UMA urges private sector to embrace cooperative business model to strengthen market control
KAMPALA, July 24, 2025 — The Uganda Manufacturers Association [UMA] has called on the private sector to adopt the cooperative business model across various stages of production in order to strengthen market control and competitiveness.
Allan Senyondwa, an executive member of UMA, noted that while Uganda’s private sector is actively engaged in production various goods, it faces significant challenges when it comes to marketing.
Senyondwa attributed these challenges to a lack of market control and limited trust from buyers regarding the sector’s ability to maintain consistent supply.
“Unlike cooperatives, private sector players tend to enter markets individually rather than collectively. This fragmentation hinders their ability to aggregate produce, making it difficult to meet the volume demands of large buyers,” he said.
Citing global retail giants, he added: “Walmart operates over 14,000 supermarkets. To supply fresh avocados to Walmart, how many kilogrammes would one need to provide each week? Tesco has 13,000 outlets, how much maize would you need to meet that demand? It’s no longer about individual supply but aggregation. We need to work together at both production and marketing levels.”
Senyondwa also urged the government to align closely with the private sector—particularly during the budgeting process—to formulate policies that promote access to foreign markets through effective commercial diplomacy.
He pointed to Uganda’s underutilisation of the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act [AGOA], a U.S. initiative that granted preferential market access to eligible African countries. Uganda failed to fully benefit from AGOA, he explained, due to a fragmented approach in which individual traders exported directly to the U.S. market, rather than employing a coordinated, aggregated strategy.
By contrast, Kenya, through a unified export model, captured 94 percent of East Africa’s trade under AGOA prior to Uganda’s suspension from the programme in 2024 by former U.S. President Joe Biden, citing unfair trade practices supported by the Ugandan state.
“The ideal model is to empower a few capable individuals or entities with expertise in marketing to manage exports on behalf of the sector. The rest should focus on aggregation and equitable distribution of returns. That’s how Kenya succeeded,” Senyondwa emphasised.
Diana Nanono, from the Ministry of Finance’s Private Sector Unit, reported that government had allocated substantial resources to address financing gaps in the private sector, particularly in industrial transformation.
She revealed that the government had secured funding from the World Bank to support manufacturers and exporters with long-term credit facilities and business development services.
“As part of this initiative, we’ve secured World Bank financing to assist the private sector in accessing new credit products and improving business performance,” Nanono said.
In addition, the government has channelled Shs 55 billion through the Uganda Development Bank [UDB] for on-lending to the private sector, aimed at boosting competitiveness.
“This financial year, we allocated Shs 55 billion to UDB to support private sector businesses in becoming more competitive,” she added.
https://thecooperator.news/national-survey-reveals-strong-consumer-support-for-cooperatives/
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