If you want to start business in Uganda, we can provide guidance. Just go through the article. We hope you will catch on the details. You can access the opportunities here.

Uganda is now one of the best places to do business in Africa, with a landscape of new roads and buildings such as shopping centers, restaurants, and flats. For traders, the nation provides a variety of attractive market prospects. Uganda has good business environment and plenty of potentials. It can a good destination for foreign investors.

How is the economy of Uganda?

Uganda has a market-based economy and is generally considered as one of the fastest growing economies in East Africa. This might in part, be due to its young population growing at a rate of 3% yearly while nearly half of the population is younger than 15 years old. With the most expansive and dynamic industrial base in East Africa. Uganda has been successful in attracting venture capital investments.

In fact, in 2021 a very notable search engine launched a $50m ‘African Investment Fund’, to target startups in the early growth stages, with their first touch-point being the Ugandan startup SafeBoda. More and more foreign companies and investors are setting up local and regional operations to take advantage of Uganda’s strategic location, comprehensive air routes, and status as a rapidly growing consumer market. Uganda Business registration is also straightforward.

Can I as a foreigner do business in Uganda?

Absolutely, a foreigner looking to start business in Uganda must first register a company and follow due process. This registration will be carried out through the URSB e-services platform and upon registration. The appropriate company registration documents will be issued.

Business Registration in Uganda

A. Definition

A Company is a legal person which has capacity and powers to act on its own – the law sees a company in the same light as a natural person.

It is created by the Companies Act No.1 of 2012 which provides the legal framework under which companies can be formed for legal purposes not harmful to society. The Uganda Registration of Services Bureau (URSB) is mandated under the Uganda Registration Services Bureau Act Cap 210 to register all business entities in Uganda which are required by law to be registered.

Within URSB, the Directorate of Business Registration is entitled for the registration of:

• Public/Private companies,
• Foreign companies,
• Legal documents (e.g Constitutions, agreements, deeds, powers of attorney, etc), and
• Security documents (e.g mortgages, chattels, debentures, etc).

B. Registration & certification

1. Benefits of registering a company:

• Obtain legal Identity/status
• Safeguard your business name by acquiring a trade name
• Access opportunities like loans, tenders, financing etc
• Business formalization creates more work opportunities through business expansion
• Enables registration for licenses e.g Investment, trading and taxation licenses
• Better marketing and advertising opportunities for increased clientele
• Improved competitiveness in the regional market

2. Benefits of registering a document

Registered documents are admissible in the court of law since they have evidential value in the eyes of the law. This means that un-registered documents are not readily acceptable and admissible in a court of law.

Registered documents safeguard the interest of a buyer since they take effect against every un-registered documents relating to the same property. In other words, the registration of documents preserves the title of the buyer.

Registering your document puts it on the government record which renders credibility to the document and makes it a notice to the public at large in respect to the subject matter of the document.

3. Registering a document

• All major features of the document should be clearly and properly represented on each copy of the document.
• The document should be presented in triplicate (3 copies) and duly witnessed.

4. Certifying a document

• Present copies of the document to be certified;
• Pay the certification fees; and
• Hand in the documents and payment receipt at the Business Registry.
• All transactions are with the Uganda Registration Services Burureau (URSB) at any their listed branches.

C. Business Phase Out

Should your company face financial problems and cannot pay its bills, contact the office of the official receiver in URSB and get guidance on any of these options:

Winding up – dissolving your business by selling off its assets and satisfying the creditors from the proceeds of the sale,

Administration – appointing an administrator for your insolvent company so as to facilitate its recovery, and

Receivership – enabling a secured creditor to recover amounts outstanding under a secured loan in the event that your company defaults on the loan.

When closing your company for any reason, wind it up legally so as to avoid unnecessary costs.

Look for a problem in your area

A business is nothing else but a solution to a problem. As you are planning to start your business, this is the question that should be on your mind. ‘What problem am I solving?’ Until you find an answer to this question, it is not advisable to start up a business yet.

Problems can be found in different ways. But majorly problems are found in two ways:

• By looking at the challenges you face as a person or,
• Looking at the challenges faced by other people.
• After coming up with a problem, the next step is looking for a way to solve that problem. It is this solution that will later be turned into a business idea.

