Month: August 2020

Stanbic Bank Uganda unveiled the Trade Club which allows Ugandan business people to grow their enterprises by getting access to contacts, market information and a platform to network with other people across the world.

“We are pleased to introduce the Trade Club. It’s a new solution designed for Ugandan businesses to connect with other businesses locally, regionally and internationally with a view of easing both import and export trade.  This is a free digital networking platform enabling us to positively contribute to the growth of our business clients, because when they grow and prosper– so do we. By growing our customers’ businesses we can deliver towards our purpose of driving Uganda’s growth.” Said Jonathan Wamara, the Head Universal Trade at Stanbic Bank.

The Trade Club offers trade skill for importers and exporters across 190 countries as well as with over 200 pages of trade information for both importers and exporters, …

The disproportionate and negative impact of the pandemic on women and girls, especially in the economic sphere, creates a need to place women at the centre of all response initiatives.…

The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) approved a $400-million revolving global credit facility agreement for the Export Trading Group (ETG).

Export Trading Group (ETG) is among the largest and fastest-growing integrated agricultural conglomerates in Africa.

The funds will address key challenges faced by African agricultural exporters, aggregating large values of produce in order to enable small and medium-scale enterprises(SMEs) access to regional and international markets.

The agreement will not only allow ETG  to keep playing its vital role in the agri-foods supply chain of efficiently connecting African farmers to markets but also expand access to key inputs to boost agricultural productivity in a continent with tremendous but yet unrealized potential.

Africa spent over $90 billion on food imports in 2019 despite possessing up to 60 per cent of the world’s remaining arable land according to Afreximbank.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Africa’s agricultural production of up to 50 …

The 97Fund, a Ugandan based Open-end Investment Vehicle (HoldCo) launched a $1 Million COVID-19 Relief Fund (the “Fund”) to bail out small businesses in Uganda that have been affected by the pandemic.

The 97Fund invests in high growth early-stage companies in Africa and is managed by Ortus Africa Capital.

The fund targets companies in sectors such as  healthcare, tourism, education, finance, New Ways of working (NWoW) such as supply chains and logistics and the digital economy providing market places to businesses.

Kenneth Legesi, Manager of the 97Fund said that the pandemic has  disrupted Uganda’s social and economic landscape as seen through the different sectors across the board.

“The Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development projected economic growth would decline from 6 per cent to 5.2 per cent, with an estimate of 2.5 million Ugandans likely to fall back into poverty due to the pandemic. Businesses are feeling the effects …

African businesses are shifting towards new technologies in response to the ongoing pandemic, according to a new report published by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA).

The UNECA and the International Economics Consulting Ltd jointly published the report which is the second comprehensive survey on the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic impact across Africa, according to UNECA.

The online survey was conducted from June 16 to July 20 to provide insights into the effects of the pandemic on economic activity for businesses across the region. The survey mainly identified challenges encountered by African businesses as well as their responses to mitigate the adverse impact of the pandemic.

According to the report from the survey among the top three challenges faced by African countries during the pandemic are reduced opportunities to meet new customers drop in demand for products and services, as well as lack of cash flow.

“Companies …

To turn around their fortunes, companies are currently working at about half their capacity when it comes to their performance.…

With Africa being majorly youthful, this crisis could be just what the continent needed to shift from the analogue way of doing things to moving the office online.…

Banks continue to fill the impact of mobile money as it eats into their asset quality and profits despite partnering with telecoms.

According to a 2020 banking sector analysis report by Summit Consulting, increase in mobile money deposits has a negative connection to banks’ return on equity defined as the ability of a firm to generate profits from its shareholder’s investments in the company.

“High volume of mobile money transactions discourages customers from depositing with banks due to convenience,” the report read in part.

Accessibility and convenience of the telecom hosted platform have been boosted by the increase in the number of mobile money agents making it more attractive to the 27.9 million subscribers.

Deposits of mobile money accounted for 37.7 per cent of the slump on return on equity and deny banks of adequate deposits for investment, as most banks get money from customer deposits, which they lend out …

Stanbic Bank Uganda profits dropped by $1.80 million in the first six months of due to the impact of Covid-19 on the businesses of its clients.

The bank’s Chief Executive Officer, Ms Anne Juuko, said despite the difficult operating environment, Stanbic’s performance in the first six months of the year has shown the banks resilience and commitment to implementing a vigorous strategy in the current economic conditions.

“We reported Profit after Tax of Shs127.4 billion, 4.9 per cent down from Shs134.0 billion in the previous year, due to the impact of Covid-19 Pandemic on clients’ business,” she said.

Stanbic Bank customer deposits from January 1, 2020 to June 30, 2020 grew by $299.64 million which represents a 26.6 per cent year on year growth.

”This growth was enabled by our strong client ecosystem engagement and simplifying client onboarding. Loans and advances increased by Shs661 billion, which represents 24 per cent …

Uganda’s telephone subscribers increased by 1.8 million in the third quarter of 2019/2020 bringing the total number to 28.5 million people.

According to the Uganda Communication Commission’s January to March 2020 quarterly report, in December 2019, the number of subscribers increased from 26.7 million to 28.5 million by the end of March 2020. This was the strongest growth in the Mobile segment while growth in fixed-line subscriptions was minimal with less than 1,000 new connections.

The growth in subscribers in this quarter reflects the highest three-month growth rate in the financial year 2019/20. The first quarter from July 2019 to September had 24.8 million subscribers, the second quarter had 25.5 million, third-quarter had 25.7 million and the fourth quarter 28.5 million.

Also Read: MTN Uganda registers a 9.1% increase in net profit

During the January to March 2020 quarter, fixed Internet subscribers were 30,440 in the broadband segment down from …