Representatives from 18 countries under the African Tax and Administration Forum (ATAF) met at Sheraton Kampala Hotel to brainstorm on the application of Science in support of tax administration.

Henry Musasizi, the State Minister for Finance, Planning and Economic Development praised URA for adopting Science as a transformation service to Uganda’s economic independence. The Science focus, he believes is what has driven growth in revenue mobilisation initiatives resulting in positive revenue figures. He noted that in the recently concluded financial year 2021/22, URA mobilized Shs21.6 trillion and also exceeded the target for quarter one of this financial year collecting Shs5.4 trillion against a set target of Shs5.13 trillion.

In line with effectiveness of Science, the Minister noted that the major policies from the Ministry of Finance are also informed by Science, an approach that ensures attaining optimal revenue mobilization especially in the industrial and manufacturing sector.

Since the establishment of the science function in 2008, URA has seen improved growth in revenue collection through solving tax challenges like; sales suppression, smuggling, under declaration of production volumes and abuse of preferential treatment.

The Commissioner General, John R. Musinguzi, acknowledged ATAF’s capacity building and revenue mobilisation initiatives towards revenue administrations in Africa.

In recognition of the great role data from science plays in improved collections in URA, Musinguzi said that in the last quarter alone, URA conducted a tax audit on six companies in the construction sector and recovered over USD 12.8 million.

Over the same period, URA was able to save another Shs500 million using the input and output ratios which identify who qualifies for a refund. This in turn deters false claims and enables URA to collect the revenue due.

On the other hand, Denis K. Kateeba, the Commissioner Tax Investigations explained that the establishment of the modern technology Science Centre in URA has improved evasion cases handled. The cases are intended to deter crime leading to gross leakage in tax revenue. For example, in the last two years the following cases were handled successfully;135 digital forensics, 33 document examination, 209 in laboratory science and 166 cases in applied science.

 “As the world advances in different spheres, Science in tax administration cannot be ignored. Many businesses are involved in aggressive tax planning, tax evasion and tax avoidance schemes. It is the responsibility of tax administrators to keep improving, innovating and advancing through science,” Kateeba said of the role of Science in tax administrations.

Mary Baine, the Deputy Executive Director ATAF urged the member countries present to embrace scientific models to minimize risks of non-compliance.

“We can no longer deal with traditional means of collecting taxes and that is why innovations in Science are really paramount,” she added.

Baine explained that URA’s 14-year journey in application of science solutions is evidence of ATAF’s technical assistance within revenue administrations in Africa.

“We have helped countries collect and assess revenue to a tune of USD 1.3 billion in the last six years and excess of 3.3 billion in the last 3 years respectively,” Baine said of the additional technical assistance they have offered to revenue administrations.

Meanwhile, ATAF was established by African revenue authorities in November 2009, to improve the performance of tax administrations in Africa. In its 13th year of existence, ATAF has positioned itself as Africa’s home-grown solution to improve revenue collection, advance the role of taxation in governance and provide a voice to the continent on international tax issues.

Representatives from 18 countries under the African Tax and Administration Forum (ATAF) met at Sheraton Kampala Hotel to brainstorm on the application of Science in support of tax administration.

Henry Musasizi, the State Minister for Finance, Planning and Economic Development praised URA for adopting Science as a transformation service to Uganda’s economic independence. The Science focus, he believes is what has driven growth in revenue mobilisation initiatives resulting in positive revenue figures. He noted that in the recently concluded financial year 2021/22, URA mobilized Shs21.6 trillion and also exceeded the target for quarter one of this financial year collecting Shs5.4 trillion against a set target of Shs5.13 trillion.

In line with effectiveness of Science, the Minister noted that the major policies from the Ministry of Finance are also informed by Science, an approach that ensures attaining optimal revenue mobilization especially in the industrial and manufacturing sector.

Since the establishment of the science function in 2008, URA has seen improved growth in revenue collection through solving tax challenges like; sales suppression, smuggling, under declaration of production volumes and abuse of preferential treatment.

The Commissioner General, John R. Musinguzi, acknowledged ATAF’s capacity building and revenue mobilisation initiatives towards revenue administrations in Africa.

In recognition of the great role data from science plays in improved collections in URA, Musinguzi said that in the last quarter alone, URA conducted a tax audit on six companies in the construction sector and recovered over USD 12.8 million.

Over the same period, URA was able to save another Shs500 million using the input and output ratios which identify who qualifies for a refund. This in turn deters false claims and enables URA to collect the revenue due.

