The Kampala Bussiness Forum (KBF)
H.E. the President of Uganda engages with business leaders and stakeholders during the Kampala Business Forum 2025, underscoring the importance of public-private collaboration in advancing Uganda’s Ten-Fold Growth Strategy.
The Kampala Business Forum, held on 14 December 2025 at the Serena Kampala Hotel and convened by the Presidential CEO Forum, marked a significant milestone in Uganda’s public-private policy engagement. Bringing together over 1,000 CEOs, business leaders, policymakers, and government institutions, the Forum positioned the private sector as a key partner in delivering Uganda’s Ten-Fold Growth Strategy.
The Forum served as a platform for consolidating private-sector priorities and translating enterprise experiences into a structured reform agenda aligned with Uganda’s Vision 2040 and NDP IV. Discussions focused on identifying policy and institutional reforms needed to accelerate productivity, industrialisation, value addition, competitiveness, and export growth.
Private-sector leaders highlighted several constraints affecting business growth, including regulatory fragmentation, multiple taxation across value chains, delayed government payments, restrictive procurement requirements, and limited access to strategic industrial inputs. Participants emphasised that sustaining macroeconomic stability must be complemented by reforms that reduce operational barriers and support business expansion.
Sectoral presentations demonstrated strong alignment with NDP IV priorities. The coffee sector reported production growth to approximately 8.2 million bags and export earnings of about USD 2.2 billion, while advocating for increased local processing. Manufacturing stakeholders emphasised industrial energy affordability and import substitution, while tourism leaders called for stronger destination branding and coordinated narrative management to maintain investor confidence and tourism earnings.
In his address, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni underscored peace, stability, productive investment, and import substitution as critical foundations for long-term economic transformation. The private sector was encouraged to leverage Uganda’s stability to drive industrial expansion and sustainable economic growth.
The Forum adopted a comprehensive reform agenda centred on tax harmonisation, MSME formalisation, procurement efficiency, access to industrial inputs, infrastructure expansion, energy cost reduction, sector-based growth, employment creation, and strengthening Uganda’s tourism competitiveness.
Looking ahead, the Forum established an implementation framework through annual business forums, sector working groups, and a reform-tracking mechanism to ensure accountability and policy delivery. The overall message was clear: Uganda’s next phase of growth must be driven by productivity, value addition, export competitiveness, and stronger collaboration between government and the private sector.