Every export-bound coffee bean grown in Uganda is set to carry a digital identity, traceable from the farm where it was harvested to the port where it is loaded onto a vessel. That is the ambition at the heart of…
At 45 years old, institutions are often expected to settle into maturity, to refine what they already are, not rethink what they could become. Yet Shelter Afrique Development Bank is doing the opposite. It is choosing reinvention. In Rabat, Morocco,…
WPP Scangroup‘s board survived a dramatic shareholder challenge at the company’s Annual General Meeting in Nairobi on Monday, but the outcome has done little to silence growing concerns about the future direction of East Africa’s largest listed marketing services group.…
In Owino Market in Kampala, a trader named Tendo does not visit a bank. He has never filled in a loan application form. He does not own land to offer as collateral. But last Tuesday, his phone buzzed with an…
Uganda’s junior golf development system is increasingly producing athletes competing on the international stage, following the conclusion of Season Six of the NCBA Junior Golf Series at Uganda Golf Club over the weekend. The season finale, held on June 7,…
By Publicist East Africa There are leaders who run organisations, then there are leaders whose work quietly shapes the direction of countries. Clare Akamanzi belongs firmly in the latter category. Today, she leads NBA Africa, one of the continent’s most…
On Monday morning in Nairobi, a group of minority shareholders will walk into the Annual General Meeting of WPP Scangroup knowing that the odds are stacked against them. The mathematics is simple. WPP plc controls a majority stake in the…
The language used by many companies is changing. Where sustainability initiatives were once framed primarily as community outreach programmes, they are now being integrated into long-term business strategy. NCBA Bank Uganda says its environmental efforts are anchored in its broader…
President Yoweri Museveni’s 2026 State of the Nation Address has placed Uganda’s next policy cycle firmly in motion, with the Government set to table 38 Bills, policy frameworks, reports and statutory instruments before Parliament in the 2026/27 financial year. While…
NCBA Bank Uganda has reaffirmed its commitment to strengthening Uganda’s financial markets, positioning the sector as a critical enabler of the country’s economic transformation ambitions. The bank’s Global Markets Division participated in the ACI Financial Markets Authority (FMA) Uganda Dealers’…
Leadership transitions often reveal more about a company’s future than its annual reports. That is why the appointment of Phrase Lubega as Managing Director of MTN Mobile Money Uganda, subject to regulatory approval, deserves closer attention than a routine executive…
For years, Uganda’s insurance sector was defined by one word: fragmentation. Dozens of insurers competed for relatively small market share in an industry where penetration remained among the lowest in Africa. Competition was abundant; scale was not. Many firms struggled…
In 2026, Uganda found itself celebrating two major export milestones, the country surpassed Ethiopia in monthly coffee export volumes, exporting 47,606 tonnes compared to Ethiopia’s 43,481 tonnes and reinforcing its growing position in global coffee markets. Around the same period,…
When Barclays exited Africa and became Absa, many dismissed it as a corporate restructuring exercise. When Citigroup began retreating from consumer banking operations across multiple markets, it was viewed as part of a broader global strategy. Now Standard Chartered has…
On a mining site in Buhweju, western Uganda, a small-scale miner sifts through soil with basic tools, hoping that the next pan will yield enough gold to cover rising food prices, school fees, and transport costs. The work is steady…
By Publicist East Africa Few regulators have done more to quietly reshape Uganda’s financial architecture than Alhaj Dr. Kaddunabbi Ibrahim Lubega. For more than fifteen years, he has led the transformation of Uganda’s insurance industry from a largely misunderstood and…
Uganda’s post-pandemic tourism story had been one of East Africa’s most compelling. In 2024, arrivals rose 7.7% to 1.37 million, earnings surged 26% to USD 1.28 billion, and the sector contributed 5.7% to GDP. By 2025, revenues had pushed toward…
As Africa’s economies navigate intensifying global uncertainty, accelerating digital disruption, climate-linked financial pressures, and shifting geopolitical trade dynamics, central banks across East Africa are quietly moving toward deeper coordination. While still informal and evolving, this trajectory signals the early formation…
