Aime Rebecca

  • Patapia Community Group

  • 2022 Global Fellow

Rebecca Aime professional headshot
  • Patapia Community Group

  • 2022 Global Fellow

bold idea

Promote sustainable livelihoods for refugee women in Uganda by equipping them with skills, business resources, and financing to start and grow their own businesses.

organization overview

Patapia provides services for the most vulnerable to help them achieve economic independence. It trains refugee women in business, matches them with quality mentors, and gives them access to friendly, collateral-free financing for starting businesses. Repayments allow the organization to finance more women and create a movement in which vulnerable groups, particularly women, have access to services that significantly improve their economic opportunities and quality of life.

Personal Bio

Rebecca Aime is the founder and CEO of Patapia, a social enterprise providing banking services for refugees. A refugee herself, Rebecca was introduced to the small business world when she was just 15. After her mother, a house-helper, experienced a work injury that left her unable to walk, Rebecca experienced firsthand the challenges many young women face when they are forced to become family heads—she was raped twice and even survived ritual sacrifice while working as a low-paid hawker. Like her mother before, she couldn’t get a decent job and lacked the financing and skills to start her own business. Rebecca, who is participating in Acumen Accelerator, was named to “The Meaningful Business 100” in 2020 as an individual combining profit and purpose. She also received the COVID-19 Innovation Prize from the Response Innovation Lab in 2020, and was named a Young Global Changer and an Echoing Green finalist in 2021. She has also received small grants from the Shine Fund and SINA Global.

  • Organization/Fellow Location ?

    Our most recent information as to where the Fellow primarily resides.

    Kampala, Uganda

  • Impact Location ?

    Countries or continents that were the primary focus of this Fellow’s work at the time of their Fellowship.

  • Organization Structure ?

    An organization can be structured as a nonprofit, for-profit, or hybrid (a structure that incorporates both nonprofit and for-profit elements).

    Hybrid

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