Prime
Uganda gets Shs1.5t green investment deals at COP28
An official of the Uganda Investment Authority moderates a discussion with delegates and potential investors at the Climate Change Conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, yesterday. PHOTO | COURTESY of UIA
What you need to know:
- UIA’s acting Deputy Director for Communications and Public Relations David Rupiny in a statement said all four green investors are already licensed and have commenced operations in Uganda.
Four international firms yesterday committed to invest $400m (about Shs1.5 trillion) in different green energy projects in Uganda, including renewable energy, water filtration and forestry.
Mandulis Energy, Spouts International, 1MTN and Nexus Green made the commitment while attending the Uganda Investment Authority (UIA)’s green investment session in the Green Investment Room at the ongoing Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
The investments, they said, will be made in the next four years.
UIA’s acting Deputy Director for Communications and Public Relations David Rupiny in a statement said all four green investors are already licensed and have commenced operations in Uganda.
“The green investors provided testimonies to an audience of prospective investors and other actors regarding the status of their investments, experiences and a broader overview of the investment environment in Uganda,” he said.
Speaking at the session, the co-founder of Mandulis Energy, Mr Peter Nyeko, said their company converts agricultural waste into low carbon electricity and biogas for households and small businesses.
Mr Nyeko added that they are currently developing 24 off-grid power systems across rural Uganda, which shall be scaled to two megawatts to power agricultural processing facilities and serve more than 120,000 rural farmers.
Pledge
Spouts International CEO Daniel Yin said they will in the next four years invest between $80m and $100m, in addition to the already invested $10m.
The firm is producing Purifaaya, a ceramic water filter made from clay, with a current reach of 200,000 households, and aiming to reach six million households by 2030.
“We make sure that all people have access to safe clean drinking water for the lowest price possible, and this empowers communities and also saves trees from being burnt to boil water for drinking”, said Yin.
Relatedly, the co-founder of 1MTN, Christian Raude, said they have so far invested $1.5m and plan to invest additional $100m in the next four years. “There is a lot of bamboo in Uganda and East Africa and not only does it make good investment sense but is also good for the environment and does not need too much water,” Raude said.
The founder of Nexus Green, Mr Rikki Verma, said they, with funding from the United Kingdom Export Fund, so far invested $100m in the factory that employs 200 people directly and over 1,000 people indirectly.
Nexus Green manufactures and supplies solar-powered solutions.
Verma noted that investing in Uganda has been made easy since UIA is now a one-stop centre for key investment and business support services.
