The inaugural Uganda Development Finance Summit (UDFS25) opened this week at the Speke Convention Centre in Kampala with a mix of celebration, critique, and bold ambition. President Yoweri Museveni, in his trademark bluntness, praised the Uganda Development Bank (UDB) for offering credit at 15%, a significant improvement on the 22% rates charged by commercial banks. But he didn’t stop there. “Why not 10%?” he asked, before going further: “And if you must, cut staff salaries to make it happen.”
The remark electrified the summit floor. For some, it was a call to radical action; for others, a dangerous oversimplification. Either way, it set the tone for two days of intense dialogue about the future of development finance in Uganda and across Africa.
Finance Minister Matia Kasaija doubled down on the optimism, forecasting Uganda’s GDP growth from $50 billion in 2023 to $500 billion by 2040, anchored in agro-industrialization, tourism, oil and gas, minerals, and ICT. Yet behind the projections lies a harder truth; with traditional funding sources shrinking, can national development banks like UDB really power such transformation?
Speakers from across the continent injected a global perspective. Arshad Rab underscored the urgency of mobilizing local capital and breaking dependency cycles. Admassu Tadesse argued for development banks to drive cross-border trade finance. Dr. Arkebe Oqubay pressed for bold, export-led strategies and youth-focused employment models. Their message was unanimous: Africa must stop waiting for external capital and build resilient systems from within.
For Ugandans, the debate is more than policy, it’s deeply personal. The farmer hoping for affordable credit, the SME owner struggling with infrastructure gaps, the young innovator desperate for investment: these are the lives that UDFS25 promises to transform. If the summit’s agenda; de-risking energy and infrastructure, promoting public-private partnerships, and financing inclusive growth delivers, the impact will be felt far beyond boardrooms.
At PublicistEA, we see UDFS25 as more than a conference. It is a test. A test of whether Uganda’s development banks will remain lenders of last resort or rise as true architects of transformation. President Museveni’s challenge to UDB was uncomfortable, but it forces a necessary reckoning: are we willing to disrupt the status quo to unlock Uganda’s full economic potential?
The journey to a $500 billion economy by 2040 will demand more than projections. It will require courageous decisions, sharper accountability, and financing models that work for ordinary Ugandans. The summit has opened the conversation. Now, the real question is whether Uganda’s leaders and financiers will back their words with the bold actions needed to change the country’s economic destiny.
PublicistEA Takeaway: UDFS25 has drawn the line in Uganda’s development finance debate. The people are watching. The pressure is on. And the conversation has only just begun.