Ugandan President invites local investors to Uganda

By Gamini Warushamana

The President of the Republic of Uganda Yoweri Kaguta Musaweni invited Sri Lankan investors to exploit the huge opportunities in a range of sectors in Uganda. President Musaweni was on an official visit to Sri Lanka with a high level business delegation. He met the Sri Lankan business community at a meeting organised by Sri Lanka Export Development Board (EDB).

What businesses need today are money, entrepreneurship skills, raw material, infrastructure, skilled workforce and efficient markets. Uganda can offer most of these to investors.“I invite investors to come with money, do business and make money. We are here to talk about development through making money and not to talk charity. I invite wealthy people to Uganda, not the poor as we have enough of them,” he said.Vast investment opportunities are available in Uganda. Agro product processing is an important sector. “We have land and the country is situated across the Equator and enjoys a favourable climate for agriculture.”

There are two rainy seasons and the mountain regions provide a different climate for a variety of crops. Uganda is one of the major banana producers in the world. Processing of grain is another area.“We have capacity but need more in grain processing. There are several varieties of food produced in Africa which are not known in the global markets. We also need to promote them,” the Ugandan President said.

“Investment opportunities are also available in infrastructure development such as hydro power generation and construction. Sri Lankan companies are already in the hydro power generation sector and recently I commissioned a mini hydro power plant constructed by a Sri Lanmkan company.”The tourism sector is another sector for investment and Uganda has unique features to offer tourists with its geographical location.