The Board of Uganda Manufacturers Association (UMA) and the Uganda Development Corporation (UDC) convened to explore avenues for enhanced collaboration, recognizing each other’s mutual roles as key implementing partners of the third National Development Plan (NDP III).
Providing insights into the manufacturing sector, the UMA Chairman, Mr. Deo Kayemba, highlighted that the industry contributes 27% to Uganda’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
He revealed that Manufacturing exports are valued at USD 1 billion, and the sector’s tax contribution stands at 33%. The industrial sector has created 1.81 million jobs, underscoring its significant role in Uganda’s economy.
Kayemba explained that the collaboration with the Uganda Development Corporation, aligns with UMA’s strategic plan, and UDC’s focus on agro-manufacturing, mineral beneficiation, and strategic sector development.
The collaboration aims to operationalize the Economic Development Fund to support manufacturing activities.
Godfrey Ruhurira, the Chairman of UDC, echoed the importance of strengthening collaboration, underscoring UDC’s ten-year strategic plan focusing on internal capacity building, process enhancement, and investments in strategic sectors.
“UDC’s core investment principles include equity financing, utilization of local resources, improving trade balance, developing local entrepreneurship, and ensuring balanced regional development,” he added.
During the meeting, UDC outlined its 10-year strategic plan, emphasizing the need to strengthen internal capacity and processes.
The plan focuses on leveraging partnerships, and optimizing local resources, to support core investments, including equity financing, improving trade balance, developing local entrepreneurship, and ensuring balanced regional development.
UDC’s Dr. Mildred Barungi highlighted its sectoral priorities, with 65% of investments directed towards agro-processing and the construction sector.
She added that the construction sector had been prioritized due to the significant investments made in key infrastructure projects, particularly roads.
She added that UDC’s intervention in the construction sector would address challenges in capital and the standards requirement for the construction sector.
Mr. Richard Mubiru, UMA Economic and Business Policy Subcommittee Chairman, highlighted the Government of Uganda’s latest development trajectory, driven by the ambitious goal of growing the GDP tenfold.
He noted that the objective is to elevate Uganda’s GDP to USD 500 billion within the next decade, a significant leap from the estimated USD 49.5 billion as of June 2023.
Mubiru emphasized that realizing this tenfold increase necessitates a strong foundation built upon the pillars of industrialization.
The Chairman of UDC emphasized the need for manufacturers to improve their governance to align with international standards and attract capital from global markets.
Allan Ssenyondwa, Director of Policy, Research, and Advocacy at UMA, while making a presentation, pointed out the daunting challenges of elevated taxes, inadequate infrastructure, and inefficiencies in the clearance procedures.
Ssenyondwa called upon UDC to prioritise investment in manufacturing.
Dr. Ezra Muhumuza Rubanda, the UMA Executive Director, thanked UDC for its reception and pledged UMA’s total commitment to the partnership with UDC.