The Madi-West Nile Diocese of the Church of Uganda is looking beyond conventional banking to turn its land, institutions and community networks into engines of sustainable economic development across the West Nile region.

The diocese and Equity Bank Uganda are working towards a formal partnership that would provide a framework for developing church assets in agriculture, education, healthcare, energy, environmental conservation and enterprise development.

The proposed partnership, to be formalised through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), marks an evolution in a relationship that has traditionally centred on banking services but has increasingly expanded into financing, financial literacy and community development.

For the diocese, which operates across 12 districts and 13 archdeaconries, the scale of its institutional footprint provides a significant platform for economic activity. It has 150 parishes, 685 churches and 221 active clergy, alongside schools, health facilities and substantial land holdings.

The opportunity now is to make those assets more productive without losing their underlying social and religious purpose.

Equity Bank Managing Director Gift Shoko said the bank’s role would be to bring financial and technical expertise to projects capable of making church institutions more economically sustainable.

“Our purpose as a Bank is to transform lives, give dignity and expand opportunities for wealth creation,” Shoko said.

He said the partnership could help church institutions, schools and land become “self-sustaining, financially independent entities”.

That approach shifts the relationship from one based primarily on the provision of banking services to one centred on capital mobilisation and asset development.

Among the opportunities under consideration are commercial agriculture and forestry projects on church land, as well as financing for the renovation and expansion of schools and health facilities.

The partnership would also have a grassroots financial inclusion component, targeting savings groups in communities that include refugees and their host populations. Financial literacy and appropriate financing products would be used to strengthen the capacity of these groups to save, invest and grow enterprises.

Geoffrey Nasser, the diocesan secretary, said Equity’s engagement with the diocese had already moved beyond conventional corporate banking.

The Diocesan Secretary Geoffrey Nasser secretary of the Madi West Diocese receives a gift hamper from Catherine Psomgen, the Director for Public Sector Social Investments at Equity Bank after a strategic engagement

The bank has supported clergy and church workers, while also providing financing and financial literacy initiatives targeting graduates, youth and community groups.

“Equity Bank’s support extends far beyond corporate banking into the very heart of our community,” Nasser said.

The relationship has also produced a significant physical asset for the diocese. Equity Bank has provided about UGX4 billion towards construction of the Jubilee Administrative Building, conceived as part of the diocese’s 50th anniversary celebrations.

Bishop Rt Rev Dr Charles Collins Andaku said the building was intended to provide the diocese with a permanent administrative home.

The proposed wider partnership could now build on that investment by creating a more systematic approach to financing and developing diocesan assets.

This is particularly significant in a region where land, institutional infrastructure and community networks represent potentially valuable economic resources, but where access to long-term capital and technical expertise can constrain their development.

For Equity, the arrangement also provides an avenue to deepen financial inclusion and enterprise development among communities that already interact with the church through its extensive institutional network.

The partnership comes amid a broader shift among faith-based organisations towards developing sustainable revenue streams to support their social missions.

For Madi-West Nile Diocese, the central proposition is that productive assets should help finance the institutions and services through which the church serves its communities.

If successfully structured, the relationship with Equity could therefore turn church land and institutions into a more deliberate development portfolio—generating income, creating jobs and supporting education, healthcare and community initiatives while strengthening the diocese’s financial independence.

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Addis Ababa — Ethiopian Airlines and Boeing are strengthening the pipeline of aviation and engineering talent through a STEM programme that is giving Ethiopian secondary school students early exposure to careers in one of Africa’s fastest-growing industries.

The fourth edition of the annual Ethiopian Airlines-Boeing STEM School concluded last week after six weeks of training at the Ethiopian Aviation University, bringing together Grade 11 students from across Ethiopia.

Held from July 13 to August 21, the programme delivered more than 300 hours of immersive learning, with young women accounting for half of the participants.

The programme combines classroom instruction with internships, job shadowing, mentorship and field visits to aviation facilities, giving students practical exposure to the technologies and operations underpinning the aviation industry.

Students received training in coding, robotics, artificial intelligence and virtual reality, alongside soft skills including teamwork, communication and problem-solving.

The programme also drew on Ethiopian Airlines’ operational facilities, with participants visiting the carrier’s cargo and maintenance, repair and overhaul operations as well as the Ethiopian Aviation University.