On the other hand, Denis K. Kateeba, the Commissioner Tax Investigations explained that the establishment of the modern technology Science Centre in URA has improved evasion cases handled. The cases are intended to deter crime leading to gross leakage in tax revenue. For example, in the last two years the following cases were handled successfully;135 digital forensics, 33 document examination, 209 in laboratory science and 166 cases in applied science.

 “As the world advances in different spheres, Science in tax administration cannot be ignored. Many businesses are involved in aggressive tax planning, tax evasion and tax avoidance schemes. It is the responsibility of tax administrators to keep improving, innovating and advancing through science,” Kateeba said of the role of Science in tax administrations.

Mary Baine, the Deputy Executive Director ATAF urged the member countries present to embrace scientific models to minimize risks of non-compliance.

“We can no longer deal with traditional means of collecting taxes and that is why innovations in Science are really paramount,” she added.

Baine explained that URA’s 14-year journey in application of science solutions is evidence of ATAF’s technical assistance within revenue administrations in Africa.

“We have helped countries collect and assess revenue to a tune of USD 1.3 billion in the last six years and excess of 3.3 billion in the last 3 years respectively,” Baine said of the additional technical assistance they have offered to revenue administrations.

Meanwhile, ATAF was established by African revenue authorities in November 2009, to improve the performance of tax administrations in Africa. In its 13th year of existence, ATAF has positioned itself as Africa’s home-grown solution to improve revenue collection, advance the role of taxation in governance and provide a voice to the continent on international tax issues.

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From liquidity management to supply chain finance, Standard Bank has been awarded for its ability to deliver exceptional client service and superior value across a variety of categories.

Standard Bank’s diverse team and skill sets have been recognized at the Global Finance Awards 2022 after taking home wins in more than a dozen categories.

Throughout the year, leading finance publication, Global Finance, honors the best banking institutions and their capabilities following stringent analysis alongside globally recognised corporate and financial executives, bankers, and banking consultants.

Global Finance World’s Best Banks in Africa 2022 for South Africa and Malawi, Global Finance World’s Best Sub-Custodian Banks 2022 for Africa and separate regional awards for Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, and South Africa

It was also named Global Finance World’s Best Treasury & Cash Management Bank 2022 for Africa and separate regional awards for Angola and South Africa, Global Finance World’s Best Supply Chain Provider for Africa 2022 and Global Finance World’s Best Trade & Supply Chain Finance Providers 2022 for South Africa and Uganda

“Nothing is more important to us than excellent client service, and the way we achieve this is through a varied skill set, digital innovation, on-the-ground knowledge of the African economic landscape, and of course, hard work,” said Crosby Mkwanazi, Head TPS, Standard Bank Corporate and Investment Banking.

As part of its entry rationale into this year’s Global Finance Awards, Standard Bank focused on the evolution of its service offerings.

“Over the years, Standard Bank’s multi-platform services and products have evolved along with our clients’ needs for increasingly sophisticated financial services. We combine our specialist product expertise, strong local capacity, and global distribution reach to provide solutions that are fit-for-purpose and highly relevant,” the rationale read.

However, the Standard Bank Group will continue to focus on Africa’s unique financial landscape, one that requires a complex understanding of varied banking, transaction, and regulatory requirements.

“We believe Standard Bank has the experience, skill, and relationships to assist our clients in negotiating the often challenging and complex financial and regulatory cross-border environments in Africa and beyond. Local teams and in-depth research drive our deep understanding of market dynamics in countries with rapidly developing economies,” says Mkwanazi.

But this won’t be the end of the banking Group’s push for innovation.

In 2021, the Group outlined its 2025 Ambition of being a platform business through a new operating structure, including plans to transform the client experience. By building out from a solid foundation in traditional financial services, the Group seeks to meet its clients on digital platforms where they are shopping, socialising, and doing business.

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The training sessions for the first group of entrepreneurs in agribusiness has kicked off following the successful launch of the Business Accelerator Program.

Business Accelerator Program, a brainchild of the Agribusiness Development Centre (ADC) powered by dfcu limited and Rabo foundation will help Agribusinesses to get out of the ideation phase and offer them a business acceleration opportunity.

Ruth Asasira, the manager women in of Business and special programs said the program is aimed at supporting and empowering entrepreneurs in the Agri-business in the country. The business Acceleration Program (BAP) targeted for women-led agribusinesses will build their capacity and investment readiness to access financing from investors and financial institutions.

