Business

By eyeing government contracts, potentially game-changing policy locks out general public solidarity with business I have a confession to make. I love mangoes. They are as sweet to look at as they are sweet to taste. Whether arranged in the cool aisles of supermarkets, on neat stalls of town markets, …

Japheth Kawanguzi is the Team Leader at Innovations Village, an incubation hub for start-up businesses based in Kampala. He spoke to The Independent’s Ian Katusiime about the future outlook of start-ups in Uganda. What is your management philosophy? A US General, George Patton says ‘don’t tell people what to do …

Is the mandatory vehicle inspection exercise manned by multinational company, SGS worth it for Uganda?     With two months to the date of apprehending motor vehicles that have not gone through mandatory vehicle inspection exercise, only 5,000 units out of over 800,000 motor vehicles on the road have been inspected …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | Credit rating agency Standard and Poor’s downgraded South Africa’s rating to junk status on Monday, as the country’s currency continued to slide following a controversial cabinet shuffle. “The executive changes initiated by President Zuma have put at risk fiscal and growth outcomes,” S&P said …

The Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA) has become the third East African region country to commission the regional Electronic Cargo Tracking System (RECTS). After similar events in the recent past in Nairobi and Kampala, this completes the geo-fencing of the route from Mombasa to Kigali. The Independent talked to Richard Tusabe, …

BoU’s Mutebile leads call for export driven policy instead Amelia Kyambadde, the Minister for Trade, Industry and Cooperatives, has had a tough time selling her flagship policy plank, the `Buy Uganda Build Uganda’ (BUBU).   But the latest criticism against the policy came from the most unexpected voice; that of the …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | Pravin Gordhan, who was sacked late Thursday, is liked and admired by many ordinary South Africans — an unusual achievement for any finance minister. He held onto the purse strings for longer than many analysts expected after he was parachuted into the job in …

MTN pays $98 million part of Nigerian fine: officials Lagos, Nigeria | AFP | South African telecoms giant MTN has paid nearly $100 million of a $1.7 billion fine for failing to disconnect unregistered SIM cards in Nigeria, officials said on Friday. “MTN has paid 30 billion naira ($98 million, 92 …

London, United Kingdom | AFP | Lloyd’s of London’s decision to open a European subsidiary was inevitable following the trigger of Brexit, with the only difficult choice being its location, chief executive Inga Beale told AFP Thursday. Lloyd’s, which insures against catastrophes such as earthquakes, shipwrecks and revolutions, announced it …

New Delhi, India | AFP | India’s lower house of parliament on Wednesday passed four supporting bills that will pave the way for a landmark tax reform and transform the world’s fastest growing economy into a common market. The government aims to launch the goods and services tax (GST) law by …