The Ugandan economy continues to post commendable growth figures. It is no surprise that Uganda is the leading recipient of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the East African region. Major investments have been made in construction and real estate, banking and financial services, telecommunications, and petroleum exploration and several other sector. The Ugandan government is strengthening the country’s road, rail, energy, and communications infrastructure, with heavy investment in road construction and most recently the standard gauge railway as a way of improving internal and regional trade.
Reasons for Investing in Uganda (Source UIA)
Predictable Environment: Uganda has been able to achieve macro-economic stability when clouds of uncertainty rocked many regions of the world.
- Stable annual economic growth averaging 7% per annum since the year 2007, making Uganda one of the fastest growing economies in East Africa.
- Maintained a competitive real exchange rate that supports export growth.
- All sectors liberalized for investment and marketing.
- Free inflow and outflow of capital.
- 100% foreign ownership of investment permitted.
- Ranked the 8th freest economy in Africa by the 2012 Index of Economic Freedom.
Market Access:
- Uganda enjoys a unique location at the heart of Sub-Saharan Africa giving it a commanding base for regional trade and investment.
- Uganda is a member of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern African states (COMESA), a region with a market of about 390 million people in 20 countries.
- Uganda is a member of the East African Community (EAC) comprising Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, and Tanzania with a population of over 133.1 million people.
- Duty and quota free access into the US (AGOA), Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) scheme and EU (EBA) markets.
Strong Natural Resource Base
- Abundant rainfall evenly spread in two seasons, rich loamy soils and favourable temperature which enhances the productivity of the land to support the cultivation of both food and cash crops organically.
- Unexploited mineral deposits. Confirmed deposits include Phosphate, Gold, Zinc, Wolfram, Petroleum, Diamond, Vermiculite, Silica etc.
- Vast tourist attractions including lush green tropical forests, inhabited by a wide variety of birds and fauna.
- Government and private sector dialogue in policy formulation.
- Continuous improvement in provision of infrastructure and other social services.
- Uganda presently produces over 20,000 University graduates per year.
- Quality of labour is one of the biggest attractions.
- Guaranteed under the Constitution and the Investment Code Act Cap 92 Laws of Uganda 2000 edition.
- Uganda is a signatory to major international investment related institutions such as:
- Multi lateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA).
- Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) of USA.
- Convention on the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral award (CREFAA).
- Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC).
- ICSID, TRIMS, GATS, and TRIPS
Investment Opportunities (Source UIA)
Agribusiness: Opportunities include commercial farming and value addition, as well as the manufacture of inputs and supply of agricultural machinery.Uganda is among leading producers of coffee and bananas. It is also a major producer of tea, cotton (including organic cotton), tobacco, cereals, oilseeds (simsim, soya, sunflower, etc), fresh and preserved fruit, vegetables and nuts, essential oils, orchids, flowers and sericulture (silk).
Fisheries: Fish and fish products are the leading foreign exchange earner for Uganda in the non-traditional exports category with export revenues amounting to USD 127.7 million in 2010. Large fresh water expanses are home to a wide variety of fish products. Opportunities are available for fish farming and establishment of more fish processing factories on other lakes other than Lake Victoria. Uganda’s fish is a delicacy in Europe and has recently penetrated the US market.
Forestry: With over 4.9 million hectares of rich forest vegetation, Uganda possesses abundant potential in areas like timber processing for export, manufacture of high quality furniture/wood products and various packaging materials. There are also opportunities in afforestation and reforestation especially of medicinal trees and plants, soft wood plantations for timber, pulp & poles.
Manufacturing: Uganda’s manufacturing sector has grown steadily over the last five years at an estimated average of 7.7% annually. Opportunities exist in virtually all areas ranging from beverages, leather, tobacco based processing, paper, textiles and garments, pharmaceuticals, fabrication, ceramics, glass, fertilizers, plastic / PVC, assembly of electronic goods, hi-tech and medical products.
Mining: Uganda has large under-exploited mineral deposits of gold, oil, high grade tin, tungsten/wolfram, salt, beryllium, cobalt, kaolin, iron-ore, glass sand, vermiculite and phosphates (fertilizer). A discovery of petroleum wells in the Lake Albert region has enhanced the sector’s joie de vivre. There are also significant quantities of clay and gypsum. Uganda provides special incentives to the mining sector with some capital expenditures being written off in full.
Infrastructure: Although significant efforts have been made to develop and rehabilitate the existing physical and non-physical infrastructure, potential investment opportunities still abound. In particular, transport & logistics and energy sectors still require further investment. With less than 10% of the mainstream capacity of 2,700 megawatts of power exploited, Uganda has the potential to be a major supplier of hydro electric power to the entire East African region.
Financial Services: Opportunities for investment exist for international multinational banking groups particularly promoting new or innovative financial products (i.e. Mortgage finance, venture capital, merchant banking and leasing finance) and also micro finance saving institutions, which propose to operate in rural areas. Insurance, in particular, is still a relatively young sector and offers several opportunities for investment.
Tourism: The distinctive attraction of Uganda as a tourist destination arises from the variety of its game stock and its unspoiled scenic beauty. Within a relatively limited space of just over 240,000 square kilometres, Uganda offers an interesting contrast ranging from the wide East African plains and expansive savanna grasslands to the impenetrable, mountain rain forests and snow peaked mountains in the south western parts of the country. Uganda offers a wide range of bird species for viewing in addition to numerous sporting opportunities such as mountain climbing and water sports including white water rafting. The opportunities in tourism range from constructing high quality accommodation facilities, operating tours and travel circuits to the development of specialized eco-tourism.
Printing and Publishing: In the printing and publishing sub-sector, opportunities exist for the printing of textbooks for schools. Currently, imports supply over 90% of Uganda’s textbook requirement (estimated at over U$7 million a year). Investment opportunities therefore exist in the various type of printing including flexography, screen printing, off-set printing and digital printing. Other opportunities include electronic printing magnetography, thermographic printing, ion deposition printing and direct charge deposition printing.
Education: Uganda runs high quality courses at a relatively cheaper cost than other education destinations and is dedicated to making investment in the country’s knowledge hub a unique experience and a win-win situation for both investors and students. Investment opportunities therefore exist in Uganda for setting up of independent private universities, branch universities and offshore campuses. Other areas of investment include technical & vocational training, technology-based education & distance education and student financing.
Information Communication Technology: Uganda’s Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector is one of the most vibrant within the region. This vibrancy hinges largely on the good legal and regulatory frameworks. The supportive investment climate therein has exposed numerous opportunities in ICT innovation services leading to maximum utilization of the existing youthful human resource base quite suitable for the ICT work. The newly developed and highly qualitative ICT infrastructure is also ready to accommodate more future investments. Opportunities in the ICT include establishment of information and communication infrastructure and broadband services, business process outsourcing services, computer and related equipment hardware assembly, high level ICT training facilities on international standards, ICT business services incubation, hardware repair training facilities, software development niches, setting up information technology virtual zones (ITVZ), and setting up Internet service provider facilities in other parts of Uganda.
For full details and assistance on Investing in Uganda, Contact
Uganda Investment Authority
The Investment Centre, TWED Plaza
Plot 22B Lumumba Avenue ,
P.O. Box 7418 Kampala, Uganda
Tel: +256-414-301000
Fax: +256-414-342903
E-mail: info@ugandainvest.go.ug
Website: www.ugandainvest.go.ug