For the students, the exposure provides an opportunity to understand aviation careers beyond the cockpit.

One participant, 18-year-old Yoftahe Belete, said the programme enabled students to observe how aircraft are maintained and subjected to multiple inspections before returning to service.

Ethiopian Airlines Group Chief Executive Officer Mesfin Tasew said investment in youth education was an investment in Ethiopia’s future, particularly as industries become increasingly dependent on technology and specialised skills.

The partnership with Boeing, he said, was helping equip young people with skills that could prepare them to become future leaders and innovators.

Boeing Managing Director for Africa Henok Teferra Shawl said Africa would require an estimated 75,000 new aviation professionals over the next 20 years, underscoring the importance of building the continent’s talent base alongside the expansion of airlines, fleets and aviation infrastructure.

Ethiopia is positioning itself as a major aviation hub, led by the rapid expansion of Ethiopian Airlines’ fleet and international network.

The STEM programme is therefore designed not only to introduce students to aviation careers but also to create a pool of young people with exposure to the digital and engineering skills increasingly required across the sector.

Beyond technical training, participants visited the National Palace Museum, Addis Ababa Science and Technology University and the Ethiopia Science Museum.

At the Science Museum, they interacted with an aerospace exhibition featuring a Boeing 787 Dreamliner flight simulator, a replica of the Starliner spacecraft and models of the Space Launch System rocket and the International Space Station’s Cupola module.

The programme also incorporates alumni engagement, with students from previous cohorts returning to share experiences and mentor newer participants.

Since its launch in 2023, the Ethiopian Airlines-Boeing STEM School has reached more than 100 Ethiopian students, including 28 in this year’s cohort.

The programme is implemented in coordination with Ethiopia’s Ministry of Education, with student selection aligned with national priorities in science and technology education.

For Ethiopia and the wider African aviation industry, the initiative highlights a growing recognition that fleet expansion and infrastructure investment will need to be matched by sustained investment in the engineers, technicians, digital specialists and other professionals required to operate and maintain the sector.

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Africa’s rapidly evolving carbon markets will come under the spotlight in Kigali in October as governments, investors, project developers and corporate buyers gather to examine how the continent can turn stronger policy frameworks into actual climate-finance transactions.

The Carbon Markets Africa Summit (CMAS) 2026, scheduled for 13–15 October in Kigali, Rwanda, comes at a critical point for the market as African countries move from carbon-market readiness towards implementation under the Paris Agreement’s Article 6 framework.

The summit will focus on the practical challenge of converting Africa’s substantial natural and climate assets into credible, investable projects while ensuring that communities and host countries capture meaningful economic benefits.

The African Union is rolling out its Africa Action Plan on Carbon Markets, while initiatives such as the AUDA-NEPAD African Principles for Equity and Integrity in Carbon Markets are placing greater emphasis on governance, transparency and benefit-sharing. Countries including Ghana are also advancing Article 6 authorisation systems and project pipelines.

For investors and buyers, however, policy progress will need to be matched by credible measurement, reporting and verification (MRV), transaction certainty, bankable projects and confidence in the integrity of carbon credits.

Hosted by Rwanda’s Ministry of Environment, CMAS 2026 is expected to bring together representatives from more than 10 African governments, alongside 20-plus investors and financiers and major institutions across the carbon-market value chain.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and African Development Bank (AfDB) are host organisations, with the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) as host partner and AUDA-NEPAD as strategic institutional partner. GIZ, BeZero Carbon, Welthungerhilfe, FSD Africa, UNEP and Carbon Standards International are among the additional partners and contributors.

Discussions will centre on how Article 6 and CORSIA can move from regulatory frameworks into transactions, what buyers are prepared to fund and what is required to make African carbon projects bankable, insurable and verifiable.

The three-day programme will feature leadership discussions, investor and buyer roundtables, project showcases, technical workshops, solution labs and deal rooms. Key themes will include carbon-market regulation, voluntary demand, offtake agreements, MRV and ratings, regional market alignment, early-stage carbon finance, private-capital de-risking, registry interoperability and the expansion of validation and verification capacity.

A UNEP-hosted Nature Deal Room will provide a dedicated platform for governments, buyers, investors, standards bodies and market intermediaries to advance nature-based carbon transactions.

The summit also reflects a growing recognition that Africa’s carbon-market opportunity extends beyond the sale of credits.