Every year, hundreds of millions of dollars flow into religious tourism destinations across the world. From the Vatican and Jerusalem to Lalibela in Ethiopia and the Basilica of Our Lady of Peace in Côte d’Ivoire, faith has become not only…
The transition in leadership at the Uganda Bankers Association comes at a pivotal moment for Uganda’s financial sector, defined by accelerating digital disruption, tightening macroeconomic conditions, rising credit risks, expanding regional integration, and the rapid emergence of artificial intelligence as…
By Publicist East Africa As part of our expanding weekly Captains and Lionesses of Industry series, Publicist East Africa continues to spotlight visionary African leaders whose ideas, leadership, and institutional influence are shaping the future of industries across the continent.…
For years, Uganda’s agricultural conversation has largely revolved around one dominant narrative: farmers need more support, more financing, more inputs, more seedlings, more tractors and more training. While all these interventions matter, they may not fully address the real structural…
Uganda’s tourism sector is growing globally in visibility, recognition, and earnings. But behind the optimism lies a structural problem the industry can no longer ignore, infrastructure is not keeping pace with tourism ambition. In 2024, the country welcomed 1,371,895 international…
For years, one word has defined Uganda’s oil sector: delay. Delayed production timelines. Delayed refinery negotiations. Delayed investment decisions. And still, no first oil. To critics, Uganda appeared trapped, negotiating endlessly while other nations pumped, exported, and collected revenues. The…
Uganda may have quietly crossed an important economic milestone, one that could carry significant implications for the country’s export economy, industrialisation agenda, and agricultural transformation ambitions. In what many observers are describing as a major breakthrough for Uganda’s agro-processing sector,…
This Week’s Captain of Industry: Publicist East Africa At a time when Uganda is aggressively positioning tourism as a pillar of socio-economic transformation, one name continues to stand tall at the intersection of enterprise, conservation, destination branding, and sports tourism…
For years, Ugandan manufacturers have battled an uncomfortable question in international trade circles; Can locally manufactured products truly compete at global standards? That question is now being answered not through promises or policy speeches but through certification, compliance, exports, and…
Rwanda’s recent decision to formally regulate cryptocurrencies and virtual assets mayprove to be one of the most significant digital finance policy shifts East Africa hasseen in years. For a region long defined by caution, warnings, and regulatory uncertainty aroundcrypto-assets, Kigali’s…
For years, Centenary Bank stood almost alone as Uganda’s defining indigenous banking success story. It proved that a Ugandan-rooted financial institution could scale nationally, compete with multinational players, penetrate rural communities, mobilize grassroots savings, and earn the trust of millions.…
For years, Uganda’s banking industry has largely been defined by foreign-owned institutions, legacy perceptions, and an urban-centred approach to growth. Yet quietly, and perhaps more strategically than many realise, a different kind of story is beginning to emerge. The transition…
In Uganda’s increasingly restless political and economic environment, words alone are no longer enough. Citizens have heard promises before. They have listened to speeches about corruption, service delivery, accountability, patriotism, and transformation for decades. What many increasingly appear to be…
Every morning, Uganda exports wealth it never fully keeps. In the hills of Ntungamo, a coffee farmer harvests beans that will eventually sell in European supermarkets for nearly twenty times what she earns. Uganda grows the coffee. Europe roasts it.…
Uganda’s aviation sector is entering one of its most strategically sensitive periods in recent years balancing global geopolitical disruptions, rising diplomatic significance, increasing passenger movements, and mounting pressure on Entebbe International Airport as the country’s primary international gateway. While…
Africa’s marketing, brand, and reputation economy is no longer emerging, it is asserting itself globally. The unveiling of the 2026 ACMO100, Africa’s 100 Most Influential CMOs marks more than just another industry recognition list. It signals the rise of a…
