11th February 2022 – Uganda Development Bank Limited (UDBL) in partnership with Operation Wealth Creation (OWC) on Friday launched the upcoming third investment symposium at Mbarara City’s Lake View Hotel.
The two-day symposium is scheduled to take place on February 21st to 23rd 2022, at Kakyeka stadium.
The Ankole region symposium will run under the theme “The contribution of Financial Innovation to the resilience of the economy for sustained growth”.
Organisers say, this is going to be a place to identify business opportunities in the region, host business to business (B2B) engagements and convene leading local and national leaders on the question of financing for recovery and growth.
The symposium spearheaded by Mbarara North MP, Dr Robert Mwesigwa Rukaari, has invited local government leaders, entrepreneurs, academic, business and finance leaders to share success experiences and explore new approaches and pragmatic solutions.
The organizers say at the end of the meeting viable actions should emerge on how to put Ankole on a sustainable path to a vibrant economy that is a crucial part of the regional and national economy.
“As the country focuses its energies on full recovery from the COVID19 pandemic, UDB joins the rest of the government and the people of Uganda in redoubling its efforts to reinforce the economy at local levels, while supporting the President’s agenda and government policy in the form of financing for continued import substitution, value-added production for export and technology transfer to aid home-grown innovation and entrepreneurship,” said Ms Patricia Ojangole, UDBL’s Managing Director.
“The Ankole Investment Symposium is a practical exercise where UDB, together with Operation Wealth Creation, local government and partners are bringing the benefits of affordable finance to one of the fastest growing regions in the country. In doing so we will together demonstrate the impact of government led but locally owned interventions to boost the economy, support exports, especially to the region, increase household incomes and draw more people into the money economy” she added.
The symposium, part of an on-going series in conjunction with Operation wealth creation and other partners is intended to bring together a cohort of coordinated thinking that can learn about the business opportunities of the times.
Speaking at the launch press briefing Hon. Robert Mwesigwa pointed out that financing remains a key component for both the government and the private sector to achieve their aspirations.
“The COVID pandemic disrupted global and local demand as well as supply chains. However, as a country our resolve is to exploit and use our local capabilities has also grown. Therefore, the Government is prioritising import replacement, productivity growth and export promotion as key programmes to achieve desired growth levels,” the MP who is also the honorary consul for the Kingdom of Morocco, said.
The Uganda Investment Symposium concept was launched in 2019 with the inaugural symposium held in West Nile region and a subsequent one held in Rwenzori sub region. The purpose of the platform is to bring together investors from different regions to showcase, discuss and explore the investment environment in Uganda, emerging markets, opportunities, and challenges that investors face.
About Uganda Development Bank Limited
Uganda Development Bank Limited (UDB) is the country’s national Development Finance Institution (DFI) with a mandate to accelerate socio-economic development in Uganda through sustainable financial interventions. Consistent with this mandate, the Bank supports projects within the private sector that demonstrate potential to deliver high socio-economic value, in terms of job creation, improved production output, tax contribution and foreign exchange generation, among other outcomes.
These projects fall within the key priority sectors of our economy, and in line with Uganda’s development priorities, the Bank’s financing interventions are mainly in Primary Agriculture, Agro-processing, and manufacturing which account for about 80%of its investment portfolio. The Bank however undertakes specific interventions in other sectors including Tourism, Human Capital Development and Infrastructure including ICT.
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