“For UNDP, the true value of carbon markets lies in what they make possible: finance for national priorities, decent jobs, resilient livelihoods, and sustainable development,” said Fatmata Lovetta Sesay, UNDP Resident Representative in Rwanda.

With governments tightening market rules and investors demanding greater certainty, CMAS 2026 is positioned to test whether Africa can move beyond the promise of carbon markets towards the transactions, investment and local capacity needed to make climate finance work at scale.

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Uganda’s investment proposition is strengthening as improving macroeconomic stability, rising foreign exchange reserves and the prospect of commercial oil production combine to create new opportunities across the economy.

Economist Stella Otieno told an Equity Bank Uganda trade and investment webinar on August 13 that Uganda had sustained economic growth of more than six per cent over the past three financial years, while inflation remained within the Central Bank’s target range.

“Growth has been above six per cent for the previous three years. Inflation has been stable and under four per cent within the target, and we also have stable policy rates,” Otieno said.

The webinar was held ahead of Equity Bank’s third Trade Mission in Uganda, scheduled for September 13–16 in Kampala, which will bring together international, regional and local investors to explore opportunities and partnerships.

This year’s mission will focus on agriculture, particularly coffee, extractives, manufacturing, services and tourism.

Oil could lift growth into fifth gear

Otieno said real GDP growth in the 2025/26 financial year was about six per cent, while inflation stood at four per cent in July, below the medium-term target of five per cent.

The Central Bank Rate has remained at 9.75 per cent since October 2024, offering businesses greater predictability when making investment and financing decisions.

Foreign exchange reserves have also strengthened, rising from about USD3.3 billion in January 2025 to USD6.7 billion by June 2026.

For investors, Otieno said, the stronger reserve position and relative exchange-rate stability reduced some of the external-sector risks associated with investing in an emerging market.

“The macroeconomic environment is favourable,” she said, adding that Uganda’s current challenges should be viewed against an economy preparing for a significant transformation, particularly with oil production approaching.

Commercial oil production is expected to become a major growth catalyst. Otieno projected that economic growth could accelerate to between eight and 10 per cent in 2026/27 as oil production begins, potentially taking Uganda into double-digit growth.

Oil revenues could also strengthen the country’s fiscal and external positions.

However, Otieno cautioned that investors would still need to watch Uganda’s fiscal position. The fiscal deficit was estimated at 7.1 per cent at the end of 2025/26, while the current account deficit stood at about 6.5 per cent of GDP.

She said much of the pressure on the current account was linked to private-sector imports associated with oil and infrastructure investments, with higher export earnings expected to help narrow the deficit once oil production starts.

Coffee adds another export engine

While oil is expected to reshape Uganda’s growth outlook, agriculture remains at the heart of the investment opportunity.

Coffee, in particular, is emerging as a major source of export earnings. Otieno said coffee and gold were among Uganda’s largest foreign exchange earners, with the country becoming Africa’s largest coffee exporter in 2025.

Coffee export earnings reached USD2.2 billion in the 12 months to June 2026, highlighting opportunities extending well beyond primary production.

The larger investment opportunity lies in building capacity for processing, logistics, agro-processing and other forms of value addition so that Uganda captures a greater share of the value generated from its agricultural commodities.

Investors looking beyond the numbers

Catherine Psomgen, Director of Public Sector and Social Investments at Equity Bank, said investors required reliable information, supportive policies, access to finance, credible local partners and financial institutions capable of understanding their ambitions.

“At Equity Bank, we see our role as extending beyond traditional banking,” Psomgen said.

She said the bank sought to act as a financial and business-enablement partner by connecting investors to finance, markets, information, technology and strategic relationships.

With Equity Group’s presence across several African markets, she said the bank could also support investors using Uganda as a gateway to the wider East and Central African markets.

Uganda Investment Authority Deputy Director for Investment Promotion Rita Nabateregga said Uganda was entering an important phase of industrialisation, with government seeking to use the country’s natural resources to create jobs and promote local value addition.

Agriculture and minerals, she said, offered opportunities to shift Uganda away from exporting raw materials towards greater processing and industrial production.

That shift could broaden the investment opportunity across agro-processing, manufacturing, logistics, energy, minerals, infrastructure, tourism, services and technology.

For Uganda, the investment story is increasingly moving beyond the promise of resources. The central question, however, is whether rising investment can be converted into productive enterprises, jobs, local value addition and sustained economic transformation.

