Home / Invest
Invest in Uganda
An English-speaking common-law jurisdiction in the East African Community, with an investor licensing system built around a single centre.
Why Uganda
The case, stated plainly
- Market access. Membership of the East African Community and the African Continental Free Trade Area places production in Uganda inside a large regional market rather than a single national one.
- English-language administration and common law. Contracts, company law and regulatory correspondence are conducted in English.
- One Stop licensing. The core approvals sit in one centre operated by the Uganda Investment Authority, with an electronic portal for selected registrations.
- Industrial land. The Investment Authority allocates serviced land in industrial and business parks; enquiries about plots go through the licensing desk.
- Incentives tied to the licence. Tax and customs incentives are attached to the investment licence and to qualifying value-adding activity; the Revenue Authority desk explains what applies to a given project.
What counts as an investor
In the framework used by the Investment Authority, an investor is a person or legal entity engaged in value addition, manufacturing and similar activity that creates jobs, introduces new technology and pays due taxes on profit. Trading alone is treated differently from production and processing — worth knowing before a structure is chosen.
Sectors that need regulator approval
Some sectors require secondary licences from their own regulators in addition to the investment licence — among them energy generation, mining, banking, air transport, pharmaceutical production, education and health. Projects in manufacturing, mining, agriculture, transport, forestry, electrical infrastructure and works touching rivers, dams or conservation areas normally require environmental clearance.
Source: Uganda Investment Authority guide to the One Stop Centre. The guide notes that requirements change with amendments to the Investment Code and related regulations.
Priority sectors
Agriculture and agro-processing
Coffee, tea, cocoa, cereals, fish, dairy, fruit and vegetables. Value addition close to the raw material remains the largest single opportunity for Polish food-processing and packaging technology.
Minerals and mining
Gold, iron ore, phosphates, limestone, rare earths, dimension stone. Poland and Uganda have identified mining and geological services as a priority track for cooperation.
Energy and infrastructure
Hydro, solar and mini-grid generation, transmission, roads, rail, water and sanitation, industrial parks, and engineering, procurement and construction contracts.
ICT, digital services and BPO
A young, English-speaking workforce, expanding fibre coverage and a growing outsourcing base: software development, data services, fintech and shared service centres.
Tourism and hospitality
Mountain gorilla and chimpanzee tracking, ten national parks, the source of the Nile, the Rwenzori range, birding, and the Polish wartime settlements at Koja and Nyabyeya.
Health, pharmaceuticals and education
Local manufacture of medicines and medical consumables, hospital equipment, diagnostic services, vocational training and higher education partnerships.