Uganda-UK Convention

25/09/2020

A Case Study By COLAS: Kabaale International Airport, Hoima.

Presenter: Lars Peter Jensen, Branch Manager, COLAS Uganda

Challenges and opportunities for delivering major projects

In his presentation, Lar described himself as African, grown in Tanzania. Lars has been in Uganda for 3 years now working on Kabaale International Airport.

Mr Jensen said that Uganda is the only country where you’re greeted with a smile when you arrive at customs and immigration at the airport; it is a really unique country which he encouraged people to visit and invest in.

Mr Jensen is working for a UK company called the Colas, developing the Kabaale international airport. Mr Jensen said he was very proud to have been shortlisted for the prestigious award in the UK for the management of the environmental and social impacts in Uganda. Uganda recently discovered oil in the west of the country along the Northern and Southern part of Lake Albert. The airport is located in that same area, in the District of Hoima. It’s an international runway which will serve the oil industry initially but then in the long term, will also meet the needs of the tourist industry and the business community.

The project is financed 85% by a loan from the UK export finance, an opportunity that he encouraged other UK companies to take advantage of.

After just one year, the project is currently at around 28% completion. The fully international categorized runway is going to be 3 1/2 km long. It is designed initially for large cargo aircraft such as the biggest 747 and the Antonov. Around 7 1/2 million cubic meters of earth have to be shifted, and about 20 thousand a day are currently compacted and approved. The works include access roads, water supplies and power supplies etc. It is a fully operational airport built absolutely from scratch, operating in an area with a lot of sensitive forest, rivers, wetlands and World Heritage national parks. From an environmental point of view, Colas has to abide not only by the Ugandan but by the strict UK regulations.

UK Export Finance applies the core standards in terms of requirements on how a company manages its environmental and social impacts. Colas is therefore following the international finance corporation performance standards which are globally respected and recognized. They write a 150-page monthly report to UK Export Finance on how the project is managed and on its performance in terms of environmental and social impacts. There is one large organisation on site completely dedicated to environmental and social impact issues, a fantastic team lead by one expatriate manager supported by 20 local staff, all fully trained for this particular job.

Social engagement is crucial and they do a lot of the socio-economic development, community development and provide economic opportunities, employment, skills transfer and a stakeholder engagement, all crucial to their engagement on-site. The objective is that they want to build long-term sustainable relationships in the community through a process of ongoing disclosure, dialogue with an open transparent and a well implemented grievance mechanism so that both communities and employees have access to anonymous grievances. (to register unlock anonymous grievance.)

The company has a labour force of over 800 directly employed people and about 16 expatriates. The company has made a commitment to the King of Bunyoro that Colas will give favorable preferential treatment to his subjects. Colas now has about 27% of the workforce coming from Hoima and 20% of its employees are women, a percentage they are constantly trying to increase. There is a centralised HR system to promote transparent and fairness and maintain a centralised database on site with over 3000 applicants at the moment to avoid employing cousins and brothers and sisters and friends. The company has a policy of employing only experienced and skilled people.

Workers are provided with accommodation, allowances and subsidised accommodation for workforce and training and apprenticeship programs have been setup.

Stakeholder engagement with communities is something that the company is proud of. The company provides free health screening, free condoms and so far, have distributed over 35000 condoms. It has dedicated a lot of effort to sensitization employees around sexual harassment. Canteen facilities have been set up with four different vendors where employees can choose the kind of food they want at lunch time.

The company has on-going radio talk shows on local radios in local languages where they brief on employment opportunities and share news on general progress, problems and concerns. The shows are very well received.

In terms of corporate social responsibility activities, the company is engaged in renovating schools, boreholes, chess workshops for the local kids, conducted by the chess teacher actor in the film “The Queen of Katwe”.

Lars disclosed that they secured another project to set up grain post-harvest processing facilities around Uganda also with UK Export Finance. This project is a joint venture with a fantastic company from the UK called Alvan Blanch. Lars also shared that they are developing another project in Kampala to build and maintain urban roads.

