From Kampala: Learning With and From Imagine Her

Pandora Haydon, Director of Communications, Evoca Foundation

In November last year, I had the privilege of visiting Imagine Her, one of the brilliant organisations Evoca Foundation supports through our funding programmes. Based in Kampala, Imagine Her is a grassroots organisation driving ambitious and locally led solutions for economic development, education and social innovation across a number of regions in Uganda. Over two days, I met with their team, visited programme participants in the field and witnessed firsthand the depth and impact of their work.

My first day was spent at Imagine Her’s office for a strategy session and in-depth Q&A with the team. We talked about Becoming, a programme which supports girls in the Luuka District to stay in school by addressing menstrual hygiene and the stigma that still surrounds it. The approach is holistic — targeting boys, girls and crucially, local leaders. The goal is long-term, systemic change: reducing school dropout rates, improving access to menstrual products and knowledge, and breaking down the cultural and economic barriers that reinforce poverty.

We also looked at the Social Enterprise and Innovation Programme (SEIP), which Evoca is proud to support. SEIP presents a dynamic model, offering leadership and entrepreneurship training, startup loans and ongoing support to help women (and some men) launch and grow businesses that respond directly to local needs. Delivered with MBA-style rigour but in a way that’s community-rooted and tailored to participants’ skills and needs, the programme is already supporting so many entrepreneurs shaping exciting innovations. 

The Imagine Her team also talked me through Career Pathways, a pilot programme that adapts SEIP’s methodology for university students. The idea is to bridge the gap between theory and practice, encouraging students to see social entrepreneurship as a meaningful and viable future. It’s still early days, but 19 students are currently enrolled – we’re excited to follow its progress. 

My second day with the Imagine Her team took us into the field to meet some of Imagine Her’s entrepreneurs in action — women who are not only building successful businesses, but also creating employment and reshaping what leadership looks like in their communities.

We started with Rita, a single mother and organic farmer. With Imagine Her’s support, she has set up and now runs a flourishing farm using sustainable practices — from black soldier fly larvae (a high-protein feed for livestock) to rabbit manure fertiliser, chickens, pigs, and more. Rita doesn’t just produce; she teaches others how to farm this way too, creating jobs and resilience in her community.

Next, we met Elizabeth, an early-stage egg producer with ambitious plans for growth. She’s already producing high-quality eggs for local sale, and within her entrepreneur group, another participant is developing sturdier packaging to reduce spoilage during transport – an example of the ways in which Imagine Her’s network encourages collaboration and innovation.

Flavia, also farming black soldier flies, is thinking generationally. Her son Benjamin, who is enrolled in SEIP, is developing a business model to create dog food from by-products of the maggot farming — building on his father’s pet business. It’s a family venture with cross-cutting potential.

And then there was Annette, who farms flowers for events, hotels and funerals. She hopes to expand her business with an irrigation pump to continue production in the dry season and eventually branch out into water lily cultivation. Like the others, she also employs local community members, building shared prosperity through her growth.

We rounded off the day with a visit to a training session being held in a school classroom (generously donated by the school itself during the rainy season). The class was focused on design thinking, and was attended by a wide range of participants — young and older, men and women, and even a district council representative who had come both to share her insights and learn from Imagine Her’s approach.

What struck me most across both days was not just the energy and intelligence of Imagine Her’s team and participants, but the clarity of their vision. These are programmes built from the ground up — practical, ambitious and deeply rooted in the lives of Ugandan women and their communities. 

I left clutching the huge sweet potatoes, avocadoes and mangos gifted to me by Rita, along with coffee and dried pineapple produced by alumnae of the SEIP programme. I owe the hugest possible thank you to the Imagine Her team for hosting me, and for being so generous with their time and attention. It was beyond uplifting to see their programmes in action in the field, and to meet so many of the astonishing entrepreneurs they support. I was lucky to see so many different businesses flourishing at various stages of progress, and in such beautiful settings. Evoca remains dedicated to supporting Imagine Her’s brilliant work – we can’t wait to see what they do next.