Josephine Okot

‎‎Josephine Okot is a Ugandan businesswoman, entrepreneur and corporate executive, who is the founder, managing director and chief executive officer of Victoria Seeds Limited, an agribusiness enterprise based in Uganda that processes, packages and markets agricultural seeds to farmers in the countries of the African Great Lakes. Quotes ‎Ugandan Seed Entrepreneur Pushes to Retire the Hand-Held Hoe in Farming I'd be sacked if I worked here. I'm much too loud, you have a horrible office, I'm not coming back. The hand held hoe should no longer be a tool of production. There was an efficient extension service when I was growing up in the 1970s, but such extension is available to 14% or fewer farming households today. We need people to advise farmers on how to apply fertiliser. Control pests and prevent post-harvest losses such as those caused by inadequate storage. Donors should focus on those higher up the value chain. It is enterprises that are the critical drivers, they drive demand from farmers. If donors want to achieve their objectives, if they want to improve livelihoods, they should focus on businesses that add value to output. Why not cut and paste for Uganda. To bring a seed from breeder stage to the market can take three years. But loans often are for a maximum of 12 months. Twenty-year loans are needed at low rates. We can't operate our business without water, electricity or an access road, Red Ferrari: The Story of Award-Winning Entrepreneur Josephine Okot This environment motivated me to start Victoria Seeds in 2002 because the policy was favorable. You need confidence and to believe in yourself. When I told my friends I was starting a seed company they thought I was out of my mind. That is a business for men, they told me. I pushed on and even picked up a name that would inspire me every day. But what did I do? I went to a research project the East African Agricultural Productivity Programme and presented my plan. They wrote me a letter to take to the bank to guarantee my loan if I fail to repay it. The bank then accepted to give me startup capital. In 2006 I was an AWARD grantee at IITA and this really transformed me as an individual. The following year I got the YARA award. The training was for scientists but they brought me in as a woman in business. The Founding of Victoria Seeds in Uganda by Josephine Okot Everyone said I was out of my mind. They said business is a male dominated area and that the private seed industry hardly existed in Uganda. The bank actually shut the door in my face. They told me I don’t have a business history and they cannot run such a risk. *They were not going to give me any money. I named it after the largest body of water on the continent. I felt it showed that I will always be here. In the early years it gave me the confidence every day to wake up and say, I am not going anywhere. External Links ‎ ‎ ‎{jDEFAULTSORT:Okot, Josephine}} ‎Category:1970s births ‎Category:Living people ‎Category:Acholi people ‎Category:21st-century Ugandan businesswomen ‎Category:21st-century Ugandan businesspeople