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Investment in Finance

The Partner States are harmonising their banking acts so as to harmonise and eventually integrate their financial systems.

Investment potential exists in establishing commercial banks as well as other services like brokerage, investment consultations, asset valuation & sales and bank assurance, asset management, real-estate financing, lease finance, agricultural finance and advisory services. The rapid growth of the informal sector offers opportunities in the provision of credit and related service. Demand for insurance services has also risen.

The opportunities in Partner States include the following:

 

Burundi

  • Financial sector is insufficient for the economy. Investors are welcomed in all areas.

 

Kenya

  • Investment in the SME loan market; and
  • Building capacity in commercial banks to serve smaller enterprises.

 

Rwanda

  • Establishment of more commercial & agricultural banks in rural areas;
  • Competitive loan facilities to agricultural sector and investors in the industrial sector;
  • Investment banking for advisory services and wholesale banking, including Trust funds and Pension funds;
  • Promoting or arranging underwriting of issuance of securities;
  • Housing bank sub-sector in mortgage financing to encourage collateralisation of loans and mobilisation of savings;
  • Prospects for development of insurance given their complementary role in improving the population’s income levels, and the promotion of trade and industry; and
  • Direct services like stock-broking, public offering of securities, etc.

 

United Republic of Tanzania

  • The capital markets and securities; and
  • Banking and the secondary market sector, which is still at an early stage of development with little activity.

 

Uganda

  • Establishing commercial banks in upcountry urban and rural centres;
  • Development banks required to provide term loans;
  • Merchant banking for advisory services and wholesale banking as well as underwriting of securities;
  • Mortgage financing to encourage collateralisation of loans and mobilisation of savings;
  • Brokerage, sales and tracking services firms with international experience and network;
  • Establishing of investment banks & fund management;
  • Discount houses for making a market for securities, thereby developing a secondary market for those securities;
  • Provision of re-insurance services to encourage retention of premiums as well as building of capacity in the industry;
  • Risk management, claims settling agents and provision of private pension funds;
  • Reinsurers and reinsurance brokers; and
  • Provision of life policies and other innovative assurances like agriculture and medical schemes

 

Capital Markets

In Article 85 of the EAC treaty, the Partner States agreed to implement a capital development programme and create an environment conducive to the easy movement of capital within the Community.

Capital Markets are regulated and supervised by state agencies. In Kenya, it is the Capital Markets Authority, in Tanzania the Capital Markets and Securities Authority and in Uganda the Capital Markets Authority. In addition to performing regulatory and supervisory functions, the authorities license brokers and investment advisers.

East African Securities Regulatory Authority helps member states develop capital markets institutions, facilitates exchange of information to help enforce laws and regulations in the different countries, besides conducting cross-border surveillance and public education awareness in addition to co-coordinating technical assistance and promoting consultancy within the region.

Investment in Energy

Energy shortfalls should ordinarily be a challenge. But in a region seeking partners to develop solutions, it turns out they are an opportunity for investment.

The energy sector in the EAC countries is being restructured to encourage private investors. The EAC Partner States have developed an East Africa Power Master Plan. Every two years, the Partner States organise a petroleum conference to showcase investment opportunities in the sub-sector.

Investment in Apiculture

Natural forests, with their indigenous fauna and flora, offer great potential for the development of:

  • an organic honey-processing industry and related products;
  • manufacturing of beekeeping equipment;
  • beeswax processing;
  • bee-pollination based industries; and
  • the promotion of lesser-known bee products such as royal jelly, which have a demand in Japan and other developed countries.

Opportunities also exist for the provision of services for the certification of organic honey production.

Investment in Agriculture

Already accounting for about 36% of GDP in the EAC economy, the agriculture sector still retains a lot of untapped potential, specifically for commercial farming.

Agriculture is a sector that is central to the EAC economy, contributing between 24 and 44% of GDP in the five Partner States, while also accounting for the livelihood of about 80% of the region’s population.

The key to sector growth, however, lies in a shift from subsistence to commercial farming. Opportunities for large-scale commercial farming exist in the region for a wide variety of food and cash crops.

The key investment opportunities in the sector are listed below. Follow links for detailed information on prospects in the various sub-sectors.

  • Apiculture
  • Coffee
  • Cotton
  • Forestry products
  • Fruits
  • Grains, Nuts and Oil seeds
  • Livestock
  • Poultry
  • Sisal
  • Sugar
  • Tea
  • Tobacco

Major Investment Opportunities

The Community offers numerous investment opportunities covering a wide range of sectors. Following the adoption in 2011 of the EAC Industrialisation Policy and Strategy, the Community has identified six strategic regional industries in which the region has potential comparative advantage, namely:

  1. Iron-ore and other mineral processing;
  2. Fertilisers and agrochemicals;
  3. Pharmaceuticals;
  4. Petrochemicals and gas processing;
  5. Agro-processing; and
  6. Energy and Bio-fuels.

Opportunities, however, abound in various other sectors. Investors are requested to contact Investment Promotion Agencies in Partner States for detailed information and updates on new developments. Follow links below for information on sectors listed:


East African Community
EAC Close
Afrika Mashariki Road
P.O. Box 1096
Arusha
United Republic of Tanzania

Tel: +255 (0)27 216 2100
Fax: +255 (0)27 216 2190
Email: eac@eachq.org