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13/02/2020

Panel Session: Public – Private Partnership for Infrastructure Development

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

Edward Katende the moderator started by saying there are a lot of opportunities in the Agri-business sector.

Hon Kamya, the minister for Kampala Capital City invited investor to look at investing in Kampala sub region. Kampala contributes more than 60% of the National GDP and also Kampala raises 70% of the annual revenue of Uganda. The greater Kampala metropolitan area has a total population of 15million people.

Kampala is an excellent opportunity for investing in tourism , the story beginning in Kampala with religious wars that were fought at the beginning of colonialism which resulted in Mwanga II, the Kabaka (King) of Buganda ordering the death of about 30 Martyrs and out of that Uganda hosts one of the biggest religious shrine in the world called The Namugongo Martyrs Shrines where over 3 million pilgrims are recorded to have visited in just the month of June 2019.
Hon Kamya confirmed by saying that sir Winston Churchill named Uganda as the pearl of Africa but she said probably he wanted to say Uganda is a garden of Eden, Uganda boasts of 60% of the world’s highland mountain gorillas, Uganda also has 11% of the worlds bird spences, Uganda is only 93 square miles.

Uganda has 1500 bird species, by comparison the USA which is about 3.6 million square miles has got only 600 bird species and the entire Europe has only 700 bird species and Uganda has over 2 million live animals and plant species. This why I call Uganda The Garden of Eden, so this makes tourism a great sector to invest in, Hon Kamya said.

James Mugerwa the managing director Pearl Marina introduced that Pearl Marina is part of Centum, the east African biggest investment company with a portfolio that extends from real estate to fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), banking and agriculture.

To date over $100 million dollars has been invested towards Pearl Marina project along Lake Victoria in Garuga and in the next seven to ten years more investments will be done. Centum believes that Uganda has a lot of opportunities but also believe that the real estate sector can be different. Pearl Marina model is different from other developments in the country. Pearl Marina Estates sits on 389 acres of prime real estate with 3km of lake frontage all developed and managed by the developer from construction to management of services, estates security, power regeneration and this managed by a single company. This gives the buyer or investor confidence that if you buy a property from Pearl Marina you are entering an agreement for 99 years because the company will be there.

The project is located in a convenient location; 22km to the Entebbe International Airport and 32 Km from Kampala, the development is set to become Uganda’s prime lakeside community. Mugerwa further explained that, Pearl Marina is currently undertaking the development of residential units and the associated infrastructure on the west Pearl estate comprising of villas, townhouses and apartments set to be completed by end of Q1 of 2020.

Pearl Marina is now a municipality with four resorts, four hotels and going to implement two international schools and an international hospital, a commercial area, a marina and lots residential opportunities has made the housing in the country different, its affordable with units that goes at lower as $39000 and that is very affordable considering also the fact that these are constructed by Roko ensuring the best quality. Investors and buyers are assured that the developer will deliver as promised and if there is any delay, the buyer will be given back their money at a premium.

James invited those who are also interested to partner in joint venture.

Richard Jabo, the executive director, Uganda Free Zone authority stated that The Uganda Free Zones Authority is a body corporate under the supervision of the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development. It was established following His Excellency the President’s assent to the Free Zones Act, 2014 and started operations on 1st September 2014. The Agency is responsible for the establishment, development, management, marketing, maintenance, supervision and control of free zones and to provide for other related matters.

The Free Zones law was set up with the aim of promoting exports, increasing employment and increasing commodity processing from trading raw materials to finished goods but with due regard to environmental impacts during product processing.

Added that, passing of the law is a positive step towards increasing Uganda’s trade participation in the region to try and align with its counterparts in Kenya where the law has operated since 1990, Tanzania where Special Economic Zones have been in existence since 2002 following the enactment of the Export Processing Zones Act 2002 and Rwanda, since 2010.

