President Museveni Directs on More Support to Investors
![President Museveni Directs on More Support to Investors](../admin/images/INVESTORS AT CONFERENCE.jpg)
President urges investors to venture into agricultural value chains, agro-processing and value-addition
President Yoweri Museveni has tasked the Uganda Investment Authority (UIA) and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives to create mechanisms through which investors are heard and supported.
Addressing thousands of investors from across Uganda at the UIA-organised inaugural Presidential Investor Conference (PIC) at Kololo, President Museveni tasked the two Government entities to develop clear and faster reporting channels for dealing with investment and business issues raised by investors.
President Museveni said the Presidential Investor Conference is good because both domestic and international investors get together with the ministers and public servants to identify bottlenecks to investment and find ways of resolving them.
- On access to capital, the President advised the investors to utilize the scheme provided by the Uganda Development Bank (UDB) where the government injects funds annually for investors to access. The government in one year has injected USD230 million to help investors who need support.
Other funds available to investors are the UGX1 trillion for exports and the UGX831-billion World Bank Investment for Industrial Transformation and Employment (INVITE).
On the issue of infrastructure, President Museveni said the government will continue to handle this, especially to bring down the price of electricity to US five (5) cents.
- The President pointed out that in supporting investors, money is not the problem but rather organization and linkages of investment support initiatives.
President Museveni advised the investors to venture into agricultural value chains from farm to processed foods to markets and directed UIA and other responsible agencies to follow up on their progress.
The President noted that Uganda is beginning to achieve vertical integration in many sectors and these are expanding investment opportunities along the value chains like in coffee, fruits, cereals, cassava, bananas, Irish potatoes, cotton, beef, milk, leather, and so on.
The Presidential Investor Conference is a one-of-a-kind investor conference at which the president interfaced with over 2,000 Investors from across Uganda.
The participating Investors, ranging from small to big, are drawn from the following priority sectors: Commercial Agriculture and Value Addition; Manufacturing, Services; and Information and Communication Technology (ICT).
- According to the Director General of UIA, Mr. Robert Mukiza, one of the expected outcomes of the Conference is a better environment for investment and doing business in Uganda, hence strengthening the competitiveness of the country's private sector.
- The chief executives of financial institutions including Stanbic Bank, DFCU Bank, Opportunity Bank, Pride Microfinance, Post Bank, Centenary Bank, Housing Finance Bank, Uganda Development Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Uganda Development Corporation, and Diamond Trust Bank made presentations.
Other presentations were from the UIA, Uganda Tourism Board, Directorate of Citizenship and Immigration Control, Uganda National Bureau of Standards, Uganda Registrations Services Bureau, National Water and Sewerage Corporation, power players Electricity Regulatory Authority, Uganda Electricity Transmission Company Limited, and Uganda Electricity Generation Company Limited.
There will also be reports by private sector players like Private Sector Foundation of Uganda, Federation of Small and Medium Enterprises, Uganda Manufacturers Association, ICT Association of Uganda, Uganda Tourism Association, Association of Uganda Tour Operators, other service providers, and commercial agriculture investors, amongst others.