KAMPALA – The Deputy Speaker of Parliament Jacob Oulanyah has on Tuesday, July 23 called for mergers in a bid to abet businesses from collapsing.
While meeting officials from the Africa Management Services Company (AMSCO) in his boardroom to introduce the first edition of the Mergers and Acquisition Summit Africa, Oulanyah said that mergers and acquisitions are a subject that ought to be embraced by entrepreneurs to keep their businesses operational despite financial constraints.
“There are many companies in Uganda with big potential that have fallen because of small gaps that can be easily sorted out through mergers and acquisitions; and Crane Bank is a good example,” Oulanyah said.
Oulanyah added that Uganda does not have an established original capital base that can facilitate local investments, which many a time inevitably close due to harsh financial times.
“That is why there should be cheap financial options by Government that can offer bailouts to our local investors through mergers and acquisitions of promising companies,” Oulanyah noted.
Mr Pius Ngoga, an Associate Consultant at AMSCO, said that Africa as a continent has lagged behind despite being a primary target for potential merger or acquisition transactions by bigger international companies.
“This is a platform for the entire African continent to come together to discuss how it can exploit such opportunities and thus the participation of major stakeholders like Members of Parliament will be key,” said Ngoga
The summit will be hosted by Uganda for the first three years and thereafter, be hosted on a rotational basis, which Ngoga says is attributed to East Africa’s growth as an investment hub for local and international enterprises.
“East Africa has become the primary target for mergers and acquisitions and that is why this summit is being held in Uganda that has a peaceful environment which attracts investment,” Ngoga added.
The Summit scheduled to take place 17 to 18 October 2019 at the Munyonyo Commonwealth Resort will bring together major stakeholders from Europe, Asia and Africa with an aim to promote knowledge on essentials to execute successful mergers and acquisitions for African investments.