“We are working to ensure sustainability in the agribusiness space. Look for and address challenges affecting women in business. This cohort is aimed at reaching out to enterprises led and owned by women in the agribusiness space. The Agribusiness, we mean the whole value chain from production, processing, marketing, supply chain, export and others,” she said

“We shall help the participants understand the basic management of agribusiness, the risks involved and mobiles capital and financing and market linkages for them. We are looking at empowering entrepreneurs and their agri-businesses; create an enabling environment that can facilitate financing for their businesses and other practices like good governance that can influence the growth of their businesses,” she said

William Sekabembe, the Bank’s Chief Commercial Officer said, “dfcu has made investments in capacity building programs that are customized to address the unique challenges commonly faced by women entrepreneurs. We have also created opportunities and access to funding.”

Since the inception of the Women in Business Program has registered over 80,000 women and positively impacted over 30,000 more. When dfcu Rabo Bank set up the Agribusiness Development Center, our goal was to create self-sufficiency.

The program will enable 350 agribusinesses to become self-sufficient and create at least 350 new jobs, Link at least 50 percent of these agribusinesses to affordable Green Financing, technical assistance and markets.

She said for the next two years, the programs will be held under the themes which include; key value chains; greening agribusinesses; Oil and Gas opportunities for Agribusinesses; Youth in agribusiness with the first cohort premised on a theme of gender inclusivity in agribusiness development.

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ZTE Corporation (0763.HK / 000063.SZ), a major international provider of telecommunications, enterprise and consumer technology solutions for the mobile internet, together with Amlogic, has launched the new-gen 4K Wi-Fi 6 mesh media gateway set-top box (STB) at the International Broadcasting Convention (IBC 2022) in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

This latest home media terminal is a technological convergence of gateway, router and STB. It reduces maintenance costs for operators, achieves the whole home Wi-Fi coverage, and enables users to better enjoy HD videos.

The ZTE STB adopts Amlogic’s high-performance chipset based on the quad-core ARM Cortex-A55 architecture. By virtue of the latest Android TV operating system, it can provide access to massive apps and rich media resources, so users can better enjoy home entertainment.

With the gigabit WAN uplink and five built-in antennas to support Wi-Fi, the STB supports EasyMesh to make it easier to extend Wi-Fi signals, guaranteeing faster and more stable network services for households. Viewers can implement seamless Wi-Fi switching everywhere at any time and enjoy a smooth HD video viewing experience.

The STB, featuring a stylish appearance design with efficient heat dissipation, can match thedecoration style of modern homes. Besides homes, it can be applicable to apartments, hotels, stores, hospitals and so forth.

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Vision Group, Uganda’s largest multi-media company, last week released its full-year results for the year ended June 2022, reporting a 36 per cent jump in gross revenue.

The industrial-area-based Vision Group reported that turnover in 2022 touched the Shs111.4 billion mark, compared to Shs81.9 billion in 2021. This is the first time, the company is crossing the Shs100 billion mark in its over 35 years of history.

The increase in revenue, however, came at a stiff cost—the cost of sales increased by 47.7 per cent from Shs59.9 billion to Shs88.4 billion.

The company, in a statement, said this was largely due to a Shs24.9 billion for printing published educational materials/books. However, the company reported that it was able to reduce administrative and other operating expenses by 7.3 per cent from Shs19.5 billion in 2021 to Shs18 billion in 2022.

As a result, there was a Shs1 billion growth in gross profit from Shs22 billion last year to Shs23 billion in 2022. Profit before tax was Shs1.7 billion compared to a Shs0.9 billion pre-tax loss in 2021.

Profit after tax was Shs1 billion in the year 2022 compared to a loss of Shs1.0 billion in 2021.

These are Don Wanyama’s first full-year results since he was appointed in April 2021.

One of the key highlights of this period is Don’s ability to rebalance the Group’s portfolio, reducing reliance on traditional media.

According to the results, Vision Group derived 34 per cent of its revenue from print media in 2022 compared to 49 per cent in 2021. 27 per cent of 2022 revenue was from electronic media, compared to 36 per cent in 2021. Revenue contribution from commercial printing remained stable at 14 per cent while for the first time, 24 per cent of the revenue was from publishing. 

Elsewhere in the Ugandan media industry and across the continent, traditional media has come under huge pressure from online media and as a result, is losing consumers and advertisers.

How well he maintains this rebalanced revenue strategy, moving forward will largely determine the GRoup’s performance, moving forward.

As a result, the Directors have proposed proposes a dividend of Shs6.46 per share for the year ending 30 June 2022. The company didn’t pay a dividend for the year ended 30th June 2021.  

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