The overall objective for adoption of Free Zones in the country is to create an enabling environment aimed at enhancing economic growth and development of export-oriented manufacturing in all sectors of the economy, in order to diversify the country’s economic base, attract foreign direct Investment (FDI), generate employment, increase foreign exchange earnings, enhance technology transfer, skill acquisition/upgrading as well as create backward linkages.

The Uganda Free Zones Authority is designing the third national development plan, one of the key strategies in the plan is to take Uganda to a middle-income status focusing on industrialisation.

The next phase is providing the non-physical incentives which looks at work spaces of the actual zones and constructing them to provide facilities for operators to promise a more conductive environment where customs’ facilities and support are provided on site, where distributors can easily locate you.
Now the authority is undertaking a project at Entebbe international airport where a free zone facility will be constructed

Mr Nyeko started by praising Uganda immigration who served him within a short time proving the fact corruption is getting minimised in Uganda. Being in business for over 44 years, he represents a lot of companies, a chairman of Bencolly Group, The Kampala Diplomatic School. He boosted to have put professors in various top universities including the professor in nuclear medicine in south American university where among the students top of the 35 scientists nominated by MIT was also Elizabeth Nyeko, one of the directors at Bencolly Group.

Dealing with renewable energy is the new trend the world is moving towards. The whole world is now looking for clean energy, he disagreed with the minister for Kampala, that Kampala is for now but not tomorrow. He said that the rural areas are going to contribute more money to the treasury. Mandulis Energy is not only dealing in agriculture in order to harness the biomass for generating power, but is making use of the rural farmers in partnership to produce more food and after the food, Mandulis is giving more income to the farmers from waste especially rice husks and maize crops.

Since going back to Uganda from the diaspora Mr. Nyeko was well received because his family business was giving back to the society and determined to be like Fiat and Ford and are moving forward.

Very successfully giving back the society and help government Mandulis help rural people by training them in modern ways of farming so that they produce more , Mandulis provide storage facilities and training centres and, determined to make rural areas produce more money than Madhavi (applaud), right now over 27000 accounts have been opened and Google mapped over 5000 farmers, now Mandulis is building over 16 off-grids using agriculture wastes , two of the off grids are up with one running with factories being run by these bio-mass power generators and aiming at building 16 industrial parks not only off-grids but plus 20 megawatts bio-mas power generators to be built to serve Gulu city and this is already financed by Africa development bank and hasmany other partners supporting Mandulis.

Eric Olanya, Head of Trade, Uganda, Department for International Trade, British High Commission quoting the minister of finance who said Uganda’s economy is growing steady-fast. the UK departments of trade has been pushing more on financing infrastructure projects on oil and gas renewable energy and on agriculture. Uganda has been the most successful in east Africa on project financing. The British government has $600million fund for projects this year and are lobbying for more finance cover for the country and UK Export Finance is positive on good projects in Uganda.

As of now Britain is looking at supporting the oil pipeline of over a £billion of business on the infrastructure side and UK companies are supported to work with local companies in uganda to deliver on projects

Subhash Thakrar, Vice President, London Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chartered accountant a truly a guardian of British-Asian entrepreneurship started by congratulating Willy Mutenza for 10 years of tireless work for Uganda and in-time has raised the bar by now hosting the events at the Hilton Park Lane not only that but the quality and prominent speakers.

He asked why Uganda hasn’t got award system like is in UK because Willy Mutenza deserves an award. Uganda should also be proud of what Ugandans are here in the UK, Lord Popat is the first Ugandan Asian to be made a peer in the UK political scene and in the 140 years of the London Chambers of Commerce, Subhash was the first ethnic chairman and also born in Uganda. Also, Ugandan Asians are the best politician’s group there is in the house of parliament in all the history of UK.

Subhash said that Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects he said that the private sector is needed for partnership. For the private sector, entrepreneurship and leadership will be brought in which always is missing in the public sector. The Public sector might have the vision but the private sector will be committed to make money and it is the private sector that will bring in funding.

