UBL joins Women’s Day celebrations with new initiative

Kampala, Uganda | JULIUS BUSINGE | In commemoration of Women’s Day for this year, Uganda Breweries Limited has unveiled a new programme targeting fresh graduates or completing undergraduates whose background is in science technology, engineering and math (STEM).

Dubbed ‘women’s day recruitment program’, it has an objective of offering a hands-on experience in these fields to beneficiaries.

Officials are describing it as an adventurous program which, in the beginning, targets 30 lucky female students.

While unveiling the 30 beneficiaries at the company’s headquarters in Luzira, a Kampala suburb on March 07, officials said, the group had been trained and skilled to jump straight into a new role under the STEM fields at UBL.

They were taken around the factory for hours and made to understand the entire process of manufacturing beer and related alcoholic products.

The program targets women who are; passionate, resilient and intelligent. Leaticia Mukakibibi, the head of governance and Priscilla Mwandha, the human resource manager at UBL, said the program provides an opportunity to the beneficiaries to apply for jobs at the company whenever they are advertised.

“This was the first meeting we have had with them,” Mwandha said. “We expect to get feedback from them on what they have seen,” she added.

Officials said that the programme aims to demystify the perception and myth that women are inferior to men when it comes to applying and getting job opportunities from reputable companies like UBL.

Currently, officials said, 23% of employees at UBL are female and 77% are male. The new programme targets to increase the female number to 35% in a few years to come.