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Suzan Kereere, Head of Global Merchant Sales & Acquiring, Visa Inc. on The Role of Global Networks in Furthering Local Entrepreneurship & Innovation.

At the 9th Uganda-UK Trade & Investment Convention – FRIDAY, 13TH SEPTEMBER 2019 – London Hilton on Park Lane 22 Park Lane, London, W1K 1BE | Main theme: “UNLOCKING UGANDA’S INVESTMENT POTENTIAL” | Sub theme: “Fintech – Unlocking Uganda’s Potential”

Martin introduced Suzan Kerere the Head of Global Merchant Sales and Acquisitions Visa Inc, who was delighted to host the Fintech roundtable at this year’s business session. She discussed the role of global networks in furthering local entrepreneurship and Fintech innovations. Susan further highlighted the role of Visa in connecting buyers and sellers globally, without forgetting what it takes to make technology work around the world.

Today Visa Inc connects over 3 billion buyers to over 54 million seller points, with a simple but lot bigger ambition of being the best payment platform around the world that goes beyond card payments. Visa works with banks, Fintech merchants and other technology partners.

The most important unity that visa does, is connect merchants through technology,helping them get into the digital eco system, where they can be paid more faster and efficiently. In her brief, Susan pointed out why Visa continues to be the most preferred brand in the E-payments solutions;
• Visa provides transparency to their users, giving them full visibility of their payment flows. This has enabled their customers have a record from which they can use to access credit from lenders.
• Safety of data is at the heart of all Visa operations. This has given their customers and partners confidence that their information is well protected and put to right use.
• Visa has endeavoured to come up with value added services on the visa digital eco system like VISA direct where merchants can now move remittances from one country to another. Another innovative digital solution is a new product called Visa on Mobo where a seller downloads and accepts Visa payments on their devise with no extra costs on their mobile phone.

Fintech is one of the most important ingredients to help economies grow around the world. Consumers want more convenience, speed, access and it is changing how buyers choose their sellers. We are seeing new businesses born from digital innovations in Africa and around the world.

For example, safe Boda, Uber’s digital make for motorcycle transport which brings transportation to commuters by giving them a technology platform to drive, get access to services and have certainty for when transport may be available. it’s no difference from what Jumia in Nigeria has done to ecommerce across Africa or Mpesa to payments in Kenya and many more.

Fintech in AFRICA now attracts over 40% of capital being raised across the continents and Visa is changing the way it does business because of the new industry trends. Some of which are, the notion of unbundling where businesses are taking component parts of services that were previously offered as simple stack and offering them as a single customised service.

She continued to share on the expanding eco system, explaining what is happening with digitisation in the banking sector. Open banking has increased several actions where players can come in to compete for business the way they could not compete before. It has completely changed the way the banks ecosystem works, as it’s much more about open data and moving data more seamlessly. This has opened more opportunities for Fintechs to provide digital solutions for various unbundled services. For example, MPESA and MCASH that have picked some elements of banking and put them on a mobile phone.

In the last few years visa has made investments in FINTECH companies like Pace-tag in Nigeria, a payment facilitator. In a small company called Branch that started in Silcom valley is now in Kenya and Uganda doing clever things with smart phone data to provide import micro loans.

Visa is partnering with IFC and MetLife to launch Fintech 50, a programme that gives access to early stage companies looking for help to unlock the ivy tech. ‘’We are extending a platform called the Fintech FastTrack to make it easier for small companies to connect with big companies and access a level playing field’’.

Zente a small Fintech company in Uganda founded by ITC has been privileged to be one of the first beneficiaries of the Visa FastTrack programme.

More at http://www.ugandanconventionuk.org

At the 9th Uganda-UK Trade & Investment Convention – FRIDAY, 13TH SEPTEMBER 2019 – London Hilton on Park Lane 22 Park Lane, London, W1K 1BE | Main theme: “UNLOCKING UGANDA’S INVESTMENT POTENTIAL” | Sub theme: “Fintech – Unlocking Uganda’s Potential”

Due to the nature of widely segmented Diaspora Communities, there have not been much Financial services that are tailored to Diaspora specific needs, simply because the market has always been too narrow and segmented for traditional banks and Financial institutions.

For each Diaspora the transformation from a home country. Usually takes five major phases, that are very similar to the widely researched phases of grief.

