From Consumers to Co-Owners: Young Women Reshape Power in the Fishing Industry

Along the Lake Victoria region, young women are transforming their place in the fishing economy—from consumers and informal traders to investors, business partners, and decision-makers.

Through the Women Business Hub, young women along Lake Victoria region are pooling their resources via SACCO savings and loan schemes to buy shares and stocks in the fishing industry. Equipped with training in cooperative investment and business ownership, they are moving steadily up the investment ladder and building a more secure economic future.

Their investments are also enabling male fish mongers to access resources for fish gauging and other business needs, creating stronger, more mutually beneficial partnerships across the value chain. Rather than relying solely on fishermen to supply fish for resale, young women are now participating directly in the ownership and financing of the industry.

This shift is changing long-standing power dynamics. For decades, many women working around Lake Victoria have faced the risk of sexual exploitation and violence linked to the harmful practice commonly known as “fish for sex.” By strengthening women’s economic power, access to capital, and ownership of productive assets, the initiative is helping to reduce the conditions that leave women vulnerable to exploitation.

Economic inclusion is becoming a pathway to dignity, safety, and influence. As young women gain shares, build capital, and enter formal business partnerships, they are claiming a seat at the table where decisions are made about assets, livelihoods, and the control of natural resources.

Women Business Hub believes that investing in young women is not only an investment in individual entrepreneurs—it is an investment in safer communities, more equitable markets, and a more inclusive blue economy. With support from donors and development partners, this model can reach more young women, expand their ownership opportunities, and help build a fishing industry where women participate with power, security, and choice.