Benjamin Akatabanuse

• Akatabanuse, Benjamin; Mersland, Roy & D'Espallier, Bert (2025). Self-employment for People with Disabilities: The Case of the iSAVE Programme in Uganda. Review of Development Finance. 15(2). doi: https:/journals.co.za/doi/10.10520/ejc-rdfin_v15_n2_a4. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This study examines how prolonged participation in savings groups (SGs) impacts self-employment among people with disabilities. SGs, also known as village savings and loan associations (VSLA), provide their members with financial capital, social capital and more, which can potentially increase their chances of self-employment. This study uses current survey data on SGs in the iSAVE programme in Uganda, comprising responses from 14,260 individuals, of whom 72 percent report having some form of disability. Estimates from a variety of logistic regression models show that people with disabilities are 37.5 percentage points less likely to be self-employed. However, the interaction effect of prolonged participation in SGs increases the expected probability of self-employment among people with disabilities by 0.343, which corresponds to a 34.3 percentage point higher chances of starting a business or an income generation enterprise. While prolonged participation in SGs promotes self-employment, we find that entrepreneurial role models within SGs accounts for a 19.3 percentage points increase in willingness for self-employment among people with disabilities. This highlights the critical importance and impact of role models in disabled communities, such as the iSAVE programme, in encouraging self-employment.

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• Akatabanuse, Benjamin (2025). Financial Inclusion for People With Disabilities: The Role of Savings Groups. Universitetet i Agder. ISSN 9788284272757. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This dissertation examines the benefits of savings groups (SGs), enhanced by mobile money and linkages to microfinance institutions/banks, for people with disabilities in the areas of livelihood development, self-employment, and entrepreneurship. SGs, also known as Village Saving and Loan Associations (VSLAs), are community-based financial institutions that typically consist of 15 to 30 members per group, with the main focus of providing savings and loans. The overarching research question addressed in the dissertation is: To what extent does participation in SGs, enhanced by mobile money and linkages to MFIs/banks, improve subjective livelihoods and promote self-employment and entrepreneurship for people with disabilities? This question is addressed in the three empirical studies that make up the dissertation, with each study focusing on a particular theme, while using quantitative analytical methodologies. Drawing on theoretical perspectives of sustainable development (Sachs, 2015), in particular the sustainable livelihoods approach for Study A, the findings provide evidence about prolonged participation in SGs on subjectively perceived livelihoods for people with disabilities. This includes individuals with severe and mild disabilities. Additionally, Study A highlights the potential underlying mechanisms through which prolonged participation improves subjective livelihoods. Study B highlights the benefits of prolonged participation in SGs for individuals with disabilities, particularly in fostering their engagement in self-employment. It finds that prolonged participation increases the chances for disabled persons to engage in an income generation activity. Study B further explains the impact of the presence of role models in SGs on the relationship between disability-status and self-employment, which points to the social learning aspect within SGs. Study C analyses data from iSAVE members to gain insights on access to and use of mobile money and MFIs/banks among people with disabilities. Study C examines whether people with disabilities who adopt and use financial services from mobile money and MFIs/banks are more likely to engage in entrepreneurship. Firstly, this dissertation contributes to the financial inclusion literature by demonstrating how savings groups increase financial access for people with disabilities. It highlights the role of savings groups for persons with disability in livelihood development, entrepreneurship engagement, and social inclusion. Secondly, this dissertation reveal the potential mechanisms, including prolonged participation, through which savings groups improve the lives of their members. This evidence is essential to development programmes and facilitating agencies (i.e. donor agencies) that are involved in the creation and management of savings groups in developing countries as an intervention to improve livelihoods, eradicate poverty, and increase financial inclusion. Finally, this dissertation contributes to the understanding how MFIs and technological programmes, mobile money, reduce the market forces or barriers for people with disabilities to engage in entrepreneurship. And it highlights the need to rethink the organisational structure of MFIs and formal financial institutions such as banks, which often lead to exclusion of people with disabilities from their services.

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