Following in Uber’s footsteps, Taxify, Europe and Africa’s fastest-growing ride-sharing platform, launched in Kampala, yesterday with hundreds of drivers signing and ready to drive clients anywhere in the city.

“Kampala is a huge and thriving marketplace for private urban transport. We’re very excited to launch here and are confident that Taxify can effectively contribute to healthy competition by improving the quality of service and  providing an opportunity for drivers to make a sustainable income,” Shivachi Muleji, Kampala Operations Manager, said.

Taxify is offering a 15 per cent discount to clients until the end of this November. The fares for this period are: Start Shs950, Shs600 per Km, Shs150 per minute, while the minimum price is Shs4, 500.

According to the company, Taxify takes only 15 per cent commission from its drivers, which is far lower than the 25 per cent  that competitors take. The lower commission allows Taxify to offer both lower prices for clients and more take-home pay for drivers.

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The Bank of Uganda has been dragged to court after local car dealer, Kings Auto Center, sued seeking to recover its land that was placed as collateral for a US$548, 000 (about Shs2 billion) debt obtained from Crane Bank, now in receivership.

Through its lawyers Signum Advocates and Magna Advocates, Kings Auto Centre told the Commercial Court that it obtained the said loan and Shs150 million for a period of 12 months, after putting a prime piece of land in Bunga, a leafy Kampala suburb, with Crane Bank as collateral.

According to the lawyers, the BoU has refused to receive full settlement for the loan facility obtained on December 8, 2015, that was supposed to expire by December 2016, a time the Crane Bank had been taken over by the Central Bank in October.

The BoU then ceded management of Crane Bank to dfcu Bank and, according to the lawyers, at the time Kings Auto Centre was indebted to Crane Bank to the tune of US$399.000 and Shs137 million, which it seeks to pay and regain its land.

‘The plaintiff (Kings Auto Center) avers that following the takeover of the bank by the defendant (BoU), some of the bank’s business was sold to Dfcu bank. The plaintiff shall aver that for unknown reasons, certain accounts including the plaintiff’s accounts which, in effect incapacitated the latter’s  ability to properly carry out its ordinary transactions’, the lawyers, acting on behalf of Kings Auto Centre, states in part.

It adds: ‘The defendant’s callous actions referred to above were contrary to its duties as statutory manager to recover debts and other sums of money due and owing to the bank. In addition to the defendant’s (BoU) default in its duty aforementioned, it continued to unify charge interest on the plaintiff’s loan facilities yet its accounts had been suspended’.

Consequently, Kings Auto Center wants court order the BoU to receive its payment in full, and recover its land.

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Jumia Travel Uganda has officially launched its new travel agency at Pan Africa House on Kimathi Avenue, in a bid to extend its services to more people.

“This will allow the company to be physically on ground and closer to the people as the new travel agency is in the central business district,” a release by Jumia Travel, states in part.

The new agency will help make hotel and flight bookings easier for customers in the event they are unable to book on the online platform.

It will also provide other services like visas, meetings, conferences, events, airport transfers, holiday tour packages.

Country Manager, Timothy Mugume says the launch of the new travel agency is testimony that Jumia Travel is here to stay, with focus on building long term relationships and bonds with its growing clientele and providing all travel services at ‘very great costs’.

According to officials, clients have already started booking at the new agency that offers different prices to accommodate all clients.

With over 300,000 hotels around the world, 30,000 hotels in Africa and 1,000 plus hotels in Uganda and more than a hundred flight companies as partners, Jumia Travel aims to ‘democratize’ travel by reducing traveling cost, providing the largest inventory of properties and granting local and  high-quality services to become the one stop travel shop in the continent.

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Uganda will host a two-day Agribusiness Congress East Africa conference and exhibition, the Chairman of the Grain Council of Uganda (TGCU), Chris Kaijuka, has said.

The event will be held under the theme, ‘Identifying East Africa’s investment trends and outlooks for 2018’, with participants sharing knowledge aimed at addressing the pertinent issues that are hindering the EA community from growing into an agribusiness hub.

Organisers say the exhibition will help show case modern technology in form of machines like tractors and seeds among others to the farmers who are the targeted beneficiaries of the event.

Mr. Kaijuka says TGCU is the official host partner of the regional farming event, which will feature more than 1000 agribusiness participants, free training workshops and agronomy consultations, round-table discussions as well as live demonstrations and crop trials.

:  “My vision for the agri-sector is a national grain sector that supplies the region and is the preferred source of high-quality grain. There are opportunities in agriculture with our two seasons and a fast-growing population,” Mr. Kaijuka said of his role as chairman of TGCU.

He adds that the TGCU is pursuing affordable financing for infrastructure development and working capital for members.

“We look forward to the launch of the electronic trading on the Uganda National Commodity Exchange where we are shareholders,” he says.

The TGCG Chairman says Uganda has evolved into the new frontier for food and grain production and the region’s food basket. What is left, he says, is cooperation between players.

“We need to come together and take action to move the industry forward. We urge all industry players with a stake in agriculture to take advantage of this golden opportunity to meet with suppliers, buyers and technocrats and contribute to the development debate,” Mr. Kaijuka says.

Meanwhile, Tomson Okot, senior programme director at Farm Concern International, an Africa-wide agri-market development agency with keen interest in value chain analysis and market access, says there will be a panel discussion on identifying East Africa’s investment trends and outlooks for 2018.

“With an enormous potential of fertile soils and favourable climate, East Africa has a comparative advantage to produce several agricultural products, process and export as a food basket of the EAC-COMESA region,” he says.

Despite its potential, intra-East African Community trade is about US$5.63 billion, representing only 10 percent of the total trade on the continent.

Okot says East African exports of goods and services to the COMESA region and other countries is still low, citing limited market-led incentives, low commercialisation and subsistence agriculture in East Africa as barriers to trade.

“Access to competitive markets remains one of the major challenges facing smallholder farmers in East Africa. Specifically, smallholder farmers are constrained by the low level of commercialisation, multiple layers of predatory market players that reduce gross margins and limited access to market information,” Mr. Okot says.

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