Recently, he said, in India, on the London stock exchange they have managed to list Masala bond, and now we should be thinking of Matoke bond and these can be denominated in local currency and a lot of money can raised. $ 7.5 billion us dollars has been raised for India in the last two years.

On the private equity , according to a deal making company called Pitch book, there has been 2,524 recorded private equity deals in Africa and in the last 10 years that number is 1600 and only 104 deals took place in the last twelve months in the whole of Africa and the biggest of all was the Airtel transaction of $16 billion dollars. Looking at Uganda specifically, there has been only 3 deals in the last 10 years, 37 recorded altogether in private equity and overall deal size are around $12 million dollars. Within East African Kenya takes the biggest share but very closely followed by Ethiopia and Uganda in private equity deals.

For private equity deals to work, similarly to what is done in the west, there has to be improved environment. There has to be easy regulatory environment for investors, the most difficult thing when it comes to private equity in Africa is difficult to visualise an exit, when people invest in private equity, they need to see their exist within 5-10 years’ time. Also, it is a challenge because there is no established stock exchange systems although some are merging in Kenya and Nigeria. Also, solid companies with solid management needs to be established Subhash said he was impressed by Mr Nyeko for having private equity money invested in his projects.

The government must create the right environment for private equity companies to invest. This means dispute resolution mechanisms, effective legal system where the rule of the law exists and less burdensome tax system.

Subhash decried that he has heard companies wanting to set up in Uganda but importing equipment they face taxes to pay, this is a discouragement as that tax may take long time to recover because when business start, they need to be able to minimise all out goings.

Subhash disclosed that they have just started a confectionary factory and have paid tax on equipment imported and that tax should be differed to be paid later.

Then there should be strong vigilance to sort out corruption and corruption is not only demanding money but also for people not cooperating, not doing thing that you ought them to do. As British investor we can’t give bribe as it will be a jail able offence in the UK.

Uganda scores in the transparency index at 149 over 180 and 149 is not a good score but a poor score. And compared with south Africa at 73 out of 180 and UK stand at 11.

In the public sector corruption, Uganda scores only 26% and this is an area that needs dealt with and hopefully the new a corruption unit under presidential office created will tackle this vice

On the positive on the private equity Africa is the next India and we are going to see tremendous growth at over 6%.

New emerging middle class, this is seen in Uganda, Kenya and other parts of Africa who are spending money keen to buy goods and services, increasing, urbanisation is happening.

Harmonisation of communities like African community like COMESA, east African community, these are all opening up boarders and the market size increases and changing.

As the president of Uganda said Uganda may be landlocked but is much trade-linked.
Africa is benefiting from all these external investors including china, Europe, India and US.
Growth is going to emerge and that is what the private equity companies are going to chase.

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05/02/2020

Remarks by Vice President of Uganda Hon.Edward Sekandi | 2019 Convention – London UK

It was an honor to have the Vice President of Uganda Hon.Edward Sekandi attend the 9^th 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 9^th 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.

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31/01/2020

Chairman’s remarks – Willy Mutenza

I take great pleasure in thanking all those that spared their valuable time to attend this important event and I also thank those that couldn’t make it, for the tremendous support everyone gave, even in their absence, to the 9th UK-Uganda convention.

This year’s theme was “Unlocking Uganda’s Investment Potential” and it fitted well with some of the core objectives which were:

Promoting and facilitating bilateral trade between the United Kingdom, Europe, the Diaspora and Uganda

Facilitating foreign direct investment in Uganda
Providing a platform for businesses to expand into new markets
Promoting British businesses exporting to Uganda
Encouraging and exposing business and investment opportunities to Ugandans living in the UK

This year, we added an extra day and also a dedicated session on Fintech, with the aim of increasing inward investment to Uganda within this booming sector. With the support of a Fintech expert in London, the Managing Director of the agency Full Reach, Mr Martin Best, it was our mission to use this annual forum to open up opportunities for British and Ugandan firms to establish deeper relationships and unlock new economic Fintech partnerships. London raised £1.8bn in venture capital and public listings in 2018, almost twice that of Berlin, its nearest European rival.

