Makerere University
Web: www.mak.ac.ug
 MHB: 11 Firms Apply to Invest in Makerere University As Makerere University moves to shore up its finances, 11 companies presented their investment proposals at a conference convened at Hotel Africana. Four of the companies are Ugandan, two Chinese, two American and some are from South Africa, Kenya, Hong Kong and the UK. Convened by the Makerere Holdings Company, the conference got proposals for construction of a hotel and convention centre at Makerere University guesthouse as well as develop the land at Kololo. Makerere Holdings Board Chairman Charles Mbire was optimistic investment in the two land projects would fetch the cash-strapped institution "a good return on investment" to complement fees and government funds.He added that the two projects were "just a beginning" of a series of investments into the university's idle resources projected at over $500m (about Shs 1.3tn). Read more ▪  Mergers, acquisitions expected in banking sector, expert says The insurance and banking sectors could witness mergers and acquisitions in the near future as companies are unable to make meaningful profit margins to ensure business sustainability, a market expert has warned.The Principal Makerere University Business School, Prof Wasswa Balunywa, said Uganda’s economy is small and unable to profitably accommodate many players. Mr Balunywa, who was speaking at the insurance industry’s chief executive officers meeting in Kampala , added that a few financially strong companies are likely to swallow up small ones through mergers and acquisitions so as to make meaningful profits which are now shared among many players. Read more ▪  MUEPRC: Govt asked to establish agricultural financing bank The Government has been asked to consider establishing an agricultural development bank to improve financial access to smallholder farmers.Despite several government interventions in agricultural financing, access to credit by smallholder farmers has remained low. Researchers from the Makerere University Economic Policy Research Centre said this is a frightening prospect for food security, health, income generation and economic development. They observed that weak coordination has affected previous agricultural financing interventions by the Government. “This could be blamed on the policy failures of government agricultural financing initiatives, poor response of formal commercial banks to agricultural lending and weak regulation of the microfinance institutions to effectively deliver credit to smallholder farmers,” the researchers noted. This was contained in a report resulting from an investigation on the extent of access and use of credit by smallholder farmers in Uganda. Read more ▪ EPRC: Ugandans accessing financial services now at 54 per cent The number of Ugandans accessing financial services from both formal and informal financial institutions has increased from 28 per cent in 2009 to 54 per cent in 2013.A FinScope III survey carried out by Economic Policy Research Centre (EPRC) reveals that the growth was driven by the increase in the non-bank sector from 20 per cent in 2009 to 52 per cent in 2013.Presenting the survey findings in Kampala recently, the executive director of EPRC, Dr Sarah Ssewanyana said the share of adults using non-bank formal financial services increased from 7 per cent in 2009 to 34 per cent by 2013.“The strong growth in use of non-bank financial services is attributed majorly to use of mobile money transfer services,” she said. Read more ▪ Makerere named 4th best varsity in Africa Makerere University is now ranked the fourth best institution of higher learning in Africa, up from ninth position about a year ago. The Webometrics rankings, conducted by Cybermetrics Lab, a Spanish-based research agency, assess the performance of universities from all over the world based on their web presence and impact. Africa top ten Names: University of Kwazulu Natal, University of Cape Town, Stellenbosch University, Makerere University, University of the Witwatersrand, University of Pretoria, University of the Western Cape, Obafemi Awolowo University, Rhodes University, Cairo University Read more ▪ |  |