Tips on How to Set Up Business in Uganda
Do you want to do businesses in Uganda? This is the right time to turn to Uganda in Africa and develop your business ventures. Traders and business people in developed countries realise the great potential the country holds as an up-and-coming market and are now beginning to penetrate the Ugandan market in a big way. A large contingent of Japanese, Chinese and other countries have already established business in Uganda. •Uganda's economic performance in the last few years has generated a lot of interest in business circles around the world. Economists believe that the country has an economy with great potential as it is endowed with significant natural resources, including amply fertile land, regular rainfall, rich mineral deposits and a skilled labour force. Little wonder then that economic forecasts for Uganda predict that the country is now poised for rapid economic growth and development. • Add to this the political stability and liberal economic policies of the current government and you’ll know why Uganda has suddenly become the centre of attraction in the East African region. • Political stability has been the cornerstone of economic success in Uganda. Since President Museveni came to power in 1986 there has been peace in most parts of the country. Recent presidential elections have further boosted the country’s image and provided a platform for further economic development. In the last 10 years Uganda has made an impressive recovery from its turbulent past. 
• Though the economy is still based on agriculture, with coffee accounting for up to 80 per cent of export earnings, yet the manufacturing sector has also gained in prominence. New industries have recently been set up for processing of vanilla, fish fillets and roses for export. Although Uganda’s major export markets are Europe and the USA, the Middle East is fast emerging as a big market for Uganda. Uganda’s exports to the Middle East constitute cotton, tea, tobacco hides, skins, vegetables, fruits, and fish. Uganda's relations to the Arab world go back to the 1830s when Arab traders moved inland from their enclaves along the Indian Ocean coast of East Africa and reached the interior of Uganda headed by Alidina Vislam. Since then, Uganda has had cordial relations with the Arab world. As member of the Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC), Uganda is considered as an ally and friend by all Arab countries. •Tourism, which used to be Uganda's fourth largest source of foreign exchange until the troubles of the 1970s, is another area of potential growth in the world and uganda relations. Uganda is home to about two-thirds of the rare mountain gorillas which still live in the wild. This and other opportunities to view primates such as man's closest relative, the chimpanzee, are attracting a growing number of visitors from all over the world. A concerted international marketing campaign by the Uganda Tourist Board (UTB) will go a long way in luring more visitors from the region. •Today, Uganda is passing through a transitional phase in its economic evolution. Until 1972, Asians, who constituted the largest non-indigenous ethnic group in Uganda, were the main players in the financial markets of the country. In that year, the Idi Amin regime expelled 50,000 Asians, who had been engaged in trade, industry, and various professions. In the years since Amin’s overthrow in 1979, the country began a programme of economic recovery that received considerable foreign assistance. Uganda today is a country at peace. It boasts the fastest-growing economy in East Africa, and is working to better the lives of it's people by moving towards a representative government and laying the groundwork to establish a viable business in Uganda and a commercial market. Uganda's economy grew by 5 per cent in 2007, and since 1992 some $850 million in foreign investment has flowed into the country. The inflation rate has dropped to under 5 per cent from a high of 250 per cent in 1987. Reform programs have slashed government employment by half, and reduced ministries by a third and the armed forces by 30 per cent. •As the relationship between the international business community and Uganda develops in scope and stature, plenty of opportunities are becoming available to Ugandan exporters as well as foreign investors, entrepreneurs and holiday travellers. Given such a positive climate, the joint efforts of the Ugandan government and private sector organisations to create an ever-greater economic bond are also expected to gain momentum in the coming years.
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