We were happy to welcome our partners in this sector, VISA Inc, WorldRemit, International Trade Centre, Lord Popat’s office, London Chambers of Commerce and Industry, The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Department for International Trade (British High Commission, Kampala), Copenhagen FinTech and Pangea Accelerator, FITSPA, Africa FinTech Network, among others.

We continue to recognize and thank some special people who particularly gave dedicated support to the Convention, ensuring that it did not only succeed but also attracted the right people. These included: Mr. Subhash Thakrar, Major General Apollo Kasiita-Gowa, Mr. Ibrahim K Bogere – Group Chairman, KPG, Martin Best, Ade Daramy, who flew all the away from Sierra Leone, Eric Olanya, a team of dedicated volunteers and the organising committee team.

This year, the Convention became a member of The British Exporters Association (BExA), to be able to encourage and expose the vast opportunities offered to British businesses and investors in Uganda.

One of the main focused sectors at this year’s convention was infrastructure. We were happy to have Lars Peter Jensen, from COLAS sharing his knowledge on challenges and opportunities for delivering major projects. Colas UK, through a local company, SBC (Uganda) Ltd are constructing a new airport in Hoima, thanks to the largest ever UKEF loan made to an African government. Ladies and Gentlemen, by award them a loan of such magnitude, this shows the confidence that the UK government has in Uganda.

We had over five established real estate companies showcasing and looking for Ugandans and investors to invest in this fast-booming industry in Uganda.

We had the General Manager of Pearl Marina and the Executive Director of Housing Finance Bank, also sharing on the construction of affordable housing market; what the current sources of funding are; what the plans/initiatives to make housing credit more affordable are; and which alternative financing solutions are available.

I am happy to note that H.E. the President, established the State House Anti-Corruption Unit as a channel for his direct involvement in the fight against corruption. We were happy that Lt. Col. Edith Nakalema, The Head of State House Anti-Corruption Unit presented on how the government, and specifically the unit she is heading, was doing to combat corruption.

Corruption continues to harm not only Uganda but Africa at large, hampering democracy, development and the ability to bring people out of poverty.

We also sought to reach out to Ugandans in the Diaspora, and reiterated that we have the ability and responsibility to both create and introduce systems in Uganda that do not currently exist or are simply broken down. Through this, our people will greatly benefit. It does not matter what industry you are in, as most, if not all sectors, are in need of improvement. However, this is a group effort. We must be devoted as a community to investing back home, with the goal of strengthening our economy for the future. We must grow this community by encouraging our diaspora peers to consider investing in our country Uganda.

We shared that investing in Uganda after being away for a long time is not easy, nor quick. One needs to invest with a great amount of patience in the process, do due-diligence, yet have the determination to reach their goals. With those three elements, you are destined for success in helping create the change we would all like to see in Uganda.

Lord Popat reported that not long-ago UK’s trade with Africa was 30% (30% of what?? Overall UK Export?). It is now less than 4% and this is an opportunity for Uganda to tap into UK exports and funding as UK is keen to increase trade with Africa.

UK will be holding the UK-Africa Investment Summit here in London on 20th January2020, where all African Heads of States are invited. This summit will bring together UK and African Governments, alongside major international investors, to grow awareness of investment opportunities on the continent. This is a great opportunity for all of us to attend the summit and explore the various partnership opportunities from UK.

One of our speakers Catherine Wines, Director & Co-Founder of WorldRemit Ltd called upon the government of Uganda to have enabling regulations to support nascent Fintech industry to grow as it creates a lot of jobs and also solves problems using technology.

