UGANDA | SOUTH SUDAN | INVESTMENT SAFETY

Ugandans seeking to invest in South Sudan have been assured of safety and support to ensure their investments flourish.

Business experts have said while the country is recovering from war, the business environment is generally safe for investors.

They noted that about one million Ugandans were doing business in the country and thriving.

On the second day of the South Sudan-Uganda Business Forum in Juba, Augustine Kenyi, the director for external trade, said the country is interested in seeing more Ugandans invest there, especially in projects that will be beneficial to both countries.

He said the fact that the country had taken a keen interest in knowing the number of Ugandans and the businesses they are involved in was an indicator of their desire to see more investments by Ugandans.

Kenyi said so far, most Ugandans were engaged in product selling, construction sector, chapatti making and were also in the engineering sector.

Iams Finella, the technical advisor South Sudan Women Entrepreneurship Association, said the country, through its chamber of commerce, had been working hard and closely with all Ugandans to make it easier for them to do business.

“For instance, there were a lot of challenges regarding the clearance of containers to South Sudan at the port of Mombasa, which raised the cost of transportation. The chamber of commerce has been keenly involved in reducing the cost of transportation of containers from Mombasa to Juba,” she said.

Finella noted that the private sector, working with the South Sudan government, has been able to solve the noise pollution from generators by providing electricity for use.

“The chamber has been keenly involved in removing several roadblocks between Nimule and Juba,” she said.

Lawrence Bilal, the deputy commissioner for operations and technical services in the South Sudan Revenue Authority, said they had made improvements in the past years to ease business between the two countries, including replacing the physical payment systems with banks.

“At this point, all an investor needs to know in which sector they are interested and contact the relevant authorities. For instance, if it is agriculture, contact the agriculture ministry to present your business plan,” he said.

South Sudan has a sizeable fertile expanse of land, which the country’s authorities said was available for those interested in developing the sector.

Retail Business for Nationals

Dr. Christine Ijino Oyenak, the director general of trade fairs and exhibitions at the South Sudan ministry of trade and industry said Ugandan investments in the country should move away from retail to wholesale and production so that they too benefit from it through the employment of the nationals.

“So far, we are not benefiting, but we are letting them do business because of the strong bilateral relationship we share,” she said.

While the South Sudan business community has expressed enthusiasm for growing trade between both countries, Uganda has also pointed out some of the projects planned

to ensure this dream is realized.

Stephen Asiimwe, the CEO of Private Sector Foundation Uganda, said the aim is to grow trade between the two countries to about $3b from the current $400m.

“We are here for business. So much has happened in the past, but we need to create a conducive environment for business,” he said.

Plans for Industrial Park

Stephen Asiimwe, the chief executive officer of Private Sector Foundation Uganda, said Uganda Investment Authority (UIA) had indicated its plan to build industrial parks close to the border points of the two countries to create a reliable supply route with standards, cold storage facilities, parking yards and digitized systems open to both countries.

Asiimwe said the Uganda free zones authorities also intend to establish free zones on the entire border of northern Uganda that will have customs officials, bureau of standards in both countries, as well as staff from the Uganda Revenue Authority to ensure that there is a clean, reliable and effective system to ensure that quality products pass the borders.

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