By David Rupiny
The tenure of the Chairman of the Board of Uganda Investment Authority (UIA), Morrison Rwakakamba, comes to an end today, after a remarkable six years at Uganda’s chief investment promotion agency.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), the indefatigable Rwakakamba wrote thus:
“Today marks the end of my tenure as Chairman of Uganda Investment Authority. I am so thankful to H.E. @KagutaMuseveni for the opportunity to serve and the Ministers of @mofpedU, the Board, and the staff of @ugandainvest for the support. Best wishes to the next Chairperson.”
Rwakamba joined the UIA Board six years ago, first as a member and Chairman of the Board’s Investment Promotion and Public Relations Committee (IPPRC).
In June 2021 when the then Chairman, Dr. Emely Kugonza, left to join parliament, President Yoweri Museveni replaced him (Kugonza) with Rwakakamba, a role he played till today (three years and three months).
Despite Rwakakamba taking the reins at UIA amidst the COVID-19 pandemic which disrupted business, investments, and people’s way of life, he, in concert with the management and staff, not only ensure business continuity but also superintended various initiatives to “bring business, investments and the economy back”.
In the financial year 2021/22, his first year as Chairman, licensed investments stood at 395, up from 256 in the previous year (2019/2020). Planned investments rose to $1,864,931,126 billion, up from $830,604,485 million in the previous year, while planned direct jobs upped to 43,442, from 25,762 the previous year.
From the financial year 2021/22 to 2023/24, licensed investment projects, cumulatively, stood at 1,453, planned investments at $17,923,063,187 billion, and planned direct employment at 175,345, a remarkable feat for an economy recovering from the adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
During his term of office, Rwakakamba steered UIA’s collaboration with the State House and Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, to organize countrywide Presidential Investment Tours targeting four key sectors of the economy: Commercial Agriculture, Manufacturing, Services, and ICT. Successful tours were conducted in West Nile, Madi, Acholi, and Greater Masaka, with others planned.
UIA, in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Uganda Missions Abroad, enhanced Uganda’s strategic position as a high-potential investment destination of choice preferred by foreign investors.
In line with the Presidential Directive to establish 25 industrial parks, Rwakakamba’s stewardship ensured that UIA mobilized over 80 square miles of land across the country in districts like Nebbi, Madi-Okollo, Yumbe, Oyam, Lira, Dokolo, Soroti, Kamuli, Nakasongola, Butambala, Mbarara, Isingiro, Rukungiri, Kabarole, Kabale, and Kisoro.
In UIA’s flagship industrial park, Kampala Industrial Business Park – Namanve, there were 21 factories in 2016 but currently, there are 190 operational factories, 165-plus are under construction and 85-plus are in the pre-start phase.
As a government agency, UIA, in 2022, was ranked among the top performers with a score of 83.4 percent, on account of its effectiveness and efficiencies in promoting and attracting investments.
During Rwakakamba’s tenure, there have been improvements in indicators such as manufacturing value added (MVA) as a share of GDP from 8.3 percent in 2017/18 to 15.5 percent in 2021/22. Meanwhile, a share of manufacturing in Industrial GDP rose from 15.4 percent to 16.5 percent over the same period.
Since Rwakakamba took over office, UIA sharpened its focus on boosting domestic investment, first with the establishment of the Domestic Investment Directorate, and setting in motion various supporting initiatives including regional investment summits and capacity building.
An important initiative is the “Transitioning Traders to Manufacturers” programme which aims at enabling traders of, especially imported products, to start manufacturing them locally. UIA is collaborating with sister government agencies like the National Planning Authority, the Uganda Development Bank, the Uganda Industrial Research Institute, the Uganda Revenue Authority, and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives, to actualize the idea.
During Rwakakamba’s tenure, UIA played a key role in organizing critical investment summits that targeted foreign investors. These include, amongst others, Uganda-European Business Forum, Lohana Afro-Indian Investment Summit, South Africa-Uganda Investment Summit, Somalia-Uganda Investment Summit, Turkey-Uganda Investment Summit, Dubai Expo 2020, East African Business Forum, Japan Business Forum, Non-Aligned Movement Business Summit, and Uganda-Tanzania Investment Summit.
On account of various investment promotion activations, Uganda received several accolades in the realm of investments: the Go Global Award in Rhodes Island USA in November 2023 where Uganda Investment Authority was given award as the greatest investment catalyst in the World; Best Investment destination in Africa in 2023; Best investment destination in East Africa in 2022 – for attracting the best investment project (Modern Tiles); UIA as best investment promotion agency in East Africa in 2022; the African Development Bank recognized Uganda among the top 10 countries for industrial development in Africa.
Rwakakamba, undoubtedly, looks back at his tenure at the helm of UIA with utmost pride. He ended his contribution to Uganda’s industrialisation agenda on a HIGH!
Best wishes to him in his next endeavours.
***
David Rupiny is UIA’s acting Director for Communications and Public Relations, +256785291625, drupiny@ugandainvest.go.ug