The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
COMMENT | THE INDEPENDENT | Women’s empowerment should not be treated as a seasonal conversation but as a long-term commitment woven into how businesses, institutions, and communities operate. That is the message Phos Creatives is advancing as conversations around women in business and digital spaces continue to gain momentum.
In Uganda, that message is especially timely. The country’s digital economy is growing, with opportunities expanding across digital marketing, software development, e-commerce, fintech, and content creation.
For Phos Creatives a female-led creative collective, supporting women is not something to be highlighted only during Women’s Month.
“It is a lifelong commitment,” the founder, Rhoda Musiima, said. “Women are building businesses, shaping industries, and driving innovation every day. The responsibility of organisations like ours is to ensure that support does not end when the campaign season does.”
That commitment speaks directly to the realities many women continue to face in the marketplace. While visibility around women’s leadership has improved, barriers remain, from unequal access to mentorship and networks to underrepresentation in leadership and the pressure of navigating professional spaces where women are still too often the only ones in the room.
Uganda Digital Society President John Ssenkeezi echoed that concern, noting both the promise and the gap within Uganda’s fast-changing digital economy.
“Uganda’s digital economy is expanding rapidly, creating opportunities in digital marketing, software development, e-commerce, fintech, and content creation. Yet despite this growth, many women still face barriers, including limited mentorship, under-representation in leadership, and navigating careers in spaces where they are often the only woman in the room,” Ssenkeezi said. “This makes events like Women in Digital organized by Uganda Digital Society, deeply relevant as they create safe spaces or women to connect.”
For many women, progress in the industry has often depended on learning alone, finding their own networks, and building confidence without the benefit of structured support systems.
That is why platforms that bring women together matter. They create room for shared knowledge, practical encouragement, and access to opportunities that may otherwise remain out of reach. Beyond individual careers, digital empowerment also has a wider effect. It enables women to build businesses, reach new markets, influence leadership conversations, and contribute to innovation and policy across Uganda’s growing tech ecosystem.
Many women already carry bold, viable, transformative ideas. What is often missing is not vision, but visibility. Not ability, but access. Not ambition, but systems that recognise and support their full contribution.
That is why meaningful support must go beyond symbolic gestures. It must show up in funding decisions, hiring practices, leadership opportunities, professional development, storytelling, and the creation of platforms where women are seen, heard, and taken seriously.
The marketplace is stronger when women are fully supported. Businesses grow. Communities benefit. Innovation deepens. Economies become more inclusive and more resilient.
March may provide an important moment to spotlight women’s contributions, but the real measure of commitment is what happens after the month ends.