Experts say the next phase will depend on how effectively capital, technology, expertise and partnerships are deployed to build competitive businesses around those resources.

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Uganda is preparing a new five-year intervention to turn Karamoja’s livestock economy into a stronger engine of household incomes, regional trade and resilience, as government and development partners seek to move the sub-region beyond a cycle of insecurity, poverty and dependence on humanitarian support.

The proposed Integrated Livestock Development, Peacebuilding and Resilience Enhancement for Sustainable Livelihoods in Karamoja (ILPRE-Karamoja) will run from January 2027 to December 2031 under a partnership involving the Government of Uganda, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and development partners.

The programme comes as Uganda attempts to consolidate years of investment in Karamoja around fewer, higher-impact interventions that connect livestock production to peace, water, markets and land-use management.

Unveiled during a national consultative workshop in Kampala on Friday, the programme is built around five pillars: improving livestock productivity; sustainable cross-border management of grazing land and water; conflict prevention; stronger market systems; and improved land-use governance.

Livestock remains central to livelihoods in Karamoja, but its potential to generate sustained commercial income has been constrained by insecurity, weak infrastructure, limited market access, climate pressures and inadequate value addition.

Famous cattle auction markets Karamoja – PIC Courtesy of Kara-Tunga Tours

The new approach seeks to treat these constraints as interconnected rather than as separate development problems.

“Peace and social cohesion are prerequisites for communities to access markets, education, and health services,” the Karamoja Development Partners Group said, urging donors to move beyond conventional livestock interventions and support animal health, water infrastructure, rangeland management, value addition and market access.

Joselyn Bigirwa, Head of the IGAD Mission to Uganda, said ILPRE-Karamoja is intended to consolidate gains from the IGAD Drylands Strategy and the 14-year Karamoja Integrated Development Programme.

The programme will be implemented within Uganda’s existing national planning architecture, including the Karamoja Integrated Development Programme and the Fourth National Development Plan, with IGAD coordinating with Operation Wealth Creation, the Office of the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

For government, the bigger objective is to make economic transformation and security mutually reinforcing.

Dr Edith Namutebi Nsubuga, Head of the Peace and Security Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said durable security was critical to creating an environment in which development actors could concentrate on livelihoods and resilience.

She also acknowledged that previous interventions, despite attracting substantial investment, had produced outcomes that demanded better coordination, sharper prioritisation and stronger accountability.

That concern is particularly important given the scale of Uganda’s ambitions for the sub-region.

The Karamoja Regional Development Plan, approved by Cabinet in July 2025, is valued at UGX15.1 trillion and seeks to transform the region from a predominantly nomadic and agro-pastoral economy into a more settled and commercially viable economy by 2035.

Among the proposed flagship investments are Kidepo International Airport, an industrial park and cement plants in Moroto, meat and hides processing facilities in Kotido, and a Karamoja Peace and Technology University.

The plan also proposes expanded boarding facilities for primary and secondary education, subsidised tertiary education for Karimojong students and a dedicated water budget for the region.

The urgency is underlined by the region’s socioeconomic indicators. According to the 2023/24 National Household Survey, poverty in Karamoja stood at 74.2 percent, alongside persistent food insecurity and major infrastructure deficits.

ILPRE-Karamoja is consequently being positioned as a bridge between large-scale public investment and the productive capacity of communities themselves.

An example presented at the workshop was the Sustainable Business Development Initiative operated by AgroMax Uganda across 11 villages and 370 households in Nakapiripirit District.

The initiative demonstrated how community-owned agricultural enterprises can survive beyond donor-funded projects when communities have access to productive assets and the systems needed to maintain them.

Following the conclusion of NUSAF III, members used proceeds from agriculture to rehabilitate tractors and water infrastructure. Five years later, the enterprises remain operational, remunerate members, maintain their assets and attract new partnerships.

That experience offers an important lesson for the new Karamoja programme- long-term transformation will depend not only on how much money is invested, but on whether communities acquire productive assets, market access and institutions capable of sustaining them.

GFA – STRENGTHENING DROUGHT RESILIENCE OF PASTORALISTS IN THE KARAMOJA SUB-REGION, UGANDA

The proposed five-year programme therefore comes at a potentially important juncture for Karamoja. If its livestock, peacebuilding, climate resilience and market interventions are effectively coordinated, the region’s livestock economy could become a stronger platform for household incomes, value addition and cross-border commerce.

