Dissemination
- Technology and Digitization
- ESG and Consumer Protection
- Partnership and Resource Mobilisation
The Technology and Digitization Working Group is responsible for the sector’s shared digital infrastructure. Its three flagship outputs are the Forum brand, the Forum website and the National Data Warehouse.
A new identity for the Forum
The revived Forum now has a single visual identity, built around black, gold and red. It gives the Forum one recognisable face across its website, reports, presentations and the annual Microfinance and Savings Groups Conference.
A consistent brand matters for a platform that speaks for many institutions at once. It signals that the Forum is a lasting national body rather than a once-a-year event, and it gives members, government and development partners a clear name to rally behind.
The same identity carries through to the National Data Warehouse materials, so the Forum’s data work and its advocacy work are visibly part of one effort.
The Microfinance Forum website
The new Microfinance Forum website will be the Forum’s central hub online. Until now, information about the Forum’s work has been spread across member organisations, emails and event materials.
The website brings it together in one place:
- About the Forum: its mandate, leadership, Secretariat and the five working groups
- Working group updates: workplans, progress and milestones from each group
- Reports and resources: policy papers, research, sector data and guidance for members
- Conference archives: presentations, communiqués and outcomes from past Microfinance and Savings Groups Conferences, including commitments the Forum tracks year to year
- News and events: stakeholder meetings, engagements with government and upcoming activities
For a SACCO manager in a district, a regulator in Kampala or a development partner abroad, the website offers one trusted address for what the sector is doing and where it is heading. The site is now complete and live.
The National Microfinance and Financial Inclusion Data Warehouse
The Data Warehouse will give Uganda, for the first time, one integrated picture of its microfinance and savings group sector, down to district level.
The problem it solves
Today, sector data sits in at least four separate systems that do not talk to each other: those of AMFIU, the Uganda Cooperative Savings and Credit Union (UCSCU), MoFPED’s microfinance desk and the Bank of Uganda. Uganda is estimated to have between 40,000 and 50,000 financial cooperatives and savings groups, yet no single source can say how many are active, how much they hold or whom they serve.
Without that picture, policy and investment decisions rest on estimates.
What it will hold
- Savings, loans and account holder figures for SACCOs, Tier 4 institutions and savings groups
- Demographic information on members, including gender, age and location
- District-level views, so local governments and ministries can see where inclusion is strong and where it lags
- A consolidated register of institutions, matched across existing registers so each entity appears once
Where the data comes from
The Working Group has reviewed existing institutional datasets, including SACCO registers held by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives, PROFIRA SACCO data and SACCO data from 40 local governments. These are being matched and mapped into a common structure.
New data will be collected at the source through existing local government officers: District and Municipal Commercial Officers for formal cooperatives, and Community Development Officers for informal savings groups.
Built in two phases
- Foundation and Core Platform: the integrated database, institution register, data collection tools and core dashboards
- Intelligence, Scale and Integration: an analytics and AI layer, nationwide scale-up and links to government and regulator systems
A Steering Committee will oversee governance, data standards and how the data is shared.
Who benefits
- Government and MoFPED: evidence for microfinance policy, budgeting and programmes
- Regulators: a clearer view of the institutions they supervise
- Institutions and SACCOs: benchmarks against peers and a stronger case to funders
- Development partners and researchers: reliable data to target and measure their support, alongside national surveys such as FinScope
What comes next
With the website live, the Working Group’s next steps are to secure support for the Data Warehouse’s first phase and keep working with MoFPED, FISU, AMFIU and Bank of Uganda on data sharing and standards. Data, technology and partnerships are also on the programme of the 2026 Microfinance and Savings Groups Conference this November.
“Uganda cannot plan for financial inclusion with figures it cannot see,” said Dickson Mushabe. “The website gives the sector one voice online, and the Data Warehouse gives it the evidence to back that voice. We are grateful to the Minister and the FISU team for walking this journey with us.”
About Hostalite
Hostalite Limited is a NITA Level 2-certified Ugandan digital technology firm based in Kampala. It delivers web hosting, software development and systems integration for government, international organisations and the private sector. Through its leadership’s role in the Microfinance Forum, Hostalite contributes its experience in building national data platforms to Uganda’s financial inclusion agenda.