On arrival to a new environment or Country one is faced with new environment and goes into a phase of Denial, where the world does not seem to make much sense. And everything can get overwhelming to adapt to new environment.

Over time the stage of Anger set in, when one feels abandoned and misunderstood or neglected in the new environment. The next phase is bargaining with the conditions to try to get to terms and accept what you cannot change. After bargaining an emptiness can set in that drives one into a Diaspora depression. Eventually a person gets into a phase of Acceptance. Where life in the new environment stat to make sense.

Within this transformation the Financial disorientation is very common and depending on the duration one spends in one of the given phases, there is a set up in the personal financial development. Financial advice is rare or misinformed, at times based on advice from family back home that is not aware of the new realities. It is no surprise that wrong financial decisions are made within these phases. If informed financial decision is taken during these phases, Diaspora become financial giants such as the case of Elon Musk. What Fintech can do for the diaspora is to customize financial services that match with the Diaspora lifestyle to foster more diaspora to tangent such success as Elon Musk.

Such services e.g. Diafcon that was unveiled at the Uganda UK convention for the first time, are currently under development and the Diaspora community should take advantage when they start getting available within the next 5 years.

As one of the Diafcon founders Patrick Mukanza spoke about the opportunities that comes with open banking – mainly focusing on how this may benefit the diaspora communities. He explained that Diafcon that aim to facilitate financial planning – creating a platform that will collect several features used by the diaspora people into one single application. A much higher level of customization and personalized services can be provided when an open banking framework is in place, at a much lower cost – or no cost at all. The diaspora needs to move with the trend now. Coincidentally one of the strong pillars of Open banking which is a new European legislation known as second Payment services Directive (PSD2) came into effect on 14th September.

At the 9th Uganda-UK Trade & Investment Convention – FRIDAY, 13TH SEPTEMBER 2019 – London Hilton on Park Lane 22 Park Lane, London, W1K 1BE | Main theme: “UNLOCKING UGANDA’S INVESTMENT POTENTIAL” | Sub theme: “Fintech – Unlocking Uganda’s Potential”
Areas of discussion:
– Need for the public sector and private investors and businesses to work co-operatively if businesses are to thrive and sustained in Uganda.
– Need for essential infrastructure and institutions that must be in place to sustain the private sector.
– Uganda Freezone-Free Trade Area, and Achieving “Made/Assembled in Uganda/Africa” (Richard Jabo, ED, Uganda Free Trade Zone)
– Facilitating efficient movement of goods across borders (Richard Jabo, ED, Uganda Free Trade Zone)
– Improvements to attract more Private Equity (PE) transactions (governance or legislation) for leveling the PE field with western countries. (Subhash V Thakrar).

Moderator: Edward Katende, CEO, Uganda Agribusiness Alliance

Opening statement:
– Subhash V Thakrar B com FCA FRSA-Vice President and Past Chairman, London Chamber of Commerce

Panelists:
– Hon. Betty Kamya, Minister for Kampala Capital City Authority
– Richard Jabo, Executive Director, Uganda Free Trade Zone
– James Mugerwa, Managing Director, Pearl Marina Development Ltd
– Johnson K. Nyeko, Md, The Benconolly Group | Chairman, Mandulis Energy
– Eric Olanya, Country Director, Uganda, Department for International Trade, British High Commission

Martin Labbé, Tech Sector Development coordinator and NTF IV Programme manager, International Trade Centre.

At the 9th Uganda-UK Trade & Investment Convention – FRIDAY, 13TH SEPTEMBER 2019 – London Hilton on Park Lane 22 Park Lane, London, W1K 1BE | Main theme: “UNLOCKING UGANDA’S INVESTMENT POTENTIAL” | Sub theme: “Fintech – Unlocking Uganda’s Potential”.

How can NGO’s support local partners (role and scope of ICT)?

Martin Labbé, Tech Sector Development coordinator and NTF IV Programme manager, International Trade Centre

Martin expressed disappointment for not having Zianah Muddu, General Secretary, Africa Fintech Network and Engagement Partner at FITSPA joining her at the Convention because of delays in getting her visa on time.