But officials at the consultation stressed that success will depend on disciplined implementation, community ownership and accountability—ensuring that the UGX15.1 trillion development ambition translates into productive capacity on the ground rather than another cycle of disconnected projects.

The test for the 2027–2031 programme will ultimately be whether livestock can move from being primarily a means of survival to becoming a commercially productive asset—and whether peace, infrastructure and markets can be built around that transformation.

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Africa’s ambitions to build a bigger presence in the space economy are beginning to create a pipeline for technical talent, with 2,626 students completing a continent-wide aerospace programme this year.

The graduates are the third cohort of the Pathways to Space programme, run by the Future African Space Explorers STEM Academy (FASESA) in partnership with Boeing, and drawn from Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria and, for the first time, South Africa.

The programme, which targets high school students, is expanding at a time when African countries are investing in satellite technology and space-based applications including Earth observation, remote sensing, communications and data services.

The 2026 cohort included 1,313 students from South Africa, 832 from Ethiopia, 431 from Nigeria and 50 from Kenya.

Over five months, the students were exposed to astronautics, systems engineering, human factors and materials science through project-based learning. They also participated in a high-altitude balloon mission designed to develop practical skills in payloads, data collection and analysis.

The programme also introduced a new design challenge in which students developed prototype spacesuit concepts, bringing an industry-oriented dimension to what could otherwise have remained classroom-based STEM education.

Henok Teferra Shawl, Boeing’s managing director for Africa, said the programme was intended to help create a “homegrown talent pipeline” capable of supporting Africa’s participation in the global space economy.

That pipeline could become increasingly important as African governments and national space agencies expand their use of space technology.

The African Union’s African Space Agency provides a continental coordination framework, while individual countries are developing capabilities around satellites, Earth observation, remote sensing and communications.

The challenge for Africa is therefore shifting from simply acquiring space technology to developing the skills required to design, operate, interpret and commercialise it.

FASESA Managing Director Sean Jacobs said the programme was designed to move students beyond examinations and qualifications towards solving real-world problems.

The organisers point to early outcomes from previous cohorts as evidence of that approach. One former participant has been selected to participate in Mission ShakthiSAT, an international all-women-led lunar mission, while another designed a parabolic-grid radio telescope.

The programme’s expansion is significant when measured against its starting point.

Since its launch in 2024, Pathways to Space has reached almost 3,500 students across Africa. The inaugural programme involved just over 300 students from Ethiopia, Nigeria and Tanzania, making the 2026 cohort several times larger than the first intake.

The expansion into South Africa is particularly significant because of the country’s relatively mature space ecosystem and established capabilities in satellite development, space science and applications.

But the bigger economic question is whether initiatives of this kind can eventually translate into a deeper African aerospace industry.

A growing pool of students with exposure to engineering, space science and data analysis provides a potential foundation for future researchers, engineers, entrepreneurs and technical specialists. Turning that potential into economic value, however, will depend on universities, governments and private industry providing pathways from school programmes into higher education, research, employment and enterprise.

For now, the graduation of 2,626 students marks a significant expansion of the continent’s effort to introduce space technology and aerospace careers to a much wider generation of African learners.

The organisers say the programme is not simply about producing future astronauts. Its broader objective is to expose young Africans to the range of technical careers that underpin the space economy — from engineering and software to mission operations, research and data analysis.

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For years, Matovu Muhudi helplessly watched as his mother struggled for every breath. The woman who had spent much of her life cooking over smoky charcoal and firewood stoves eventually developed Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), a debilitating illness that made even simple tasks exhausting.

As a medical professional, Muhudi could help treat the disease. But standing beside his mother’s hospital bed, he realised medicine alone would never solve the problem.

The smoke filling millions of Ugandan kitchens every day was creating new patients faster than hospitals could treat them.

“I realised I needed to stop the illness before people reached the hospital,” Muhudi recalls.

Matovu Muhudi

That deeply personal decision would change not only his own life but also the lives of thousands of families across Western Uganda.

In March 2020, he founded Elsmart Conservation Technologies, a Mbarara-based clean energy enterprise that manufactures improved cookstoves from recycled scrap metal and produces biomass briquettes from agricultural waste. What began as one son’s determination to spare other families the pain his own had endured has steadily evolved into one of the region’s emerging clean cooking businesses.

