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East Africa: Investment Meet Ends With Investment Calls
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East African Business Week (Kampala)
5 July 2008
Posted to the web 7 July 2008
Bosco Hitimana
Kigali
The concluded three day East African Community (EAC) investment conference held in Kigali ended with several promises to increase investment portfolio in the region.
The conference that took place concurrently with the summit and retreat of EAC heads of state attracted over 1,000 participants from across the globe with the majority being East Africans.
During plenary sessions, heads of regional Investment Promotion Agencies (IPAs) highlighted investment opportunities, challenges and the way forward in financial sector, agro-industry, Tourism and ICT, energy and business environment within the region.
They noted that the region still needs more and can do more but bureaucracy is still disconnecting the speed of doing things despite the ongoing reforms.
The east Africa region was seen as investment destination in many areas including energy, tourism, agro-processing and the financial sector.
Dr. Maggie Kigozi, the executive director of Uganda Investment Authority (UIA) said that East Africa can feed the rest of the world given the potentials it has in food production.
The region has potentials in agro-processing, commercial farming, biofuels, and agribusiness. However, the investments in the areas are still low. The UIA chief reiterated that the region has potential to supplement to the growth of the agricultural sector with production of the regional fertilizer plant. This was also discussed by the heads of state who concluded that the plant should be put in place.
Her equivalent, the director general of Rwanda Investment and Export Promotion Agency (RIEPA), Mr. Francis Gatare said that with the ongoing reforms in partner states, the EAC offers enormous investment opportunities in the financial sector.
According to Gatare, Kenya is welcoming investments in the financial sector especially in building the capacity of the commercial banks to serve the smaller enterprises.
anzania and Uganda are two giants that would also welcome investments in the financial sector. The two countries whose capital markets and stock exchanges are growing, offer greater chances of secured investment opportunities in the region.
Investors with potentials would look at banking and secondary market sector in Tanzania which is still in the early stages of development. On the side of Rwanda, competitive loan facilities to agricultural sector are still lacking which is an opportunity for investors to strike for.
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The demand of housing in Rwanda is also another signal that housing finance is needed in the country. Gatare called upon potential investors to loom at this offer and make profits from it while serving Rwandans.
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