We were happy to host one of the top high-profile Ugandans in the Diaspora, Suzan Kerere, Head of Global Merchant Sales and Acquisitions Visa Inc and I am happy to quote her closing comment “if you’re working anywhere in the world, in any business entity, private or public and you’re doing it inclusively, then you’re driving change. Because inclusive means, it’s more transparent, more accessible and more equal’’.

lars Peter Jensen, branch manager, Colas Uganda, the developers of Kabaale international airport in Hoima shared challenges and opportunities for delivering major projects in Uganda and invited UK investors to look at Uganda as the only country where you’re greeted with a smile when you arrive at customs and immigration at the airport’. He said that Uganda is a really unique country which he encouraged people to visit and invest in.

Lt Col Edith Nakalema, Head, Statehouse Anti-Corruption Unit was the star at the two days event where most delegates were happy with her campaigns against corruption.

We extend a special thanks to our partner Full Reach, a London based FinTech and marketing agency which helped to put Uganda on the map of Fintech. It’s not often that you find the words ‘Uganda’ and ‘Fintech’ trending, even less so when you throw ‘London’ into the mix.

For the first time, a dedicated FinTech section was held in collaboration with the Africa Fintech Association and local leaders in the sector. $bn Unicorn WorldRemit, VISA Inc and many others were on the panel as well as speakers from across both continents. But it wasn’t just talk-talk – there was a range of real Ugandan Fintech scale-ups with their founders facilitated by International Trade Centre to attend the convention including: “Xente, Akello Banker and YakakoPay who flew in from Uganda for the event, looking for investment, partnerships and growth opportunities.

Martin Labbé, Tech Sector Development coordinator and NTF IV Programme manager, International Trade Centre encouraged the government of Uganda to emulate London which 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, a concept which has now been replicated in Rwanda.

The Minister for Kampala Capital City Authority, Hon. Betty Kamya enlightened us on government initiatives and strategies to attract investors.

Subhash Thakkar, the Vice President, London Chamber of Commerce argued the government should create the right environment for private equity companies to invest, such as dispute resolution mechanisms, effective legal system where the rule of law exists and less burdensome tax system.

I am happy to report that for the last 8 years, over 5,470 delegates have attended the Convention; and more than 167 Ugandans relocated to Uganda; 77 companies from Uganda have showcased their services at the Convention, and 95 UK companies including SMEs in the Diaspora have also exhibited at the Convention.

I am happy to report that, this year, Barclays Bank Business Club (Uganda) led a delegation of over 30 business people to the 9th UK Convention. This is a great opportunity for those who are looking for partners in Uganda to reach out. The group consisted of CEOs and business owners representing various sectors including: Infrastructure, Agro-processing, Real Estate and construction, Packaging and Printing, FMG and commodities wholesalers, Electronic wholesales, Health and medical equipment, Tour and Hospitality, Exporters, Fashion and Financial institutions and banking.

Finally, this event could not be what it is without our sponsors, such as; VISA Inc, WorldRemit, Eric & Winstons Short Stay Apartments, SBC Uganda Colas, Housing Finance Bank, Comfort Homes, Fakhruddin Properties, Universal Enterprises, Southgate Properties, KPG, Jakarna Heights, Alvan Blanch, Pearl Marina, Property Show. And our partners, The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)’, India’s premier business association with 9,000 members and other premier partners such as The International Trade Centre, Economic Policy Group (EPG); The Department for International Trade; London Chambers of Commerce and Industries, Copenhagen FinTech, The Department for International Trade, FITSPA and many others

I want to acknowledge the exhibitors, and thank each and every one of them for coming, and making this Convention the great experience that it has become. Special mention goes to Mr. Bernard Magulu, ED Bank of Africa Uganda who has been one of the most dedicated volunteers of the Convention.

It is all about you, for you and by you, and it would not be what it is without you. I hope you enjoyed the day and had a productive experience.

Once again, I thank everyone for their continued support for the UK-UG Convention and looking forward to being with you in the coming Conventions.

Thank you so much.

Willy Mutenza

Chairman – Founder, Uganda Convention-UK

“Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.”