Today, the company is tackling three of Uganda’s most pressing challenges at once – household air pollution, deforestation and youth employment.

“My mother’s illness changed everything,” Muhudi says. “I wanted ordinary Ugandans to have cooking technologies that protect their health without becoming too expensive.”

Every day, tonnes of coffee husks, sawdust and other agricultural waste are discarded or burned across Uganda. Elsmart gives that waste a second life, converting it into clean-burning briquettes that provide households and businesses with an affordable alternative to charcoal while easing pressure on the country’s forests.

The improved cookstoves use less fuel, produce significantly less smoke and reduce the indoor air pollution that health experts associate with respiratory diseases, particularly among women and children who spend long hours around cooking fires.

Yet transforming a personal mission into a sustainable manufacturing business required more than passion.

A major breakthrough came after Elsmart joined the Uganda National Alliance on Clean Cooking (UNACC) and participated in the Results-Based Financing (RBF) programme implemented by GIZ EnDev in partnership with Equity Bank Uganda.

Unlike traditional grants, the programme rewards verified results.

“Results-Based Financing is not about promises. The systems must first be installed, operational and independently verified before incentives are paid,” explains Virginia Semakula, Equity Bank’s Head of Energy, Environment and Climate Change.

Through the programme, Elsmart was contracted to supply 600 household cookstoves and 213 commercial stoves for restaurants and other businesses.

Muhudi exceeded those commitments—and used the opportunity to reinvent his business.

“The programme gave us confidence to invest in mechanised production,” he says. “Before then, everything was done on a much smaller scale.”

The investment transformed Elsmart from a largely manual workshop into a mechanised manufacturing operation capable of producing both honeycomb and stick briquettes. Production capacity increased, product quality improved and annual turnover rose from about Shs72 million to Shs98 million.

One of the company’s most significant innovations has been the introduction of biomass briquettes retailing at about Shs1,500 per kilogram, making cleaner cooking more accessible to ordinary households.

For Muhudi, however, financial growth has never been the ultimate measure of success.

“We are trying to eliminate diseases caused by smoke while protecting the environment,” he says.

The journey has not been without obstacles.

Traditional cooking stoves, some costing as little as Shs8,000, remain the preferred choice for many households because of their lower upfront cost.

Although Elsmart sold 1,200 household stoves during the RBF programme—twice the contractual target of 600—it still fell short of Muhudi’s own goal of reaching 2,000 households.

He believes broader adoption will depend on continued financing programmes that make improved cooking technologies more affordable, alongside stronger quality enforcement to eliminate substandard products that undermine consumer confidence.

The programme also changed how Elsmart does business.

To satisfy strict verification requirements, the company developed detailed customer databases and after-sales support systems. What initially seemed like paperwork has become one of Elsmart’s greatest competitive advantages, enabling the business to follow up with customers, monitor stove performance and build loyalty through responsive service.

For employee Alapha Nakayima, who previously worked with USAID on health programmes, the company’s mission resonates on a personal level.

“I joined Elsmart because I understood the health benefits,” she says. “There has been an increase in respiratory illnesses caused by prolonged exposure to smoke from traditional cooking. These improved stoves help families live healthier lives.”

She now uses the products in her own home and encourages neighbours to make the switch.

Looking ahead, Elsmart plans to automate its production line, expand distribution across Western Uganda and enter the carbon credit market, creating an additional revenue stream from the environmental impact of its clean cooking technologies.

But for Muhudi, the company’s greatest achievement cannot be measured only in sales or profits.

Every improved stove installed represents one less family breathing dangerous smoke. Every bag of briquettes produced turns agricultural waste into cleaner energy. Every customer reached brings Uganda a step closer to healthier homes and a more sustainable future. For a business born beside a hospital bed, that may be the most meaningful return of all.

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Christopher Burke

Burke says that while Uganda has made progress in reducing the cost of agricultural finance, millions of smallholder farmers remain locked out because they are invisible to formal lenders.

Agriculture contributes about 24 per cent of Uganda’s GDP, 35 per cent of export earnings and employs 68 per cent of the labour force, according to the World Bank’s latest Economic Update. However, many productive farmers remain almost invisible to formal finance.

