Investment opportunities in Uganda: You are welcome to invest in Uganda

Why Invest in Uganda?

Uganda is no stranger to investment: it has consistently attracted the highest levels of foreign direct investment in the East Africa Community region over the past five years. In 2010 alone, Uganda attracted FDI of up to US$ 848 million because of several reasons; including:-

• a predictable investment environment,
• a fully liberalised economy, good market access,
• a strong natural resource base and
• a commitment to the private sector by the government.

Uganda is a new entrant in the Ernst and Young top 10 Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) recipients in Africa in 2013, an indication of the country’s strong position in attracting investment.

In 2013, both West and East Africa surpassed North Africa for the first time according to the report titled “EY’s attractiveness survey Africa 2014; Executing growth.”

The report noted that Uganda has had solid economic growth and a rapidly expanding population as some of its appealing factors. According to the report top sources of foreign direct income into Uganda in 2013 were Kenya, the UK and India.

“One multinational that has recently increased its presence in the country is SAB Miller, which opened its second brewery in Uganda in 2013. Oil fields and the agricultural sector in Uganda are also attracting significant investor attention,” the report notes.

The report noted that in 2013, the number of new FDI projects in Africa declined for the second consecutive year, by 3.1% leading to lower job creation resulting from FDI projects largely due to political uncertainty in North Africa.

Despite the lower number of projects, the monetary value of capital investment into Africa grew by a healthy 12.9%, with a higher average project size of $70.1m (sh175b) in 2013, from $60.1m (sh150b) the year before.

South Africa is one of the fastest growing sources of foreign direct investment for Uganda. South African investments include areas like telecommunications (MTN Uganda), Breweries (SAB Millers), Finance (Stanbic Bank), wholesale and retail (Shoprite Checkers, Metro Cash and Carry, Woolworths, Game), poultry (Bokomo), energy (Eskom) and many others.

For all you investment needs and queries, visit the Page for the Uganda Investment Authority.