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19/10/2019

Private Partnership for Infrastructure Development

Subhash disclosed that they have just started a confectionary factory and have paid tax on equipment imported and that tax should be differed to be paid later.

Uganda scores in the transparency index at 149 over 180 and 149 is not a good score but a poor score. And compared with south Africa at 73 out of 180 and UK stand at 11.

In the public sector corruption, Uganda scores only 26% and this is an area that needs dealt with and hopefully the new a corruption unit under presidential office created will tackle this vice

On the positive on the private equity Africa is the next India and we are going to see tremendous growth at over 6%.

New emerging middle class, this is seen in Uganda, Kenya and other parts of Africa who are spending money keen to buy goods and services, increasing, urbanisation is happening.

Harmonisation of communities like African community like COMESA, east African community, these are all opening up boarders and the market size increases and changing.

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31/01/2019

How to connecting small SMEs producers to the international value chain. What are the key challenges?

SACOMA Global Foods Innovation’s CEO, Mrs. Perez Ochieng, is one of the most successful Africans in the UK. Her MSc in Food Innovation and packaging has enabled her to become a celebrated food manufacturer with an agenda in the use of disruptive food technologies. She is currently involved in the utilisation of sweet potato as an ingredient for health food products for the European markets.

Perez is currently using her technical skills, knowledge and network to help African smallholder farmers develop products that are demanded by the UK and European markets. Through SACOMA she has built her own brand of Sweet potato products that include dessert, snack and breakfast cereals. Her products such as OAT VEGAN PANCAKE MIX is the ideal choice for breakfast or as a nutritious snack.

Discussing as part of a panel on “connecting African Agri-SMEs to the international value chains”, Perez revealed that the reason why she chose sweet potato as a focus agricultural commodity was that a lot of people in many African countries see sweet potato as a poor man’s food. So she wanted to demonstrate that with innovation and creativity, such any African food can fetch high returns in the European market as long as it is healthy, safe and meets European standards.

Commenting on Perez’s innovation, Mr Edward Katende the session moderator added that, “in Uganda, the orange fleshed sweet potato promoted by donors and NGOS as a good source of vitamin A . But it has not progressed from a typical poor man’s family staple food product to the middle class and the high-end (who can pay a higher profit) and yet nutrition is one of our challenges and a lot of our people are stunted”.

The challenge, Edward Katende added, is how we break that barrier in terms of people’s mindsets and in this case how Perez has broken the mentality for the Kenyan farmers and small-scale agri-processors.

Perez’s must win battle was to make sure that the sweet potato from Africa landed in the house of the highest land in Europe that is the Buckingham Palace. It is now consumed by the Queen and the Duke of York is one of their mentors but also a big lover of the Kenyan sweet potatoes.

Perez and team have also gone to the most high profile universities in food tech and innovation and have been able to demonstrate that you can utilise sweet potatoes in various things. In this regard, SACOMA has built strategic partnerships with universities in the UK and in Denmark and all of them appreciated that sweet potato is truly an intriguing ingredient in developing so many products or to that extent. Accordingly, they have been able to elevate the sweet potato from just ordinary food to a level where it has been demanded as a premium food products in Europe.

Edward stated that there has been a challenge on the issue of food safety, traceability and quality of many African food which limits exports. Furthermore, many farmers struggle to supply consistence volumes throughout the year.

Perez reiterated that European Union as a body is not going to relax food regulations! Food safety is paramount and this is why the EU food health standards and regulations are set to ensure the food that is consumed in the EU, produced in the EU or imported into the EU are all subject to tight regulations. The EU then sets up systems that ensure compliance and reviews them constantly as changes occur whether it is climate compliance, packaging compliance and constant monitoring of any potential new crops or animal diseases that could impact on the food chains. So, they’re not going to relax those regulations and the key challenge is whether African suppliers (seeking entry into these markets) are able to review their systems and standards in order for us to meet those regulations and test the market. So, when you talk about exporting the first and most important thing is to find out what the regulations pertaining to different crops are. It is not just fresh produce or processed foods but there are regulations on fresh produce, soil maintenance, climate compliance, management of diseases etc. She advised that EU is not about only standards but you must be able to demonstrate traceability i.e trace the product back to its original source, for example if you’re doing a pancake or sweet potato oats, you should be able to trace each and all the ingredient that are present in this particular product and that is one challenge that manufacturers in Africa would have because we don’t have traceability systems.

