Punters (clients) in Ntinda over the weekend lauded Fortebet for ‘giving back’ to them, something they said had never happened in the betting industry in Uganda.

Like it has done before, even last weekend Fortebet reached out to Ntinda punters and gave them a number of gifts that included branded European team jerseys, Fortebet T-shirts, caps and wristbands.

The highly emotional gifts’ handover was done inside the branch on Saturday by Fortebet media manager, John Nanyumba, shortly before most of the weekend games started.

A record 60 punters walked home with any of the above gifts, with Abas.K, one of the gifts’ winners saying: “I knew you were going to come here because I read it from your Facebook page. However, I didn’t expect to win a T-shirt because I thought there are so many procedures of getting it or a competition. I am extremely happy because this gift has compensated the 10 million that I lost yesterday just because of one team that was beaten at home. But next time I know I will win, like I have done before.”

Another punter (Justus M) who took a jersey said:“I have been using Fortebet at my betting company. But now that it has even given me a gift, I will never ever stop betting with you (Fortebet)”

“Today, we have just done what we always do-appreciating our good customers. Once we promise that we shall visit a given branch, we do it,” said Nanyumba just after the handover. He added that Fortebet will, this weekend, give out gifts to it Mbale town customers.

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Uganda’s tax system has undergone various administrative and legal reforms geared towards raising more revenue, making tax payment as simple and less costly for investors, the Commissioner General of the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA), Doris Akol has said.

In an article titled ‘Uganda business and investment tax system in a nutshell’ and published in the April edition of Into Africa, a publication with fresh insight into Africa’s emerging markets, the URA boss says the reforms have ensured the tax body is buoyant.

“On the administrative side, for example, these reforms include the restructuring of the URA in 2004 to reflect functional ideals, automating some internal and external services, developing human capacity and re-engineering business processes among others,” Ms. Akol says.

All these, she says, have simplified the ease of paying taxes in Uganda compared her neighbors. “For example, Uganda ranked 84 in the world in terms of ease of paying taxes while Kenya ranked 92 and Tanzania 154,” she writes in the magazine where other African tax experts share updates on tax administration in selected countries in Africa.

On the legal frame work, a number of tax incentives are granted in the tax laws that are targeted towards supporting businesses to grow, she says.

She says investors in free trade zones in Uganda  are entitled to a ten-year corporation tax holiday, duty exemption on raw materials, plant and machinery and other inputs; stamp duty exemption, duty drawback to apply on import of goods from domestic tariff area.

Akol says there is no export tax on goods exported as well as exemption of withholding tax on interest on external loans and dividends repatriated, which says helps investors to get relief from double taxation.

On the other hand, she says, mining operations are granted a 100 percent deduction for any expenditure of a capital nature incurred in the exploration of, discovery, testing or gaining access to mineral deposits in Uganda.

“A 50 percent initial allowance is available in respect of plant and machinery, which is increased to 75 percent if such assets are outside the areas of Kampala, Entebbe, Namanve, Jinja and Njeru. 20 percent of the cost of a new industrial building or expansion to an existing industrial building is available as an allowance during the year of income the building is brought into use for the first time,” she says.

On paying taxes, she says, at first glance, taxes are seen as a threat to business growth and that a number of studies have concluded that taxes reduce financial performance of businesses as they are a cost and hence reduce corporate profits.

However, she notes: “It’s also true that business won’t survive if taxes are not levied.” For example, a business to prosper it needs better infrastructure such as paved roads, electricity, and security among others provided by the government as public goods.

“Since no business man/ woman can avoid using such public services we all have to contribute to them through paying taxes. Yes, paying taxes is painful and many of us hate it but we can’t opt out of it-let us all face it,” Ms. Akol emphasises.

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Ecobank Group, which has an affiliate in Uganda, continues to expand the Emerald Ecobank Business Club on the continent, aimed at widening opportunities for its Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) customers by creating direct linkages between businesses operation in 33 African markets with over 12.8 million customers.

The Emerald Ecobank Business Club is designed also to enable members get access to direct networking platforms, market information as well as business advisory services from the Ecobank, associated partners, external trade facilitation and preferential banking among others.

The Club will focus on bolstering intra-Africa trade leveraging on the Bank’s presence in 33 African markets enabling SMEs to leverage on Ecobank’s customer book to authenticate and vet trading partners across the continent.

The new Business Club is also a wider strategy by the bank to grow SME sector by offering direct linkages and a seamless base of transaction for businesses across the continent.
The, target, according to officials, is to empower our SME customers by availing networking opportunities across the network of 33 African countries to help them grow.

The initiative comes at the time when most SMEs across Africa face capacity challenges either in terms of technical knowledge on how businesses operate across the continent or in terms of access to opportunities to forge partnership. Official say Emerald Ecobank Business Club members will enjoy easy networking opportunities and exposure to different markets.

Further, the Emerald Ecobank Business Club will help facilitate the interaction amongst emerging SMEs in Africa, but also facilitate integration with the larger businesses across the continent, enabling members to benefit by being part of a like-minded community.
Though SMEs are willing to expand into the wider African Market they lack adequate platforms to network and understand potential partners a factor that have made most businesses cautious and unwilling to partner, officials say.
Under the initiative, SMEs will also be able to leverage on the Ecobank Mobile App which has four million downloads so far. The platform will benefit small businesses along border communities that have in the past had to transact in cash and constantly trade currencies subjecting them to exchange losses.
They will also enable SMEs tap into new opportunities and deepen intra-Africa trade which currently stands at 14 per cent accounting for 18 per cent of African exports.
The launch of the Club comes on the back of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) agreement which signed by 44 African countries last month and expected to create a US $6.7 trillion market by the year 2030.
Across Africa, small and medium sized enterprises are singled out as the key drivers for job creation, wealth generation and social-economic growth and development.
The club is already operational in Ghana, Nigeria, and Cote D’Ivoire, Kenya among others with plans to launch in the entire East African region in the next two months and all of Ecobank’s 33 markets by 2020. Ecobank also has representative bureaus in China, Dubai and the UK.

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