The International Trade Centre (ITC) is a multilateral agency which has a joint mandate with the World Trade Organization and the United Nations through the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. Through its work, the ITC contributes directly to 10 of the Sustainable Development Goals.
ITC supports start-ups around the world especially in Africa to go to international markets. In the Tech sector, ITC has been doing it for 10 years mainly in Africa and south Asia, working with established IT companies and Tech start-ups having a particular focus on FinTech because they are extremely successful on the continent and because they support financial inclusion. Financial inclusion according to World Bank definition is where individuals and businesses have access to useful and affordable financial products and services that meet their needs that are delivered in a responsible and sustainable way.
Financial technology, often shortened to Fintech, is defined as the technology and innovation that aims to compete with traditional financial methods in the delivery of financial services. It is an emerging industry that uses technology to improve activities in finance. Banks are moving to the FinTech’s space and new players are coming in the sector, disrupting the market, taking the financial and innovation industry by storm and increasing it with lots of opportunities. 1.8 billion adults around the world do not have access to financial services, at the same time, among the 1.8 billion, 1 billion have mobile phones and half of them have smart phones giving them access to a whole range of innovative financial services digitally. With the cost of handsets going down, as a result, they have been increasing in the number of digital financial services on the continent. Every year, there is double digit growth in venture capital in Africa which mainly goes to three leaders countries, South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya followed by a long tail of others countries including Uganda where much smaller investment is going to.

For instance, in Uganda Safe Boda has been able to attract investment and has gone from series B and soon moving to series C but most other FinTech companies are still in series A and it is a challenge to get them to connect to investors willing to invest over $8 million plus.

Nigeria’s financial digital services and names like Flutewave, Paystack, Interswitch are some of the companies that are not only successful on the huge Nigeria domestic market but also elsewhere on the African continent. This is a good example on how to develop a product that services both the domestic market but also foreign markets. For these to work in Lagos and Kampala, a combination of factors to build a strong ecosystem to support FinTech sector is needed.

Infrastructure is needed before anything else, as without infrastructure nothing can be possible.
The progression in financial technology has been possible because the internet infrastructure was put in place. The government of Uganda plays an important role in facilitating the deployment of infrastructure and also in making sure that the policies and regularities that are affecting the financial sector and FinTech are both supporting the development of the private sector in the FinTech and at the same time, taking into account the interest of the public.

London has a good example of Regulatory sandbox that allows businesses to test innovative propositions in the market, with real consumers and then scale them up once a concept has been proven and has now been replicated in Rwanda.

The government of Uganda should do the same thing in a controlled environment to give Fintech an opportunity to experiment new services.

There is evidence of a need for the domestic market to absorb new services. Finding a gap is a big challenge. The trends are really positive but a country like Uganda is not quite there yet.

More at https://www.ugandanconventionuk.org/

Presentation on Governance, corruption and accountability.
– What is the government of Uganda doing to curb corruption in order to attract more investment and thereby achieve progress and sustainable change?

At the 9th Uganda-UK Trade & Investment Convention – FRIDAY, 13TH SEPTEMBER 2019 – London Hilton on Park Lane 22 Park Lane, London, W1K 1BE | Main theme: “UNLOCKING UGANDA’S INVESTMENT POTENTIAL” | Sub theme: “Fintech – Unlocking Uganda’s Potential”

Lieutenant Colonel Nakalema started by recognizing the presence of the Vice President, ministers, members of parliament and thanked delegates attending the forum.

She commended the chairman and founder of the convention for his dedication and commended him for promoting Uganda.

She further said that her unit is determined to fight corruption. However, she accepted that it still had had a long way to go. She appealed to everyone, including Ugandans in the Diaspora, to report any form of bribery and corruption they encounter.

The anti-corruption unit has the direct involvement of the President and he is part of the zero-tolerance policy in the fight against corruption. The unit operates 24 hours call centre with 45 staffs who speak all the languages in Uganda, this helps to be inclusive and cater for all Ugandans.

The unit works with all other anti-corruption agencies in Uganda.

The Government has Interventions to fight Corruption and has enacted relevant laws which include; the 1995 Constitution, the Inspectorate of Govt Act 2002, Leadership Code Act 2002, Anti Money Laundering Act 2002, Anti-corruption Act 2009, PPDA Act 2003 amongst others.

It has also strengthened the Anti-Corruption drive by creating supporting institutions such as, the IGG, PPDA, FIA, DPP, OAG and Uganda Police. It has also empowered Parliament oversight committees such as (PAC, COSASE, Budget Committee. Special commissions of inquiries like: Sebutinde – Police & URA, Bamugemerire, UNRA & Land Matters have been setup.
Also, Anti-Corruption Court has been setup for quick convictions.

