Uganda eases licensing of investors

It takes a half a day for a company to be incorporated and only 48 hours for an investor to get licensed in Uganda, an official of the Uganda Investment Authority (UIA) has revealed.

“Government of Uganda is putting in place different measures that are aimed at improving the investment

climate and easing doing of business,” said the Authority’s Acting board chairman, Morrison Rwakakamba.

This was yesterday at a one day Qatar-Uganda trade forum organized by the Qatar Development Bank (QDB) and the Uganda Investment Authority (UIA) among others at Sheraton hotel in Kampala.

“Among the measures that it has put in place is the establishment of the One Stop Centre that brings all government agencies related to investment under one roof. It is as a result of this initiative that it now takes

half a day and only 48 hours for an investor to have his company incorporated and licenced respectively

in Uganda,” he said.

He hailed the Qatar Development Bank for choosing Uganda as the best investment destination in Africa

from where investors are assured of the regional market.

“Apart from being strategically located in Africa, Uganda offers a lot incentives to investors and they

are also assured of security for their livers and property, availability of natural resources and labour,”.

Rwakakamba added that the existence of a trade deficit between Uganda and Qatar should be exploited as an advantage to Uganda’s private sector.

“Such fora should always be exploited by Ugandans to ensure that we close that deficit by looking for

investment opportunities or business partnerships with investors from Qatar and other regions,” he said.

The function was presided over by the Vice President Kiwanuka Ssekandi who urged Ugandans to increase exports to Qatar.

“Qatar is a potential export destination for Uganda products and I urge you to exploit this opportunity to

form partnerships and expand our export market,” he said.