Community Women Enterprise Network

What Community Women Enterprise Network does

Community Women Enterprise Network (CWEN) is a Ugandan non-profit organization founded in 2012 and headquartered in Kampala. It is built around four core program pillars: training, mentorship, networking, and finance linkages, all directed at women entrepreneurs. The operating model is that of a community-based intermediary rather than a product or technology company — it connects beneficiaries to knowledge, peer networks, and capital providers, and does not appear to operate a software platform or charge for services in the input data.

The organization is small, with a headcount band of 11–50 employees, and operates from a single Kampala base per the available firmographic data. No revenue figures, funding rounds, donor disclosures, or financial statements are present in the input; the website (cwen.or.ug) returned only a verification/loader page during data collection and contributed no further detail. Accordingly, CWEN's economic engine is best understood as grant- and donor-funded non-profit operations, though specific donor names, grant sizes, or budget figures are not available.

No management team, partnership roster, customer base, certification, geographic footprint beyond Uganda, or technology stack is disclosed. This means any investment-grade assessment of CWEN — whether for philanthropic capital, programmatic funding, or a potential partnership — must rely almost entirely on the stated mission and the absence of contrary signals, rather than on verified operational metrics.

Name

Community Women Enterprise Network

Website

https://cwen.or.ug

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Community Women Enterprise Network is a Ugandan non-profit founded in 2012, headquartered in Kampala, that delivers training, mentorship, networking, and finance linkages to women entrepreneurs.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Women Entrepreneurship Support Services

NAICS

Business, Professional, Labor, Political, and Similar Organizations (8139), Civic and Social Organizations (813410), Grantmaking and Giving Services (81321)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600), Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro primary industry

Entrepreneurship & Small Business Workforce Programs (EDAAAOAM)

akta.pro secondary industries

Microfinance, Financial Inclusion & Inclusive Markets (BPAGABAM), Mentoring, Coaching, Alumni Networking & Peer Support Platforms (EDAFAMAN), Small Business & Entrepreneurship Community Education (EDAAAFAK)

Keywords

• Women entrepreneurship training
• Business mentorship programs
• Entrepreneur networking events
• Small business finance linkages
• Women enterprise development

Headquarters

HQ city

Kampala

HQ country

Uganda

HQ region

Africa

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Core offering

Community Women Enterprise Network provides training, mentorship, networking, and finance linkages to women entrepreneurs. It is a Uganda-based non-profit founded in 2012, headquartered in Kampala, with 11–50 employees, delivering support services to female business owners through these four program pillars.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Entrepreneurship Training Programs Structured training programs delivered to women entrepreneurs to build business skills and knowledge. Targeted at women business owners in Uganda.
• Mentorship Program Mentorship services connecting women entrepreneurs with experienced advisors and role models to support business growth. Targeted at women business owners in Uganda.
• Networking Program Networking opportunities and events for women entrepreneurs to build professional connections and peer support. Targeted at women business owners in Uganda.
• Finance Linkage Services Services connecting women entrepreneurs to financial resources, including potential funders, lenders, or grant providers. Targeted at women business owners in Uganda.

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Recent moves1 record

Broad incumbents

• Cherie Blair Foundation for Women: Global foundation focused on supporting women entrepreneurs through training, mentoring, and access to finance across Africa and other emerging markets. Directly comparable mission to CWEN's training + mentorship + finance linkages model, but operates at continental scale rather than Uganda-only.
• WEConnect International: Global network connecting women-owned businesses to corporate buyers and capacity-building programs. Comparable to CWEN in using networking plus training to advance women entrepreneurs, but operates globally and is more corporate-supplier oriented.
• African Women's Development Fund (AWDF): Pan-African grantmaking fund supporting women's rights and economic empowerment organizations across the continent. Comparable as a funder/convener in the same women-empowerment ecosystem in which CWEN operates, and a likely institutional peer for grant funding.
• Vital Voices Global Partnership: Invests in women leaders and entrepreneurs worldwide through mentorship, training, and networks. Overlaps with CWEN's mentorship and networking pillars and serves as a benchmark for diaspora-linked women-entrepreneurship programming.
• Graca Machel Trust: African-focused foundation advancing women's economic empowerment, leadership, and entrepreneurship across multiple countries. Overlaps with CWEN's mission and could be a strategic partner or scaling model for cross-border African women-entrepreneurship programming.

Direct peers

• Uganda Women's Entrepreneurship Association (UWEAL): Domestic membership-based association promoting women entrepreneurs in Uganda through training, networking, and market access. The most direct geographic and functional peer to CWEN; both serve Kampala-based women SMEs with comparable services.
• BRAC Uganda: BRAC's Uganda operations combine microfinance, women's empowerment, and small enterprise training — a near-direct functional overlap with CWEN's four pillars. Significantly larger and more institutionalized, but operates in the same Kampala/east African market with similar target beneficiaries.

Regional players

• Faulu Uganda: Ugandan microfinance institution providing credit and small enterprise support to underserved entrepreneurs, including women. Comparable to CWEN's finance-linkage pillar and serves as a likely downstream capital partner or channel for beneficiary SMEs.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/CwenInfo
• Facebookfacebook.com/cwenug
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/cwen

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Community Women Enterprise Network