Despite all these measures, she added, corruption still remains a problem. In line with the ZERO TOLERANCE POLICY AGAINST CORRUPTION Government has not taken a back seat.

In line with the Zero Tolerance Policy, H.E The President established the State House Anti-Corruption Unit as a channel for his direct involvement in this fight.

The creation of SH-ACU is done in exercise of the Executive Authority granted to H.E The President under Article 99 (4) of the Constitution of the republic of Uganda.

The anti-corruption unit is mandated to:
1. Receive, scrutinize and act on corruption related complaints in partnership with other Agencies.
2. Act as a Rapid Response to cases where there is public outcry.
3. Act as a link between the Citizens and H.E The President in the fight against corruption.
4. Review reports/requests submitted to H.E The President from Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDA’s) and Local Gov’ts in relation to the fight against corruption.

The Government created a one stop centre (www.ebiz.go.ug) under UIA and also automated most government services as a move to ease doing business in Uganda as well to reduce red-tape, limit physical interaction between citizens and public officers.

She added that, in order to curb corruption within the government officials, the Inspectorate under the Leadership Code Act 2002 requires senior government officials and politically exposed persons to declare their wealth every two (2) years and the collected data is verified against other automated systems (Land, tax, business etc.).

In order to enforce the Anti – Corruption Laws, emphasis is being put on investigation and prosecution of offenders and where found guilty, they are barred from holding public office for ten (10) years and orders are made to recover stolen assets. In 2018, the Anti-Corruption division of the High Court raised Ugx Shs. 20 billion in fines and recovery.

This does not mean there is no challenges in fighting corruption, sentences in Anti-Corruption Laws are not punitive enough. To resolve this, emphasis is directed towards asset recovery. There is fear by witnesses to testify in court after reporting corruption cases.

Within8eight (8) months; the Anti-Corruption unit has taken 99 Public Officials to Anticorruption Court, 76,393 voice calls and complaints are received on the toll free number, 5 Convictions and 1,683 Walk-ins, and visitors to the unit are 25 per day.

Finally, Lt Col Nakalema appealed to everyone to join the collective fight against corruption.

Anti-Corruption Unit, State House
Website: https://reportcorruption.go.ug/
Email: info@reportcorruption.go.ug
Whatsapp: +25678202500
Toll-free helpline: 0800 202500 (free of charge on any mobile network in Uganda)

At the 9th Uganda-UK Trade & Investment Convention – FRIDAY, 13TH SEPTEMBER 2019 – London Hilton on Park Lane 22 Park Lane, London, W1K 1BE | FINTECH SPECIAL SESSION.

We stand on the brink of a technological revolution where innovation will fundamentally change the way we do business in Africa.FinTech session will provide insight on the Ugandan tech opportunity for corporates, diasporas, investors and entrepreneurs.
Learn from expert speakers and investors with passion, knowledge and experience from across globe who will share key insights, opportunities and trends from the African/Ugandan tech ecosystem.

Malcolm Kastiro the co-founder of YakaKo. YakaKo is an emergency power credit service for the clients to enjoy uninterrupted power usage. It is a mobile application that enables and facilitate Yaka prepaid power clients who urgently need the power to purchase the power units on credit. YakaKo were runners-up in the +256Rising Hackathon on 10th January 2016 (256rising.com)YakaKo were also Judges’ Choice in the Uganda Communication Commission (UCC) ACIA Awards on 20th May 2016. YakaKo is an innovative startup from Kampala, Uganda. It was founded by Malcolm Kastiro, Emodek Emmanuel and James Alituhikya. YakaKo is accepted in Fastercapital’s acceleration program.

– How is UK maintaining its status as a global FinTech hub as well as promoting expansion around the world?
– How Ugandan businesses expand into UK?

At the 9th Uganda-UK Trade & Investment Convention – FRIDAY, 13TH SEPTEMBER 2019 – London Hilton on Park Lane 22 Park Lane, London, W1K 1BE | Main theme: “UNLOCKING UGANDA’S INVESTMENT POTENTIAL” | Sub theme: “Fintech – Unlocking Uganda’s Potential”

Having welcomed his Excellency, the Honourable Ministers, and all the distinguished guests, the Prime minister of the UK trade envoy to Uganda Lord Popat expressed his gratitude to once again be addressing the UK-Uganda convention. Drawing from his remarks he said “For nearly a decade, this event has gone from strength to strength, fostering stronger relations between our two nations”.

