Uganda has 3m businessmen
May 02, 2005
UGANDA has 3.3 million entrepreneurs, who own fresh start-up businesses or fully-fledged firms, the latest Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) 2004 Report has said.
By Sylvia Juuko
UGANDA has 3.3 million entrepreneurs, who own fresh start-up businesses or fully-fledged firms, the latest Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) 2004 Report has said.
However, the report says most of these businesses are small-scale, low quality and lack innovation.
Presenting key findings of the GEM report, team leader Prof. Thomas Walter said over 1.7 million business were started during 2004 while 2.3 million firms existed.
“The figures may be different from those of the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS), which show that there are 160,000 formal and informal business. UBOS has a different definition of entrepreneurship. Our definition of entrepreneurship is any activity undertaken to earn money,†Walter said.
The report was launched by state minister for investment, Prof. Ssemakula Kiwanuka at Blue Bar on Crested Towers in Kampala recently.
Kiwanuka said the creation of wealth and economic growth is not a question of increasing entrepreneurial activity but improving the quality of businesses.
Walter said while Uganda had been ranked among the most entrepreneurial countries in the world, it had the highest rate of business closures.
He said 30% of adults interviewed last year had closed down their businesses in the last 12 months, a factor he called positive because only strong sustainable businesses thrive.
The report said businesses closed because entrepreneurs lacked education and business skills.
The report said though closure rates were high, rates of entrepreneurs re-starting businesses were higher.
“This is compatible with entrepreneurship theories of churn, which predict that high growth economies are characterised by new firm formation and high rates of closures,†says the report.
The findings show that though informal activities are dominant, they are on the decline, indicating that Ugandan entrepreneurs were moving away from opportunistic modes of income generation to specialisation in formal business.
Over 2,000 adults were sampled in all regions except the north.
Ends
UGANDA has 3.3 million entrepreneurs, who own fresh start-up businesses or fully-fledged firms, the latest Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) 2004 Report has said.
However, the report says most of these businesses are small-scale, low quality and lack innovation.
Presenting key findings of the GEM report, team leader Prof. Thomas Walter said over 1.7 million business were started during 2004 while 2.3 million firms existed.
“The figures may be different from those of the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS), which show that there are 160,000 formal and informal business. UBOS has a different definition of entrepreneurship. Our definition of entrepreneurship is any activity undertaken to earn money,†Walter said.
The report was launched by state minister for investment, Prof. Ssemakula Kiwanuka at Blue Bar on Crested Towers in Kampala recently.
Kiwanuka said the creation of wealth and economic growth is not a question of increasing entrepreneurial activity but improving the quality of businesses.
Walter said while Uganda had been ranked among the most entrepreneurial countries in the world, it had the highest rate of business closures.
He said 30% of adults interviewed last year had closed down their businesses in the last 12 months, a factor he called positive because only strong sustainable businesses thrive.
The report said businesses closed because entrepreneurs lacked education and business skills.
The report said though closure rates were high, rates of entrepreneurs re-starting businesses were higher.
“This is compatible with entrepreneurship theories of churn, which predict that high growth economies are characterised by new firm formation and high rates of closures,†says the report.
The findings show that though informal activities are dominant, they are on the decline, indicating that Ugandan entrepreneurs were moving away from opportunistic modes of income generation to specialisation in formal business.
Over 2,000 adults were sampled in all regions except the north.
Ends