By Patrick Kagenda Crane Bank registered tremendous growth in its asset base on top of growing its lending portfolio. The Independent’s Patrick Kagenda talked to the bank’s managing director A.R.Kalan. Crane Bank made Shs 25.88 billion in profits in 2008 even as the global financial meltdown hit most businesses. Your …
Read More »Is URA hounding out small clearing agents?
By Patrick Kagenda Small import/export clearing firms form the backbone of local clearing and forwarding business in most countries. So to survive in the competitive international trading environment “” both against bureaucratic red-tape and well-resourced multi-nationals, they have always naturally found strength in numbers by operating under umbrella bodies. In …
Read More »Experts disagree on World Bank Development Report
By Patrick Kagenda Central Bank Governor Tumusime Mutebile called it “the most innovative thinking in development literature in 30 years” but the 2009 World Development Report has sparked strong opposition among Uganda’s economic experts. They disagree on answers to two fundamental questions posed by the report: Whether the growing concentrations …
Read More »Common Market: Politicians reject manufacturer demands
By Patrick Kagenda As discussions on the East African Common Market protocol closed in Kampala at the beginning of April, the Uganda Manufactures Association (UMA) leaders were meeting Uganda’s first deputy prime minister and minister for East African Community Affairs Eriya Kategaya. The UMA bosses had one major concern: the …
Read More »G20 summit: Did Africa get what it wanted?
By Independent Team & Agencies After it ended on April 2 the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group President, Donald Kaberuka, who was part of a NEPAD delegation, said the G-20 summit was a major success because it adopted specific African proposals. I think we made a very surprising level of …
Read More »Tullow wins back Congo oil rights
By Independent Team & Agencies AS expected, Tullow Oil and its partner Heritage Oil have won back rights to explore for oil in the Democratic Republic of Congo after a year-long dispute, the country’s hydrocarbons minister, Rene Isekemanga Nkeka, has said. Congo’s previous hydrocarbons minister, Lambert Mende, in February 2008, …
Read More »Dr Sebbaale: Hands off but eyes on
By Agnes Asiimwe Dr. Sebbaale Kato is the CEO of Case Medical Centre in Kampala and a senior lecturer in the department of surgery of Makerere University, a pioneer laparoscopic surgeon and gastroenterologist. Kato is also chairman of Uganda Cricket Association, a golfer, and a born-again Christian. What’s your day …
Read More »Maintaining winning brands
By The Independent Team This is a new self-help book for brand strategists, marketers, and corporate managers whose salient point is one: A brand is only valuable as long as it’s moving forward. Just as a shark must keep swimming to stay alive, brands must keep moving forward to maintain …
Read More »BoU allows free fall of shilling
By Patrick Kagenda But analysts warn strategy could backfire if inflation spirals Did the Central Bank intervene late last month in the local foreign currency market? According to media reports, unnamed Central Bank officials confirmed it had intervened on March 25 to prop up an already strong dollar against the …
Read More »Nakumatt set for supermarket wars
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 …
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