This year we were joined by the Vice President of Uganda, His Excellency Edward Sekandi, who he has had the honour of working with on a number of occasions. Also, joined by Hon Irene Muloni, minister of energy and Hon. Betty Kamya, minister for Kampala Capital City Authority. He noted his presence as a sign of how important this convention is to all Ugandans and their counter parts in the UK.

He welcomed all the business leaders, CEOs, civil servants and in mention, the Vice President of the London Chamber of Commerce Subhash Thakkar. “Thank you all for coming and for helping to build a new generation of ties between the UK and Uganda’’.

He talked about the unique advantage point when it comes to UK-Uganda relations. His Excellency, UK and Uganda may be geographically separated by many thousands of miles, but they are brought together by their shared history, synergy and membership of the Commonwealth. His colleague in the House of Lords, Lord Howell, always said that America are our allies, Europe our neighbours, and the Commonwealth our family.

Lord Popat was born in Uganda before coming to Britain as a seventeen-year-old. Life has now brought him to full circle, having been a Minister for both Business and Transport and now serving as the Prime Minister of Trade Envoy to Uganda and Rwanda. This has allowed him share the many skills he has learnt both in business and politics, with love for Uganda. This was expressed in his words
‘’you can take the boy out of Uganda but you can’t take Uganda out of the boy”.

But, to his eternal regret, Britain has spent several decades focusing on its neighbours and neglecting their Commonwealth family. Our membership of the European Union brought with it many benefits, but there were also costs, to closer relations with certain nations and one of them was Uganda in particular.

Last year he hosted lunch for President Museveni in the House of Lords, so that he could meet and speak with British businesses interested in investing in Uganda. He was asked about the presence of so many Chinese-backed projects in Uganda, and he gave the sort of withering answer that only the best politicians can do.

He told us that he loves Britain. That there is huge demand for British goods and services in Uganda, and a great affection for the UK. But then he followed up with ‘but we never see you there’. He went on to say that “when I need hospitals and roads built, and the Chinese are there to build them, who else can I turn to? I don’t speak Chinese, I speak English, but my people need new roads and hospitals”

That is the challenge that faces all of us in this room. He took the President’s words to heart, and they give him all the motivation he needs when he’s undertaking his Trade Envoy duties. He is right; Britain needs to be more outward-looking, more conscientious of our relationships with our Commonwealth family, and better-attuned to the amazing economic advancements across Africa.

Your Excellency the Vice President, not long ago our trade with Africa was 30%. It is now less than 4%. We need a fresh approach to Africa, particularly those countries that are part of the Commonwealth that builds on the deep and historical links we have with the continent and the affection many Africans have for Britain.

He stated, our Prime Minister is holding the UK-Africa Investment Summit here in London on 20th January, where we have invited all African Heads of States. This summit will bring together UK and African Governments, alongside major international investors, to grow awareness of investment opportunities on the continent. President Museveni has verbally confirmed that he will be attending with the focus being on Agri-tech, fin-tech, manufacturing and financial services. On financial services we are number one in the world. Many years ago we had a branch of Uganda in the UK –he would like to see them come back and have a branch in London.

More at http://.www.ugandanconventionuk.org

Presentation: Challenges and opportunities for delivering major projects
A Case Study By COLAS: Kabaale International Airport, Hoima by Lars Peter Jensen, Branch Manager, COLAS Uganda.

Lars Peter Jensen is an Engineer (CEng MIMechE) with over 25 years’ professional experience, mainly project management on infrastructure projects internationally, roads, airfields, power, water supply.

Currently Lars is Branch Manager & Project Manager with Colas (UK) Ltd based in Uganda. Lars has worked and lived in several countries including Mozambique, Zambia, Uganda and Tanzania as well as Europe and the Arctic.

In Mozambique, Lars was General Manager of a Danish construction company, involved in el/mech installations including water -, irrigation- and power projects.

UGANDAN TECH START-UPS – building Fintech in Uganda.

At the 9th Uganda-UK Trade & Investment Convention – FRIDAY, 13TH SEPTEMBER 2019 – London Hilton on Park Lane 22 Park Lane, London, W1K 1BE | Main theme: “UNLOCKING UGANDA’S INVESTMENT POTENTIAL” | Sub theme: “Fintech – Unlocking Uganda’s Potential”

Jean is a change maker; He desires to create change by enabling communities to live a dignified life. Jean is doing this through a data-enabled Technology innovations-“Akellobanker”, a platform that enables low-income earners to access Life-saving products and services on Credit.

