It is not only city tycoon Sudhir Ruparelia whose financial services businesses have been affected by the lengthy meltdown in Uganda mostly ocassioned by external factors, business sources have observed.
Just yesterday, the second biggest supermarket chain in Kampala East, Quality Supermarket, was forced to close its Ntinda branch and its managers said they would now centralize all operations at their Naalya branch.
Sources close to the owners said the relocation would help the supermarket owners cut costs on rent since they were moving to their own building. In a related development, the Ntinda branch has reportedly been employing over 60 workers, most of who now say they are not sure of their jobs following the ‘integration’.
“The other supermarket in Naalya also had its workers, so what is going to happen to us?” one employee was overheard saying yesterday, as they shipped out merchandise.
Meanwhile, a source has told EagleOnline that several businesses including banks are struggling with the meltdown for among other reasons, the failure by South Sudan government and individual businessmen to pay their Ugandan creditors millions of dollars accrued from supplies.
“Sudhir’s Crane Bank was a victim of such financial anomalies that have dogged the business sector in Uganda for about three years since the civil war in South Sudan; so many businessmen doing cross-border trade with South Sudan borrowed money from the banks and most failed to pay the loans; so what would you expect?” the source asked.
Last year the Bank of Uganda took over management of Sudhir Ruparelia’s Crane Bank and about two weeks ago boarded it off to DFCU amid claims that the latter would only pay for the acquisition after a ‘forensic audit’.
