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Manufacturers at event ask for government support
Kampala, Uganda | JULIUS BUSINGE | Uganda International Trade Fair (UGITF), an annual event for manufacturers, returned for its 26th edition on Oct.2-10. The event that was held at the Uganda Manufacturers Association in Lugogo attracted thousands of tradeshow goers and exhibitors.
Besides their usual showcasing of their latest products on the market and making some sales, the event also enabled organisers carry out training for those in farming activities – coffee, piggery, and poultry. Manufactures that The Independent spoke to said they were using the opportunity to showcase their products and increase their sales in the near future.
Paul Alion, from Mehta Group of Companies, which has participated in the previous tradeshows, said that such events give them an opportunity to engage with its customers.
“Our business of sugar, electric cables and Carbon dioxide gas is growing partly because of the visibility we get here and the way we engage with our customers,” he said. “We are happy the numbers of people coming here to ask about our products is growing,” added Kabaseke, a sales executive at Bidco Uganda Limited.
“They are asking good questions and some are buying; it is good for us.” This year’s tradeshow was organized under the theme ‘enhancing value addition through industrialization.’
The manufacturers, however, used the event to lure government change policies that would provide solutions to their historical challenges – high power costs, expensive credit from financial institutions, poor infrastructure and limited markets.
The manufacturers say solving these challenges would support the economy given that manufacturing as a sector now contributes 5.4% to Uganda’s Gross Domestic Product. UMA’s Executive Director, Daniel Birungi, told The Independent in an interview that by day 04, the Fair had attracted 15,000 show goers and he was projecting the number to go up to 300,000 by the end of the show on October 10 – higher than last year’s 245,000 show goers.
He said UMA officials met the energy minister, Irene Muloni, who promised to write a confirmation with regard to lowering the costs of electricity to ease the costs of doing business.
He said they also agreed with Muloni that they work with Umeme to ensure that areas with multiple meters for their members is combined to one so as to increase consumption as a group and hence lower tariffs for large consumers.
Birungi also revealed that they had agreed with the Trade Minister, Amelia Kyambadde, that UMA members are consulted during the process of the ongoing development of the new industrial policy and also in trying to access more external market.
He added that they also had an engagement with the Minister of Finance (Matia Kasaija) pushing for UMA members to get letters of credit whenever they supply goods to government – that would help them access credit from financial institutions.
“We believe that our policy advocacy is made stronger when we engage with these entities…we are optimistic this will go a long way in addressing our challenges,” Burungi added. Earlier, Barbara Mulwana, the chairperson Board of Directors for UMA said that attracting over 30 countries and 1300 exhibitors to the show was testimony to the growth of the industrial sector in Uganda and the attractiveness of Uganda as a business and investment destination.
She requested the government to speed up the process of facilitating Uganda Development Bank to start issuing the Export Insurance Guarantees for exporters in Uganda and also lobby South Sudan, DR Congo, Burundi among others to join the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) so that it is easy to access and utilize the Islamic Insurance Facility to cover export risks within the OIC countries.
President’s basket of promises
President Yoweri Museveni, who was represented by Kasaija said the government is prioritising manufacturing deliberately under Vision 2040 and that the idea is to have 50% of Ugandan exports being manufactured goods – which would create more jobs and earn Uganda foreign exchange.
He assured the UMA that with more power projects coming onboard, the cost of power shall continue to reduce until “we realize the US5cents/KWh for all manufacturers.”
He also said government would do more in terms of boosting exports in addition to dealing with the prevailing trade barriers within the EAC trading bloc. “I noted all your challenges and all are solvable,” Museveni said in the speech.
