International Journal of Economics, Commerce and Management United Kingdom Vol. III, Issue 1, Jan 2015 Licensed under Creative Common Page 1 http://ijecm.co.uk/ ISSN 2348 0386 MICROFINANCE AND ENTREPRENEURIAL EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN: THE UGANDAN CONTEXT Richard Akisimire Department of Finance, Makerere University Business School, Uganda Ernest Abaho Department of Entrepreneurship, Makerere University Business School, Uganda eabaho@mubs.ac.ug Edith Mwebaza Basalirwa Department of Entrepreneurship, Makerere University Business School, Uganda Abstract This study examines the role of microfinance in the entrepreneurial empowerment of women by adopting an exploratory cross sectional research design involving 150 women in Eastern and Central Uganda. Findings revealed that access to credit is the major benefit from the microfinance services. The overriding benefit in the groups was observed to be social capital, networking superseding trust and reciprocity. Results reveal that microfinance and social capital have a significant relationship with entrepreneurial empowerment. This implies that Microfinance is an important tool towards the entrepreneurial empowerment of women in a resource perspective. Group lending, which has been heralded as an important tool in poverty alleviation benefits members through networking. If group lending is to work towards poverty alleviation through business sustenance, then authorities should encourage women to have centres of information exchange. There is more effort to redefine microfinance in consideration of the socio-cultural terrain of Sub-Saharan economies to suit the empowerment needs of women. The study presents empirical findings about microfinance and entrepreneurial empowerment of women in a developing country context thus contributing to the much needed contextual literature. Keywords: Microfinance, Women, Entrepreneurial Empowerment, Poverty, Micro credit