A coffee farmer may have years of cooperative deliveries, a known plot, established trees and a credible production plan. The cooperative may know the farmer’s history, a buyer may hold payment records and an agricultural company may understand seasonal requirements. This information is often fragmented or unavailable to banks. The issue is not only whether information exists, but who verifies and standardises what determines access to capital.

This gap has a price. Bank of Uganda reports that the average agricultural lending rate reached 20.7 per cent in the three months to March 2026, above the overall average of 18.65 per cent. At those rates, seasonal borrowing is difficult even where an investment is commercially sound.

Government recognises the problem. The Agricultural Credit Facility (ACF), administered through participating financial institutions, financed 11,358 loans worth UGX1.35 trillion (US$366 million) by December 2025. Government has also established a UGX176 billion (US$48 million) scheme for large commercial farmers, while the national budget prioritises commercial agriculture and digital transformation.

The challenge is not only cheaper capital, but efficient delivery to farmers whose loans are small, seasonal and costly to assess. Public policy can reduce funding costs, but access depends on how market actors translate policy into workable lending standards.

The ACF figures illustrate the imbalance. Micro-enterprises represented 76 per cent of beneficiaries but received only 3 per cent of disbursed value. Large projects represented 6 per cent and received 90 per cent. This reflects the transaction costs of identifying farmers, verifying production, assessing cash flow and monitoring many small accounts.

A practical response is a proportionate farm-credit profile containing information needed for a lending decision: verified identity, farm location, cultivated area, production history, cooperative or buyer records, financing needs, insurance status and the expected source and timing of repayment.

These profiles do not replace appraisal or automatically substitute for collateral. They give banks a consistent reference point, reduce repeated data collection and help distinguish a functioning enterprise from an applicant about whom little can be verified. The profile represents a common interface through which stakeholders including institutions assess and manage risk.

Cooperatives are essential, but their responsibilities must be defined. They can confirm membership, aggregate applications, validate production and delivery records, support financial literacy and, where legally agreed, facilitate deductions from crop proceeds. Membership should not amount to an automatic guarantee, and cooperatives should not be expected to absorb losses arising from weak appraisal or inadequate monitoring.

Agricultural companies can support farm mapping, production information, input verification and agronomic advice, while insurers cover defined risks. Banks retain responsibility for due diligence, affordability assessment, pricing, disbursement, monitoring and recovery. This distributes governance functions among public, private and cooperative actors without removing accountability.

Bank of Uganda’s block allocation model demonstrates aggregation. During the final quarter of 2025, UGX5.04 billion (US$1.37 million) was disbursed to 1,156 micro-borrowers through loans not exceeding UGX20 million. The model allows lenders to assess clusters and use cash flow, movable assets, credit history and group guarantees rather than relying on titled land.

Women remain underrepresented in the ACF. In December 2025, they accounted for 23 per cent of beneficiaries and received only 3 per cent of disbursed value. Bank of Uganda reports stronger participation under block allocation, which permits consideration of cash flow, movable assets, credit history and group guarantees. This is important for women operating productive farms without formal land ownership.

Picture courtsey of OXFAM GB

Bank of Uganda estimates that at least 80 per cent of farmers lack conventionally bankable collateral. Regulators and banks should develop proportionate approaches to alternative security, seasonal cash-flow lending and cooperative verification while maintaining prudential standards.

Insurance is best integrated when a loan is designed. Under the Uganda Agriculture Insurance Scheme, government subsidises 50 per cent of premiums for small-scale farmers, 30 per cent for large farmers and 80 per cent in disaster-prone areas. The Ministry of Finance reported the annual UGX5 billion (US$1.36 million) allocation was inadequate and recommended UGX10 billion (US$2.72 million).

Insurance does not guarantee repayment, but it can prevent a defined weather event from causing an immediate default. Linking insurance, verified production information and seasonal repayment schedules makes risk more measurable and gives banks a stronger basis for pricing loans. Premium pricing and lending terms can therefore reward risk reduction without requiring a new legal mandate.

Digital technology can lower transaction costs, but more data is not automatically better. A farm profile is not neutral if it determines who becomes visible, insurable or creditworthy. Farmers must know what is collected, why, who can access it and how errors can be corrected.  Any system must comply with Uganda’s data-protection framework, apply informed consent and restrict information sharing to legitimate purposes.

