President Museveni on Monday engaged with potential investors, fund managers, processors of food and large commodity buyers at a business breakfast meeting in the United Kingdom and urged them to buy Uganda’s agricultural produce and minerals.

The breakfast meeting organized by the Presidential Advisory Committee on Exports & Industrial Development (PACEID) in conjunction with the Commonwealth Enterprise Council (CWEC) was held at the Royal Garden Hotel in Kensington, London.

In his remarks, President Museveni said Uganda has no enemies in the world hence willing and ready to work with everyone to tap into its agricultural and mineral potential.

“The birds of Europe are so clever, unlike the people. During winter, they fly as far as Africa for survival. People on the other hand should also realize that climatic zones should facilitate us to help each other through investment,” President Museveni said.

He said Uganda’s neutrality puts it in a comfortable position for doing business with everyone around the world.

“Uganda has no enemies in the world, for instance, we hear some people are enemies with China, but the Chinese are our good friends, they have given us zero tax access for 450 products and we are in talks to open more, we also have the market of India,” he said.

The President made case for improved market share in the international scene for Uganda but urged, that would only happen following concerted efforts with potential visionary investors who identify with Uganda and Africa as the future production hub of the world.

Uganda has a good international trade policy with the United States of America where at least 6000 products produced within the country are allowed to be exported to the USA quota and tax-free.

Also, the available Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) to which Uganda is party highlights the enormous benefits of investment in production in the country.

President Museveni also noted that Uganda has a standing agreement with the European Market (EU), to trade in “Everything but Arms (EBA)”.

“If you want to make profits, there is an address, it is P.O. Box Uganda,” President Museveni told the gathering.

The Head of State also commissioned trade envoys to the United Kingdom, Balkans and US to help further Uganda’s investment agenda.

Mr. Bratislav Stoiljkovic is charged with the lead search for the Ugandan product market in the Balkans, while Mr. Mark Pursey will be in charge of the UK market. Mr. Codey Lawrence and Mrs. Olive Kamanzi will take charge of the US market and will be commissioned at a similar event in Chicago, USA.

The Balkans which include Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Bulgaria, Romania, and Macedonia have a GDP per capita of USD6000 and drink USD1bn worth of coffee annually.

The countries are also a good source of technology for food processing and packaging.

Commenting about the envoys, Mr. Odrek Rwabwogo, the Chairperson of PACEID said the partnerships with trade envoys will breed confidence in what Uganda is selling to international markets.

“These partnerships with trade representatives are first, we shall also establish business councils in each market, for confidence and trust in what’s being sold as a country.”

Mr. Rwabwogo added that PACEID will support conformity and compliance and the target at the end will be to increase Uganda’s market share to USD6bn in the next five years.

“USD6bn is what Bill Gates donates to African countries. We need investment in the coffee value chain so we climb from USD800 to USD1.5b. We need more sells in fruits, beef, dairy, to raise to at least a billion dollars and another billion dollars in natural cereals as well as poultry and eggs,” Mr. Rwabwogo noted.

Speaking at the same event, Uganda’s High Commissioner to UK, H.E Nimisha Madhvani thanked President Museveni for considering new investment opportunities between Uganda and Britain.

“I thank you for the tireless campaign to ensure that standard products from Uganda reach the UK markets,” H.E Madhvani said.

The Deputy Chairman of Commonwealth Enterprise & Investment Council Lord Hugo Swire also welcomed the move and concurred that Uganda and Africa are indeed the upcoming trade destinations for the world.

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Minister of Works and Transport Gen. Edward Katumba Wamala has awarded stakeholders for spearheading road safety awareness campaigns. The Minister awarded them during the Annual Professional Drivers Conference that took place at Hotel Africana in Kampala.

The minister applauded the organizers for pulling together all stakeholders for the conference and appealed to drivers to take the lessons learned from the conference and implement them in their work. He pledged to come up with SOPs that will help prevent drivers from exploitation by employers and make their profession better.

He also made a call to drivers ahead of the festive season to be careful on the road and commit themselves to save lives rather than taking them.

“As we go into the festive season, I appeal to you to be very careful on the road. I know some roads are very bad but once we are careful, we can greatly reduce the number of people dying on the roads. Let’s make the roads safer for us all,” he said.

According to Faridah Nampiima, the Spokesperson of Traffic Police who was also at the awards ceremony, about 11 people on average die in road accidents in Uganda.