The European consumer is so educated and in control and the current consumer trends all point consumer demand for traceability, transparency and authenticity. For example with block-chain and OCR barcodes, consumers are able to trace products back to their origins; and now they are demanding healthy products, natural ingredients, safe foods that comply with issues such as fairness to farmers and workers where their products come from; issues of using child labour in your farms can be subject to consumers rejecting a product. Distributors and retailers are also demanding to know full product details and this reinforces that controls that are already set at ports of entry for imported food products.

Perez added that OCR barcode technology allows consumers to scan their products and find out all traceability information and also the number or kind of certificates attained by the manufacturer and more importantly transparency where the manufacturer honestly discloses all ingredients.

Perez reiterated that strict enforcement of the regulation make that regulation work in this country< she said that the enforcement officers can walk into Tesco Supermarket, pick your products from the shell and take it to the Laboratory to test it and if they find one of the ingredients not suitable, they will pull it off the shelf and you as a distributor will be required to do what is called a product re-call. This is a very important part of traceability systems and it’s the legal responsibility of the food manufacturers to ensure systems that can trace all ingredients in a batch of a product. The good news is that Perez and her team can deliver trainings or workshops or advice to help any food business in Africa that needs the support and the help to comply with these EU Food safety, Regulations and standards together with setting up traceability systems.

Elly R. T. Kamugisha, Executive Director, Uganda Export Promotion Board affirmed that Uganda has two European certified Laboratories that are doing certification. About traceability, recently in Uganda the government said that they were going to register coffee farmers and some people were opposed to registration. Elly validated what Perez said on traceability by adding that the government of Uganda wanted to know where coffee has come from, from which garden, when and what species.

Elly added that they have had challenges with interceptions of fruits and vegetables into the EU including Britain and the issue has been associated with lack of traceability.

Elly stated that trade between Great Britain and Uganda has been declining since 2010 from USD 164 million to USD 82 million in 2018, yet there are opportunities for increasing exports to UK and other parts of the world.

Uganda has a lot of opportunities in production and export of Fruits & vegetables (with value addition), value added livestock/ dairy products, tea, coffee, cosmetics (shear nut products), Fish fillets, cut flowers, Iron & steel products alongside services like tourism, ICT and other professional services.

However, like any other developing country we do have challenges around standards and quality assurance as we try to penetrate the global value chains. These are real issues influencing our trade with UK and other key markets therefore we need to address them to grow the Ugandan economy. He emphasised by saying, the more we export the more the jobs, the more foreign exchange earned, and taxes paid to grow our revenue.

Among the things that he shared to address some of these challenges were:

The importance of collaboration and sharing of roles,
commercial diplomacy,
undertaking market studies and trade promotion events to showcase Ugandan products and services,
B2B matchmaking and
5supporting digital marketing

Elly further added that Uganda Export Promotion Board has started a capacity building programme for Uganda Embassies and Commission’s staff to market Uganda. Mentioned that with the support from Lord Dolar Popat, United Kingdom High Commission to Uganda and The Uganda High Commission to United Kingdom, discussions with the big chain stores in town have started (Sainsbury; Tesco; others.) in order to open opportunities for Uganda exports.

Elly finally applauded the good relationship between the Uganda government and the people of United Kingdom and urged the Ugandan diaspora to continue with the big role they do in marketing Uganda and Ugandan brands. Called all Ugandans to work together in enhancing Uganda’s economic growth and development. It matters to us all.