Uganda Investment Authority (UIA) embarked on establishing District Investment Committee (DICs) in the Elgon region districts of Kapchorwa, Kween, Bukwo, Bulambuli, Sironko, Bududa, Manafwa and Mbale (including the Municipality) as tools to not only identify investment opportunities in these areas but to also engage local governments and the private sector in the districts so that they are actively engaged in investment promotion, facilitation and aftercare services in their areas.
The DICs will be used as vehicles to help in the registration of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in a bid to formalize domestic investments in the area.
During a monitoring exercise in the last week of August 2016, a Focal Point Officer (FPO) – seconded by the district, was in each district tasked to mobilize 20 individuals from whom 10 were elected as members of the DIC. Among the 10, five were representatives of the local government and these were pre-identified by UIA as being vital to investments promotion in the district. These included; LCV chairman, CAO, DCO, District Planner and the Lands officer. The other 5 members were chosen from the private sector. In all the districts, the DICs were fully constituted and inaugurated, they were tasked to draw up a district investment profile, a work plan, and agree on meeting schedules for their respective districts. It is hoped that this initiative will ease investment attraction to the districts; however, the funds to facilitate the DICs are still insufficient.
In a bid to augment this initiative, UIA is planning to hold an Investment Forum that will bring all the DICs in region together on 22nd September at Mt. Elgon Hotel in Mbale town. During this forum, UIA together with the other line agencies in the One Stop Centre for investors i.e. Uganda national |bureau of Standards (UNBS), Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) and Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB) will guide the members of the DICs together with the business community of the area through the investment cycle.
In the interim, all DICs in the region were requested to profile the investment opportunities in their District, which will be shared during the Investment Forum. UIA will generate the Districts Investment Compendium, a tool that will promote the region’s investment.