“During this festive season, we urge all road users to have self-discipline, patience and change their attitude on the roads so that we reduce road crashes. Together we can have safe roads when we respect each other and also respect the rules of the road,” she emphasized.

During the event, Uganda Breweries was recognized for its efforts in championing positive drinking as it allows drivers to have an experiential Question and Answer session with their positive drinking champion on drinkdriving.drinkiq.com – an online platform dedicated to creating more awareness of the effects of drunk driving.

Brenda Kobutungi, UBL Corporate Relations Manager said that the brewery’s mission is to ensure that they influence consumer habits among their customers to promote “drinking better instead of more.”

“UBL is running the campaign to help users understand the effects of alcohol and the shame and stigma that comes with drunk driving. We are committed to changing attitudes towards drunk driving and ensuring that our customers drink better, not more,” she said.

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Police in Kampala Metropolitan have charged two foster parents, of American origin, to Buganda Road Court with the aggravated torture of their 10-year-old son, and were remanded till the December 14, 2022.

According to Police spokesperson Fred Enanga, Nicholas Spencer aged 32 and his wife Mackenzie Leigh Mathias Spencer, a 32-year-old, fostered three children, including Kayima John, in 2018 from Welcome Ministry, in Jinja City.

The suspects came to Uganda in 2017, and started working with Akola Project, based in Jinja. The couple joined Motive Creation Agency, and moved with their children to Upper Naguru, where they have been staying together.

It was however, realised that between the year, 2020 and December 2022, the couple constantly tortured, a one Kayima John, a 10-year-old pupil of Dawn Children’s Center in Ntinda, which attracted the attention of neighbours. They alerted the police at Kira Road Division and investigations commenced.

“Our team of investigators established, that the couple kept the victim barefoot, and naked throughout the day, would occasionally make him squat in an awkward position, with his head facing the floor and hands spread out widely, he spent his nights on a wooden platform, without a mattress or beddings and was served cold meals from the fridge. We believe, the victim could have endured more severe acts of torture, away from the camera,” Enanga said.

Enanga thanked the neighbours, teachers and the victim, for taking the courage to stand-up against acts of child torture. He called upon all probation offices and social workers, to continuously monitor the well-being of children in foster homes, to guard against handing over vulnerable children to abusive foster parents, or other forms of harm.

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Over 2,000 individuals employed in the hospitality sector are set to benefit from Diageo training which aims at elevating the industry standards.

The training will be provided under the Diageo Bar Academy, a global program that benchmarks international best practices to enhance the skills and competencies of both hospitality staff and management to drive better guest experiences.

“We will play a role towards boosting the hospitality industry by influencing better guest experiences, which will directly result in higher consumer participation and higher revenues earned by businesses and consequently the economy. We intend to reach over 2,000 people employed in hospitality over the next two months to deliver world-class practical and hands-on training around the country”, Agaba Tumusiime, Reserve Brand Ambassador at Uganda Breweries Limited said.

“The hospitality sector is one of the biggest employers in the country. With the increased number of young people joining the labor market every year, supporting business growth and stimulating entrepreneurship in this highly viable sector is critical for socio-economic growth. With this training, UBL is providing opportunities for young people to achieve gainful employment within the hospitality industry which was one of the highest contributors to GDP before the pandemic. We believe this will over time improve the quality of life of the beneficiaries by enhancing their capability to earn a living,” he said.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the tourism and hospitality sector contributed 7.7% of GDP with earnings of USD 1.6 billion. According to the Ministry of Tourism, the tourism and hospitality sector accounts for nearly 667,000 staff with 90% employed in the hospitality sector and contributing 6.7% of total national employment.

“The country is currently grappling with various economic shocks that have resulted in a tough operating environment. This situation comes on the heels of the pandemic that resulted in business closure for a period of close to 2 years. This is a demonstration of our commitment to supporting business recovery and survival,” he said.

Under the National Development Plan III, Uganda is prioritizing workforce skills development to accelerate the acquisition of urgently needed skills in key growth areas, and to create a skilled, inclusive, and ethical labor force. These efforts are expanding opportunities for the development of skills that are market-driven and enterprise-driven, including for the informal sector.

Uganda is one of the youngest countries in the world, with a median age of 15.9 years. According to the World Bank, around 700,000 young people reach working age every year in Uganda. This is expected to rise to an average of one million in the decade from 2030-2040, and it is already creating a mismatch between labor demand and supply.

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