Come up with a solution

After getting our problem in our society either from within (the challenges you face personally) or without (the problems faced by other people), the next step is to develop a solution to that problem. This is by far the hardest step in starting up a business.

Business solutions are majorly two types. They are either Products or Services.

Product-based solutions are those solutions that can be physically touched for example bread, a car, chapati, and many more. Service-based solutions are not touchable. Examples include Airtime, Internet, Counselling services and many more.

Examples of business solutions that provide products include: hotels which provide food, hardware shops which provide building materials, farming which provide vegetables and many other businesses.

On the other hand, service-based businesses include: Counsellor who provides counselling, a mechanic who repairs spoilt electronics or cars, and many others.

Product-based solutions are so many as compared to service-based solutions. But no matter which type of business solution type you want to use, consider the following;

The type of people you are making the solution for. Will they like products or services?

The nature of the problem itself. Does it require a product or service?

The cost of production. A product or service solution, what is cheaper to manufacture?

Your expertise. What are you skilled in? is it its products or services?

After determining the way how you will deliver the solution to your potential customers either through products or services, you will then go to step three which is carrying out market research.

Carry Out Market Research

Market research according to Investopedia is the process of determining the viability of a new service or product through research conducted directly with potential customers.

Having a solution is one thing and it being of value is another. Market research helps you identify the value of your solution to your community.

If your community feels like your business serves them no purpose you better change your product or your business at large because they will not support you with their money and time.

Carrying out market research helps you test your product’s value to your customers prior to investing a lot of money in your business and time because you may waste your resources for nothing.

Ways to do Market Research

You can go and meet your potential customers and ask them if they like your product or,

You can make a sample (Minimum Viable Product MVP) and show it to your customers and ask them if they like your product.

Start your business but with little investment and test and see if customers will like your business and then invest more money in your business.

A point to note: Market research is so crucial especially if you are going to start a business that has not been done before in your area.

If your new business is similar to other businesses that are already running well in your society, you can skip this step because there is already a market for your product since many other businesses like yours are doing fine.

Market research is like a report card to show you if you should go ahead and start your business or don’t start it up.

If you successfully complete your market research and see that your business can be profitable and is valued by your potential customers, you go to the fourth step which is legalizing your business.

Business Registration

After completing market research successfully and seeing their businesses as viable, most people start their businesses straight away but they forget a crucial step which is business registration.

Business registration is the process of officiating and legalizing your business with the legal bodies concerned with business in your area. The Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB) which handles this. Most people do not like registering their businesses because they see no value in this process but they are mistaken.

Requirements to register a business in Uganda

• Having a National ID or Passport of the traders.
• Contact information of the Company and directors/shareholders – Email address, telephone numbers, postal address and residential address.
• Proposed Registered office of the company.
• Authorized Share Capital of the company
• Nature of business and objectives of the company.
• Division of shares between the shareholders of the company.
• Nominal capital of the company.

Registering your business has many advantages which include:

• Get a unique business name that can not be used by any other business or organization,
• Getting funded by the government through the government grunts,
• Getting partnerships with other NGOs which normally partner with well-registered businesses
• Getting tax benefits if you register your business as a Limited Liability Company (LLC)
• To register your business you need to visit the Uganda Registration Services Bureau. For More details about business registration, there is a complete guideline from URSB.
• After registering your business, you pay the necessary authorities for the licenses of operation. You pay the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) for business licenses.

Startup Your Business

In this step, there are two substeps. These are: Preparation step and Opening up step. 

Preparation step

In this step, you prepare your business for the grand opening. It is during this step that you clean your room if it is a shop and stock it up well.

If you are going to manufacture the products, you start manufacturing if it is a retail shop, you start preparing your business and shopping for your business and open it up when it is ready.

Opening up step

This is the final step in how to start a business in Uganda opening up your business to your customers. If you have a hotel, it means starting cooking for your customers. This is the final step of your journey.

After the long journey, you now enjoy your research, persistence, and determination to share your solution with your customers and your community. If in case you have seen this all and still have not come up with a business idea, don’t worry.

Conclusion

Uganda has been a reliable place for foreign investors. You can go with the guidance we have provided. It is relatively easy to start a business in Uganda. You can try your luck to get benefit from the opportunities available. So, grab the opportunity and make your best and calculative investment.