David Eseru’s smile is infectious, and his loud laugh is contagious. But there’s much more to him than that. Dressed in a white Village Enterprise polo shirt, a navy blue blazer, and denim jeans, he moves confidently from one savings group to another during their weekly meetings, where entrepreneurs in rural Uganda collect savings and distribute small loans among members.
David oversees SPRINT—Scaling Poverty Reduction through Innovation and New Technologies—a digitally enhanced version of Village Enterprise’s poverty graduation model. SPRINT is designed to empower product scaling officers like himself to reach up to 10 times more first-time entrepreneurs than Village Enterprise’s traditional model allows.
Introducing SPRINT: A digital leap forward in poverty alleviation
The initiative has two primary goals: to dramatically expand the reach of the program while simultaneously maintaining or improving its impact on participants’ income, assets, and overall well-being as they progress on their journey out of poverty.
Village Enterprise is piloting SPRINT in Uganda’s Kapelebyong and Omoro districts. As the pilot is proving to be successful, the plan is to scale the program across Uganda and to western Kenya, where Village Enterprise directly implements its poverty graduation program.
Traditionally, Village Enterprise’s poverty graduation program relies on business mentors, each overseeing two business savings groups (BSGs), with about 30 first-time entrepreneurs per group. Over a 12-month cycle, mentors provide training in entrepreneurship and business skills, new entrepreneurs receive grants of around $180 to launch a business in groups of three, and they also receive ongoing training and coaching from their business mentors.
Under SPRINT, product scaling officers—similar to business mentors but with increased responsibilities and scope—leverage innovative tools like Kolibri for training, WhatsApp for mentoring, and DreamSave to track savings accurately. Leveraging these tools, program scaling officers will be able to support five- to 10-times more entrepreneurs than current business mentors can manage.
On average a business mentor supports about 60-70 businesses in a year, but under SPRINT each scaling officer will be able to start and graduate 600 businesses in a fiscal year. This is a game-changer.
“Product scaling officers are just like business mentors, but on steroids,” explains David, who was previously a business mentor and now is a product scaling officer in Kapelebyong District. “As a scaling officer, you have to think proactively about the innovations at your disposal. You are the product and service point person, the tech expert, and still the business mentor. To juggle all of this, you must be very efficient and think on your feet.”
Community-led and cost-effective: The SPRINT model in action
The program leverages data validation, inclusive participation, and long-term financial independence through structured support and local collaboration.
This is done through a community-driven approach. Participatory wealth ranking engages local stakeholders and households, helping to categorize participants into four economic tiers. Then, beneficiaries receive training on enterprise development and business skills, and they join business savings groups (BSGs). After six months of training and after coming up with a viable business plan, participants receive grants in groups of three to launch sustainable businesses.
“To reach the ambitious number of entrepreneurs we are targeting with SPRINT, we had to rethink and innovate how we deliver the Village Enterprise model,” says Mercy Nantongo, Digital Product Manager at Village Enterprise. “We explored ways technology could support our mentors by reducing the amount of in-person time required with each group, allowing them to reach more groups within the same period.
“One of the breakthrough interventions was equipping our entrepreneurs with technology tools and platforms. Imagine introducing a tablet and portable, chargeable projector to individuals who have never used a mobile device before, and within a month, they can conduct their own classes and engage virtually with their mentors and other savings groups in their communities. We didn’t think it was possible, but over the past year, our communities have shown us just how adaptable and eager to learn they are.”
By prioritizing innovation, SPRINT focuses on improving cost-effectiveness without compromising the quality of support the entrepreneurs get. A core component of this strategy is equipping the program scaling officers with technology that complements in-person engagements.
This integration allows the officers to achieve more with the same time and resources, enabling them to provide targeted, high-impact guidance to entrepreneurs while optimizing efficiency across the board.
Scaling success: What’s next for SPRINT in East Africa
“We are seeing impressive preliminary results on business progress for the first cohort of SPRINT businesses, and are supporting the entrepreneurs to even do better, while at the same time documenting lessons to inform the subsequent iterations that launched at the beginning of 2025,” says Meshack Mbinda, Senior Director of Technology Solutions at Village Enterprise. “With the use of digital technologies, entrepreneurs are able to learn better, collaborate better and access more information and financial services. This is envisioned to boost their success and turn their small ventures into thriving businesses, helping them break free from extreme poverty.”
Starting in July 2025, Village Enterprise will expand the model to additional regions in Uganda and introduce SPRINT in western Kenya for the first time. These developments mark a critical step in testing the adaptability and effectiveness of the model across different contexts.
With this plan, we are aiming to reach 15,000 entrepreneurs by mid 2026. Performance outcomes from this next phase will help determine whether the SPRINT model will also be rolled out in Rwanda and Ethiopia.
Interested in learning more about Village Enterprise’s digital innovations? Read this story of a woman in western Kenya who was able to significantly grow her business savings with the help of a mobile app.