Uganda Investment Authority’s One-Stop Centre for Investors has opened doors at its new and permanent physical home on the Ground Floor of the Uganda Business Facilitation Centre (UBFC) on Plot 1, Baskerville Avenue, Kololo, Kampala. The Centre offers 15-plus key/primary investment and business support services. State House Uganda’s Government Citizen Interaction Centre (GCIC) had a one-on-one interview with the Authority’s Deputy Director General, Dr. Paul Kyalimpa. We bring you the interview verbatim:
GCIC: Could you please describe the Uganda Investment Authority’s One-Stop Centre and its role in promoting investment in Uganda?
Uganda Investment Authority serves as a one-stop shop for investor services and company operations. We run a One-Stop Shop for all Ugandan enterprises and investors, as well as those that set up shop or invest from outside the country. The Uganda Investment Authority (UIA) developed the One Stop Centre as a government business and investor facilitation agency in 2014, and it became fully operational in 2016. The UIA was tasked with creating an online and physical platform to promote Uganda as the preferred investment destination in East Africa (and Africa), to ease business processes, attract investors, give investment information opportunities, and enable business transactions.
UIA provides free investment incentives for accessing land in industrial and business parks, assisting you to import machinery, plant, and equipment, assisting you to access raw materials by collaborating with local SMEs, and assisting you to access both domestic and foreign markets for your products and services.
As a result, in 2019, the UIA officially became a One Stop Centre that coordinates all government services, with the purpose of boosting the efficiency and efficacy of investment processes in order to make Uganda a competitive investment destination in Africa and beyond.
GCIC: How has the One-Stop Centre expedited the investment process in Uganda for both domestic and foreign investors?
Dr. Kyalimpa: We are physically present in Kololo and have made available to investors and enterprises all key government institutions such as UIA, Uganda Registration Services Bureau, Uganda Revenue Authority, Kampala Capital City Authority, Uganda National Bureau of Standards, National Water and Sewerage Corporation, National Environment Management Authority, Ministry of Lands, Directorate of Citizenship and Immigration Control, power utility Umeme, Federation of Ugandan Employers, National Social Security Fund, and tourism promoter Giants Club, among others. All these provide investment and business services under one roof.
We also provide a 24-hour hotline call desk where you can call in any language and get free assistance. As a result, UIA brings together government authorities and the commercial sector to ensure that we collaborate to provide you with smooth online and physical investment and business support services to ensure that your investment is up and running and competitive not just in Uganda but globally.
GCIC: One of the difficulties raised by both domestic and foreign investors is access to services; how does the One-Stop Centre address that gap, and how does it foster investor confidence?
Dr. Kyalimpa: We have an online platform investment and business support platform at www.ebiz.go.ug where you can transact virtually anywhere in the world. Even if you visit our website or other websites such as that of URA you are guided to the right contact for investor support services which is UIA. On the e-Biz platform, you can make applications online. We have a 24-hour call center where you can ask questions and get help and you will be supported. Importantly, we help investors and potential investors to reduce red tape and bureaucracies, that is why all key government institutions and private sector players are in one physical place at the Uganda Business Facilitation Center in Kololo, Kampala, while the www.ebiz.go.ug platform is integrated with key investment and business support services like business registration, tax registration, trade licensing, etc.
GCIC: What services does the One-Stop Centre provide to investors, and how does it make investment licensing, business registration and so forth easier?
Dr. Kyalimpa: Investors can obtain information about investment potential as well as company concepts or opportunities available to both micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and major businesses. We also help MSMEs, by providing investment profiles, business ideas, and feasibility studies for various sectors like agriculture, tourism, and trade, all of these opportunities are available online and at the One-Stop Centre in Kampala. If you want to register a business on the online platform or physically, you can be supported to register instantly within a short time. If you want an investment license, you can access it between two to 12 hours. If you want to expand your business, we have investor and business advisory service desks that you can contact through our call center or come in person to meet with our team. We can assist and support you in satisfying the requirements if you wish to register for incentives like tax exemptions or holidays, or if you want to apply for tax registration and other services. At the One-Stop Centre, Uganda Business Registration Services is on hand to support business registration and other services like intellectual property. The One-Stop Centre provides all primary investment and business support services.
GCIC: What specific incentives or benefits does the One-Stop Centre offer to potential investors?
Dr. Kyalimpa: The first is that when you register your firm and request an investment license, we provide one to you for free as long as you meet the minimum requirements as an investor and have set up. Second, we offer free business guidance and coaching; our personnel are well-trained, and you pay nothing. Third, we have conducted pre-feasibility studies for various investment opportunities that aid in making quicker investment decisions and setting up shop.
We offer investment opportunities and feasibility studies, as well as guidance and support as you start your investment project. If you require government services and wish to apply for them in industrial and business parks, we handle that for you. Alternatively, if you import value-addition machinery, agricultural equipment, or any material for select vital businesses such as tourism, technology, development, and transfer, or if you undertake investment research, all these have some incentives.
We help you gain access to local and global markets. We have highlighted a list of domestic firms as well as a network of business people to help you supply raw materials and distribute your products throughout the country. We can also help you find business partners, financial services, and joint ventures for your company.
GCIC: What recommendations would you give to potential investors thinking about visiting Uganda as an investment destination and using the One Stop Centre’s services?
Dr. Kyalimpa: We want to inform the world that Uganda emerged as the best investment destination in East Africa in 2022. We received the AIM Global Award because of our concerted efforts in promoting and attracting valuable investment projects as well as providing integrated investment and business support services under our One-Stop Centre. If you look at the One-Stop Centre transactions, the turnaround in terms of efficiency of various investment and business services has grown by more than 1000 percent.
We have the capacity of having your business started within a day, we can process all of your business documentation, register you, help you obtain an investment license, and local tax certificates, and you will be ready to go. As a result, Uganda ranks first in terms of new investments and businesses.
If you are expanding your firm, we have profiles for all new opportunities for growth as well as new business ventures for you, propelling you to the next level. So, by bringing all of these services under one roof, we are shortening the timeline for new investments and businesses and those looking to expand, and we have made it easier for you to engage the government in any aspect or impediment that may prevent your business from expanding, entering new markets, or obtaining government approvals. This enables us to work together to make Uganda more competitive with improved investment and business climate, which is why we are currently number one.
GCIC: What are some of the One-Stop Centre’s future objectives and activities to enable it to continuously improve its services and attract more investments?
Dr. Kyalimpa: We are currently recognizing that there are some people who are not online while some investors and business people are in various cities throughout Uganda. We have plans of taking investment and business services closer to these people. That is why we establishing regional One-Stop Centres in Mbale, which will begin soon, in Arua, Mbarara, Gulu and roll out to other regional cities. Linked to the One-Stop Centres will also be Investment and Business Advisory Centre to offer facilitation and aftercare services. We are establishing industrial and business parks across the country and the regional One-Stop Centres will help take our services closer to our clients.
***
(Transcribed by Shamim Saad)