Uganda’s Fourth National Development Plan links agro-industrialisation with science, technology and innovation. Agricultural finance is an obvious place to apply this direction. The priority should not be another stand-alone application or pilot database, but trusted arrangements through which banks, cooperatives, insurers and agricultural businesses use verified information responsibly. The state sets policy and prudential boundaries, while market actors operationalise them through lending, insurance and data standards.

The case is strengthened by the ACF’s reported non-performing asset ratio of 0.57 per cent at December 2025, compared with 3.7 per cent across commercial banks. Agricultural lending is not inherently unmanageable. It performs better when capital, information, technical support, insurance and repayment structures are aligned.

Uganda has begun lowering agricultural capital costs. The next priority is to reduce the cost of identifying, evaluating and financing credible farmers. This missing infrastructure may determine whether affordable finance reaches viable enterprises at scale or remains concentrated among borrowers already visible to banks. It also shows how public objectives can be implemented through market-based systems that coordinate behaviour, allocate responsibility and shape access to essential resources.

Christopher Burke is a senior advisor at WMC Africa, a communications and advisory agency located in Kampala, Uganda. With over 30 years of experience, he has worked extensively on social, political and economic development issues focused on governance, agriculture, environment, extractives, policy formulation, communications, advocacy, conflict transformation, international relations and peace-building in Asia and Africa.

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The factory, a joint venture between NEC, the commercial arm of the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF), and Kenyan investor Francis Ragwa, represents another attempt to bridge one of Uganda’s longstanding economic challenges: moving from production of raw agricultural commodities to higher-value processing and manufacturing.

Commissioning the facility on July 15, President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni said the major challenge facing Uganda’s agricultural transformation was no longer production capacity but organising farmers and creating reliable markets for their output.

“The issue of the supply of the required raw materials is just organisational,” President Museveni said, pointing to the expansion of Uganda’s coffee and dairy sectors as examples of how farmer mobilisation and market certainty can transform production.

The President said Uganda’s coffee production had grown from about three million bags to approximately nine million bags, with ambitions to reach 12 million and eventually 20 million bags. He similarly highlighted growth in dairy production, which has increased from 200 million litres annually in 1986 to about 5.4 billion litres today.

The same logic, he argued, should now be applied to livestock and food processing.

The commissioning of the Katonga plant highlights the economic opportunity around Uganda’s livestock sector, where the country has an estimated 16 million cattle, up from about three million in 1986.

However, despite its large livestock base and favourable climate, Uganda has struggled to convert cattle numbers into significant export earnings due to challenges around disease control, certification standards, processing capacity and market access.

NEC Managing Director Lt. Gen. James Mugira said the factory is designed to address some of these gaps by creating demand for locally produced beef and beans while reducing government expenditure on imported canned foods.

For years, Uganda has relied on imported canned beef and beans for military operations, including canned beans sourced from Brazil. The new facility is expected to provide a local alternative while creating opportunities for farmers and food processors.

“The real stimulus is the market,” President Museveni said, arguing that farmers are more likely to invest in commercial production when they have confidence that their produce will be purchased.

That market certainty will be central to the success of the factory. The government is expected to determine whether supplies will come through large-scale commercial farmers or organised smallholder producers.

The investment also reflects a broader regional trend of private capital participating in Africa’s food processing opportunities. Mr Ragwa, who serves as Managing Director of NEC Meat and Beans Processing Plant, said the project demonstrates the potential of African investors to build industries on the continent.

The factory currently employs about 100 workers, including engineers, food scientists and technicians, with further growth expected as production expands.

Lt. Gen. Mugira said Uganda could become a significant global beef exporter if it strengthens veterinary systems, disease control and export certification. He cited Botswana’s beef industry as an example of how targeted investment in quality standards and market access can transform livestock into a major export sector.

For Uganda, the challenge now is scaling the model. The country produces significant volumes of agricultural commodities but continues to export many products in raw form, capturing only a fraction of their final market value. Agro-processing is therefore viewed as a pathway to increase farmer incomes, create industrial jobs and retain more value within the economy.

The NEC Meat and Beans Processing Factory arrives at a time when Uganda is seeking to accelerate industrialisation through agro-processing, one of the key pillars of its long-term economic transformation strategy.

The test, however, will not only be whether the factory can process meat and beans. Its bigger measure of success will be whether it can create a sustainable commercial ecosystem linking farmers, processors, government buyers and export markets.

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