Duke of Edinburgh meets Christian microfinance workers in Uganda

|PIC1|The Duke of Edinburgh recently met members of the Five Talents microfinance programmes in Uganda during his visit to the country for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting late last month.

The Five Talents microfinance programmes are based in Kasese in the Queen Elizabeth National Park where staff are working to raise the quality of life for 1,500 poor people, mainly women, and help them achieve financial independence and stability by making small loans.

Clients benefit from an average loan of £100, as well as business training, which they use to set up and maintain their own small businesses such as tailoring, carpentry and brick-making.

Simon Lee, Five Talents' Technical Advisor from the UK, commented: "The Duke was pleased to meet with the Five Talents staff and to hear of their work with the poor in and around Kasese.

"It was a great privilege to be invited [to meet him] and a sign of the growing recognition of the Five Talents' programmes."

Five Talents also works in partnership with local Anglican churches to ensure that the service is run in a sustainable way, something which many other microfinance institutions can find difficult to achieve.

Five Talents, which has offices in the US and London, expanded its operations to Uganda in 2001 and has grown to three branches across the country. The national patron of the charity's Ugandan division is the Archbishop of Uganda, the Most Rev Henry Luke Orombi.