As an example of a Tier 3 Micro Desposit-taking Institution (MDI), Uganda Microfinance Limited (UML) has a branch in Mityana. They operate very much like a regular bank, and their clients on the whole are much better off financially than the average Ugandan (see http://www.accion.org/NETCOMMUNITY/Document.Doc?id=118 for the documentation). They are audited by Deloitte in order to gain international trust through fiscal transparency. Indeed, this careful accounting has paid dividends. In March of 2006, UML received a $1 million commercial line of credit from the International Finance Corporation, and Citibank Uganda Limited agreed to provide loans in Ugandan currency for this purpose. Later that autumn, UML received $240 thousand in debt financing from Incofin and another $1.1 million in debt financing from Oikocredit. On April 17 of this year, UML was bought out by Equity Bank, one of Kenya’s largest publicly-traded companies (it has a market cap of over $1B). The transaction put the value of UML at around $30M. In the United States, this is considered a small business, but in Uganda, it was very big news. Uganda’s homegrown financial sector, with more careful central regulation and transparent accounting, is maturing and gaining the attention of outside investors.
Hi Dan – My name is Sue Wilson and I work in communications at the Carlson School for Dawn Skelly. Dawn is working on the school annual report and is featuring a story about the Net Impact group’s business venture of selling clothing in Uganda. Dawn needs a photo of a colorful clothing market in Uganda and was wondering if you could send one to her. Her email is dskelly@umn.edu. We are on a tight deadline, so please let me know if this might be a possibility for this week. It would be a great help and give the Net Impact group some critical visitibility.
Thanks! Sue