PSDU driving the business environment
Apr 17, 2019
The external factors include nature of business climate and its ability to impact the cost of doing business
Some of the companies that Outbox Hub, a Ugandan incubation centre, helped to recieve funding.
The Private Sector Development Unit (PSDU) was established to undertake overall policy formulation and co-ordination of investment and private sector development policies in line with the mandate of the finance ministry. New Vision's Owen Wagabaza spoke to Dr Peter Ntegateize, the head of the unit, about the state of the private sector in Uganda. Below are excerpts
Tell us about the Private Sector Development Unit
It is a unit of the finance ministry under the Department of Economic Development Policy and Research in the Directorate of Economic Affairs. This unit evolved from the former Competitiveness and Investment Climate Strategy Secretariat. PSDU is aligned to the ministry's strategic objective and contributes to the achievement of a competitive economy for national development. It facilitates the implementation of the National Strategy for Private Sector Development, 2017/18 - 2021/22.
What exactly do you do?
The PSDU plays an advisory role towards private sector development policy aspects through driving the businessenvironment/climate agenda and conducting value chain analysis and advisory. We do enterprise advisory and development, as well as communicating through the annual National Competiveness Forum. We also do the Business Licensing and Regulatory Reforms Programme. PSDU co-ordinates the ease of doing business by ministries, departments and agencies.
Why does Uganda have a 90% high mortality rate of enterprises?
The mortality rates are not as high as quoted, research shows that many entrepreneurs change form and or location for their survival. However, enterprises collapse due to internal and external factors, which is a key characteristic of informality. Internal factors include commitment of the entrepreneur to growth, management capability, networking ability, funding level, sales and marketing capacity, research, as well as product or services development to meet market feedback. In this regard, we are seeing a growing recognition of the importance of entrepreneurship education/training and mentorship in overcoming internal barriers.
The external factors include nature of business climate and its ability to impact the cost of doing business, access to affordable and appropriate new technologies and access to a sizeable market with effective demand. However, the Government is implementing interventions geared towards improving the regulatory environment to reduce the cost of doing business. Among these is ensuring that the existing institutional framework supports start-ups to thrive, as well as providing the required structural transformation to attract more investments in the country