Uganda Business News | Uganda Business News

Jumia to close food delivery business

A Jumia delivery motorcylist on his way to deliver an order. The ecommerce group with operations across Africa announced on 13 December that it would close its unprofitable food delivery business by the close of 2023 and focus on the delivery of physical goods and its digital wallet. It said it had determined that Jumia Food was not suited to “the current operating environment and macroeconomic conditions in its markets” and would be shut down in all seven countries where it is offered. Jumia Pay has failed to turn a profit since its launch in 2013, the company said.

In a bid to cut losses, Jumia is downsizing, cutting costs, and shutting down its unprofitable food delivery business

US response to Uganda’s anti-gay law and persistent human rights violations

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel hosts an honour guard to welcome Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni to the Pentagon for a meeting 27 September 2013

US government, at the direction of President Biden, published an account of all the actions it has taken in response to the Anti-Homosexuality Act and other human rights concerns

Private sector credit slows in October

Entrance to the personal banking section of a bank

Pace of bank lending to the private sector also slowed down, after having risen to a four-month high in September

Ionic Rare Earths increases stake in Makuutu project to 94%, says deal will ease financing negotiations

Ionic Rare Earths Limited workers at the Makuutu Rare Earths Project in Eastern Uganda. Ionic Rare Earths Limited, the Australian mining company, has acquired an additional 34 per cent interest in Rwenzori Rare Metals Limited, the owner of the Makuutu Rare Earths Project, bringing its majority interest in the project to 94 per cent, as it prepares for small-scale production in a few months' time.

Mine expected to start production in first quarter next year, albeit small scale and for potential customers and off-takers

Trade deficit gets gold boost

Entebbe International Airport, Uganda's sole international airport

A 96.6% annual increase in goods exports, boosted by gold exports, led to a narrowing of the external trade deficit

Careful management of market uncertainties required to maximise returns from oil and gas

Workers at the Kingfisher Oil Field in Kikuube, Uganda, on 24 January, 2023. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni launched the drilling process at the Kingfisher Oil Field, operated by the Chinese oil giant China National Offshore Oil Corporation Cnooc.

Uganda’s oil and gas industry needs a minimum global crude oil price of $63 (Shs237,893) per barrel for maximum profitability

US sanctions prison chief over human rights abuses

Johnson Byabashaija, the commissioner general of prisons. The US has imposed financial sanctions on Johnson Byabashaija, the commissioner general of prisons, in a review and expansion of its visa restriction policy targeting Ugandan officials it says are complicit in human rights abuses.

Johnson Byabashaija heads an organisation that has tortured government critics and LGBTQI+ people

Setting aside regional rivalries would go a long way to neutering the ADF

Ugandan soldiers serving with the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), listens while Contingent Commander for Uganda, Brigadier Paul Lokech (not seen) briefs members of 09 Battalion before an advance on the town of Afgoye to the west of the Somali capital Mogadishu. AMISOM and Somali National Army (SNA) troops swept through Afgoye on the morning of the 25th May 2012 without a shot being fired, liberating the area and its population - including 400,000 internally displaced people - from the control of the Al-Qaeda-affiliated extremist group Al Shabaab.

ADF’s recent attacks highlight how regional rivalries in the Congo-Uganda-Rwanda borderlands provide the group with oxygen to survive and grow

Tanzania is a showcase for World Bank funding

Electricity infrastructure in Pemba, Tanzania. In May 2010, a submarine cable brought electricity from Tanga to Pemba (and on to the mainland). The cable was buried in the picturesque surroundings of Mkumbuu; three metres into the ground before rising to a mast about 120 metres from the water's edge. The cable continues to the Wesha substation, where "feeders" distribute the power to the island's grid. Norway paid NOK 475 million (out of a total cost of NOK 575 million). Norway also provided technical assistance to the project. The cable is now operated and maintained by the Zanzibar Electricity Corporation (ZECO).

The International Development Association is a major source of support for African countries struggling with mounting debt and shrinking fiscal space

Why East African countries should rethink their nuclear power ambitions

The Dukovany nuclear power station near Dukovany in the Czech Republic. Nuclear power plants are among a number of new energy proposals in four East African countries. Earlier this year, Uganda announced plans to build a 2,000MW nuclear power plant 150km north of Kampala, with the first 1,000MW coming online by 2031. Rwanda also recently signed a deal to build a nuclear reactor, while Kenya and Tanzania have made more or less similar announcements. While it is tempting in many ways for these countries to pursue nuclear power, there are several risks to choosing the nuclear path, the biggest of which is financial.

Costs of building, maintaining, and later decommissioning a nuclear power plant make it one of the most expensive forms of electricity generation