Uganda is preparing to become an oil-producing nation, yet it still depends almost entirely on imported fuel to keep its economy moving. Every taxi ride, factory shipment, and cross-border truck movement relies on petroleum products entering through regional supply routes…
For years, Uganda’s banking sector has carried a familiar contradiction: strong profits, expanding balance sheets, rapid digital adoption, and rising deposits, alongside a quieter and more persistent limitation in its economic footprint. Banks have scaled. Financial systems have deepened. Transactions…
Uganda’s electricity transition has moved from policy to pressure. It offers a clear lesson. In large-scale public sector shifts, communication is not support. It is strategy. The move from Umeme Limited to Uganda Electricity Distribution Company Limited was always going…
Uganda has taken back control of its electricity distribution system and the test has begun. Following the exit of Umeme Limited, Uganda Electricity Distribution Company Limited now assumes full responsibility for power distribution. This places the state utility at the center of one…
Uganda has passed its largest budget ever; UGX 84 trillion. It’s bold. It’s ambitious. And it signals one thing: government is betting big on growth. But here’s the real question; can our system deliver? At face value, this budget is…
Stanbic Uganda Holdings Limited has reported a strong financial performance for the year ended December 31, 2025, posting net profit of UGX 591 billion, representing a 23.6% increase from the previous year, and declaring UGX 360 billion in dividends to…
As Artificial Intelligence (AI) matures from a digital novelty into a foundational pillar of the global economy, the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) has launched a high-level dialogue on the future of work. The 16th edition of the NSSF Career…
The National Social Security Fund (NSSF) has officially launched a high-stakes amnesty window, giving thousands of defaulting employers exactly 60 days to settle outstanding contributions or face aggressive litigation. Announcing the move at Workers House in Kampala today, NSSF Deputy…
As global enterprises increasingly pivot toward Africa as the next great hub for customer operations, a new technological bridge has been built between the Middle East and the African continent. Squaretalk, the Jerusalem-based AI-powered communication powerhouse, has officially announced a…
In a decisive move to bolster national security and maintain international aviation standards, the Uganda Civil Aviation Authority (UCAA), in partnership with the Directorate of Citizenship and Immigration Control (DCIC), concluded an intensive sensitisation program to neutralise the threat of…
Part 2: What Emerging Development Finance Models Reveal If industrialisation is Uganda’s declared ambition, then the structure of its capital will determine whether that ambition materialises at scale. Development finance is no longer simply about lending; it is about instrument…
The appointment of Joshua Oigara as the new Chief Executive Officer of Stanbic Holdings Plc, effective March 1, 2026, is more than a standard executive transition. It is a strategic ‘double-down’ by the Standard Bank Group on the East African…
The battle lines for the future of African finance are being redrawn. In a move that has sent ripples through the continent’s financial corridors, Absa Group has appointed Sitoyo Lopokoiyit, the former Managing Director of M-Pesa Africa, to head its…
Part 1: The Institutions Shaping Uganda’s Industrial Future Uganda’s industrial ambition is no longer rhetorical. As the nation transitions into the National Development Plan IV (NDPIV) cycle, the vision of a transformed society is crystallising. Agro-processing zones are expanding, oil-linked…
The landscape of Uganda’s fintech sector is set for a significant shift as Richard Yego, the Managing Director of MTN Mobile Money (U) Limited, prepares to step down on February 28, 2026. After a transformative four-year tenure that began in…
In a significant move for South Africa’s higher education landscape, Sol Plaatje University (SPU) has announced the appointment of Thebe Ikalafeng as its new Chancellor, effective January 16, 2026. The five-year appointment, confirmed by the University Council, marks a historic…
The appointment of Girma Wake, the legendary former CEO of Ethiopian Airlines, as the interim head of Uganda Airlines in early 2026 is being hailed by many Ugandans as a ‘rescue mission’ for the national carrier. However, the 82-year-old aviation…