Business

By Patrick Kagenda Will Kenyan, South African giants leave Ugandan kiosks in the mud? As Kenya’s leading supermarket chain, Nakumatt gets ready to open shop in Kampala, it seems set on competition with Kenyan rival Uchumi and South African stores Game and Shoprite. Retail market watchers, however, say the Nakumatt …

By Patrick Kagenda Existing supermarkets sell about 30% Ugandan goods while the 60% is imported from Kenya, Dubai and South Africa. Ugandan commodities include mineral water, sugar, Mukwano laundry soap, Mukwano cooking oil, Britannia juices and other juices from Ugandan cottage industries, Biscuits, Sweets, Nuts, Soft Drinks, Coffees, Honey, Milk, …

By Agnes Asiimwe Wasula runs Afrigo Band as a business How did you end up in entertainment? I was a fan of the Cranes Band, and Moses Matovu who was the band leader, is a first cousin. When the Cranes collapsed Moses, Sam Tamale, Omar Matta, and I pooled resources …

By Patrick Kagenda Crown Beverages Ltd, the manufacturers of soft drinks Pepsi, Mirinda, Evervess and Seven Up are re-shaping the packaging of their products. Simon Lugoloobi, the Chief Executive Officer at Crown Beverages Ltd, told The Independent that the company was injecting US$13 million (Shs 26 billion) to import the …

By Joseph Were As it enters the last quarter, the Uganda Revenue Authority is set for a new record in net collections despite a general cloud over the economy. Compilation of its third quarter (Q3) figures must still wait for the March figures but projections based on January and February …

By Agnes Asiimwe What are your management guiding principles? I am an entrepreneur, I am not a manager. I manage by hiring managers with better brains than mine. For one to qualify to manage my enterprise, they have to be very good and outstanding, well educated and of integrity. They …

By Joseph Were Museveni’s decision that could change how every business in Uganda operates In April 2007, President Yoweri Museveni chaired a meeting at State House Nakasero to discuss the proposed Inland Dry Port at Tororo near the Kenya-Uganda border at Malaba. In attendance was a small carefully selected team …

By Agnes Asiimwe What’s your day like? I wake up at 7a.m; I do exercises for one hour in my house and at 9 a.m. I am at work. I have businesses in China so I work on that first because when its 12 noon here its 5 p.m. in …

By Patrick Kagenda When Orange Telecom, the fifth telephony company on the Ugandan market, launched its operations on Tuesday Mar 10, existing players reacted in different ways. MTN (Uganda) Chief Marketing Officer, Mr Isaac Nsereko, told The Independent that five operators are too big for the Ugandan market which is …

By Patrick Kagenda The government is pushing for compulsory National Health Insurance policy amidst widespread public skepticism. The Independent’s Patrick Kagenda spoke to the World Bank’s Senior Health Specialist Peter Okwero who says it could take 15 years before tangible results are seen on the ground. What is a National …