Uganda targets wealthy European investors

Edward Katende the MD of Focus on Uganda, a trade and investment promotions company in London, said the conference has attracted investors with total capitalisation of over US$100 billion to look for investment opportunities in Uganda. The guest list includes; wealthy venture capitalists, private equity investors and European corporations with a presence in the UK.

Exploiting existing opportunities

"We want to bring these wealthy international investors to Uganda to exploit the existing opportunities in the country," Katende said in an interview. In a separate interview, Katende said that if a small fraction of the US$100 billion moves into Uganda, it would deepen and diversify the country's economy and promote sustainable development.

Katende added that investors who have confirmed attendance have interests in Uganda's infrastructure projects, oil and gas, agriculture, tourism and ICT sectors which still present enormous opportunities. Uganda, through oil exploration firms Tullow Oil Plc, Heritage Oil Plc and Dominion Petroleum, has discovered in excess of 2.5 billion barrels of recoverable oil.

Private sector supports the event

Focus on Uganda, in collaboration with the Uganda Investment Authority, Renaissance Capital and Tullow Oil are behind the event. Participants at the conference will also include; government officials from the UK, trade financiers, investment officers, legal experts, insurers and export credit agencies, according to Katende.

Africa has become an exciting magnet for international funds because it offers yield-hungry investors higher returns than other emerging markets, according to the Africa Business report. A recent report by Investec Asset Management recently said that Africa offers the potential for "attractive returns at significantly lower risk levels than are commonly perceived."

Major funds in Africa include; Actis, Citadel Capital (Egypt), and the Commonwealth Development Corporation (London). In the last 10 years private equity firms in Africa have raised over US$10 billion in aggregate capital, according to Prequin, an investment and research firm. South African private equity firms contributed nearly 60% while the others contributed the rest.