As the team CEO, Jean leads a team of 5 fulltime innovative youth and whom he has led to winning several awards including;
GSMA Mobile Money Hackathon (July 2018)-for using mobile money to enable merchants to accept payments on credit.

John Deere mobile App competition (May 2018)-for enabling farmers to access tractor hire services on credit.DataHack for Finance (2017)-Advancing financial inclusion through data innovation.

KEY NOTE ADDRESS BY HIS EXCELLENCY EDWARD KIWANUKA SSEKANDI
VICE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF UGANDA.

At the 9th Uganda-UK Trade & Investment Convention DAY 01 | FRIDAY, 13TH SEPTEMBER 2019 – London Hilton on Park Lane 22 Park Lane, London, W1K 1BE | Main theme: “UNLOCKING UGANDA’S INVESTMENT POTENTIAL” | Sub theme: “Fintech – Unlocking Uganda’s Potential”

– The Chairman, Uganda-UK Convention Mr. Willy Mutenza, Hon. Ministers from Uganda, – – The High Commissioner of Uganda to the United Kingdom,
– Lord Popat, UK Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Uganda and Rwanda,
– The Organizers of Uganda-UK Trade and Investment Convention, 2019,
– The Sponsors, The Business Community, Friends of Uganda, The Ugandan Diaspora,
– Ladies and Gentlemen.

It was an honor to have the Vice President of Uganda Hon.Edward Sekandi attend the 9th Uk-Uganda convention where he officially applauded and recognized the efforts of the Chairman Uganda Convention-UK Mr. Willy Mutenza, for the efforts put, in promoting people centered development strategies.

“The Uganda-UK Trade Convention 2019 (CUK2019), offers numerous opportunities for us to get together and map out the social/economic destiny of our country Uganda. The very important role Ugandan Diaspora plays is the reason we have convened for the 9th Ugandan-UK Trade and Investment Convention, 2019’’.

Continuing with his opening remarks, the Vice President reaffirmed that Development and growth of Nations is vested in Governments, their Citizenry and Foreign Investment. Natural wisdom, therefore, requires us to tap into the capabilities of Ugandans living in Uganda and those in the diaspora together with their foreign counterparts; to spur development, through investment.

Over the years, the Government of Uganda has ensured an enabling environment and indications point to a steady growth of our Economy. While Uganda’s GDP (factor cost) stood at 4.5% during the fiscal year 2002/2003 it is projected to grow at about 7% per annum in 2019/2020. In 1986, only 80 factories existed in Uganda compared to over 4900 that are in operation today.

He was glad to note that a cross section of experts, business leaders, professionals, representatives from prominent bodies based in Uganda, UK and elsewhere have graced this Convention. He commended the Organizers for adding an extra day and providing a dedicated session on Fintech, with the aim of increasing investment in Uganda from this rapidly growing sector which has a lot of potential given Uganda’s well-educated young population.
He was convinced that the 9th UK-Uganda convention will enable everyone to develop new business ideas, form business/personal networks and suggest best solutions to boost our Country’s development.

As Government, we have always cherished the contribution of the private sector and foreign investment in our Country. Government has therefore endeavored to ensure a stable, safe and conducive environment for business by instituting appropriate policies and putting in place physical infrastructure to ease the conduct of business in Uganda.
Uganda currently ranks among the top ten countries attracting Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) in Africa. He noted that the main factors making Uganda a prime investment destination were: a predictable business environment, a fully liberalized economy, market accessibility, security for investment, first arrival privileges in form of tax exemptions, duty free import of plant machinery; and many other investment incentives including the improved infrastructure that is continually bringing down the cost of doing business.
Our country is not only located in the heart of Africa, but it has positioned itself well as a regional hub for business and management sourcing in the region. He invited everyone to be part of the fast-growing developments in the Country with special emphasis to foreign investors. This was well in line with the Convention theme “Unlocking Uganda’s Investment Potential”.

He wished and registered his appreciation to the People and Government of Britain for hosting well Ugandans living and working in the UK and concluded by wishing everybody gathered fruitful deliberations and interactions.

For God and my Country.