Uganda is Ready for Take-Off: “Now is the Time to Invest in Uganda” Says Amos Nzeyi

Uganda recently celebrated 34 years since the NRM government came into power – a government that has by and large presided over much of the country’s economic progress in its 57-year modern history.

This year also marks 27 years since a consortium of local Ugandan investors acquired 100% of the privatised former Lake Victoria Bottling Company (LVBC) in 1993. The consortium of local investors including myself, Dr. Amos Nzeyi, Chris Kayoboke and Eng. Daniel Kigozi (R.I.P) renamed the company to Crown Bottlers Limited.

However, in 1997, International Pepsi-Cola Bottler Investments, a South African firm, acquired 51 per cent stake in Crown Bottlers Limited and renamed it Crown Beverages Limited. In 2001, the interests of International Pepsi-Cola Bottler Investments were bought back by the local shareholders, thus making the company once again 100 per cent Ugandan owned.

Unfortunately, by then, our colleague, Eng. Daniel Kigozi, who had served Uganda in various capacities such as former Managing Director of Uganda Breweries and later a Minister of Industry and Minister of Works, had passed on, but we were blessed to have on board, his wife, Prof. Margaret Kigozi, with whom we have built the company into one of Uganda’s biggest companies.

Since then, the shareholders have invested over USD 200 million (UGX 740 billion) in the business and we are to date, one of Uganda’s biggest employers and among Uganda’s top 20 taxpayers – having paid a total of UGX 284 billion between 2013 and 2018.

The story of the transformation of Crown Beverages Limited is very synonymous with the story of Uganda’s growth over the last three decades – the country has been built literally from ruins, one step at a time, and today, most of all the fundamentals needed to spring us into a middle income country are in position.

Ugandans today are healthier and live longer – life expectancy has grown from about 48 years in 1986 to 63 years in 2019. Ugandans, especially the youths, are more educated – adult literacy rate has increased from 50% in the 80s to now over 76.5% and 90% for the 15-24 age group.

The proportion of people with access to electricity has climbed from about 5% in the 80s to over 28% in 2018/19, while the number of paved roads has grown by more than 6 times from 987 kms in 1986/87 to 6,348.7 kms. The investment in road infrastructure and other enhancements in border export and import clearances, now makes it possible for a truck of goods to travel from Mombasa to Kampala in 2-3 days from over 10 days in the 90s. A transport company is thus able to make up to 8 trips in a month – while traders get their goods in time.

As such, Uganda’s economy has grown from a small USD 4.1 billion economy in 1986, largely reliant on coffee exports of just about USD 300 million in the 1980s, to now over USD 27 billion in GDP and USD 3.7 billion in diversified export revenues – with coffee contributing just 10%.

GDP growth has averaged 5-6% while the share of agriculture value added in GDP declined from 56% in 1990 to 24% in 2015; the share of industry grew from 11% to 20% and the share of services went up from 32% to 55%.

All the above have translated into increased household incomes – from UGX 170,891 in fiscal year 2005/06 to UGX 416,000 in 2016/17, according to the Uganda National Household Survey by Uganda Bureau of Statistics. The 2016 Poverty Assessment Report by the World Bank reported that Uganda had reduced the proportion of Ugandans living below the national poverty line from 31.1% in 2006 to 19.7% in 2013 – one of the best poverty reduction stories in Sub-Saharan Africa.

All in all, in the words of President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, during his National State of Affairs address at State House Entebbe on September 09th 2018, “Uganda has reached the take-off point.”

The December 2019 Stanbic Bank’s Purchasing Managers Index (PMI), a monthly survey that measures business conditions in the country, also confirms this. According to the survey, Uganda’s private sector, reported increased production output and new orders for the thirty fifth month in a row, hence resulting into on-going increases in both staffing levels and purchasing activity in the economy. The businesses also remained confident regarding the 12-month outlook for business activity, with four-fifths (80%) of the respondents predicting more growth in 2020.

By: Dr. Amos Nzeyi, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Crown Beverages Limited