BY XANTHIA LENI | PML DAILY CORRESPONDENT
KAMPALA – A team of African American Investors arrived in Uganda with plans to invest USD300million approximately UGX1.1 trillion with a focus put on health and real estate sectors in Uganda.
Led by Head of Delegation, Mark Anthony Hernandez the team made their grand entrance at Entebbe International Airport and were received by Abbey Kigozi, NRM Chairman –Diaspora league.
Addressing journalists at Entebbe, Hernandez revealed that the team plans to invest in Neurosurgeon and their decision to invest in Uganda was informed on the peace and security Uganda is enjoying saying the new investment will be critical at solidifying this peace for the future development of Uganda.
“What we are focusing on in this particular trip is health care, we have a Neurosurgeon investor on our team who is interested in setting up a factory for Cardiac transplants in Uganda and offering services in other ways,” said Hernandez.
For the real estate sector, he said the focus will be put on commercial and residential estates and after further scrutiny of the business environment, the team will look at expanding to other sectors and rally more Americans to join the team.
“At this time we are looking at investing 300m dollars in the health and real estate sectors and we believe other African Americans in California will be interested in joining us because of their interest in bringing back African American dollars back to Africa,” Hernandez.
Isaac Kigozi, Managing Director, East African Partners, said that unlike the people from developed nations that look at Africa as a continent with impoverished masses and therefore come seeking to save them from poverty, diseases, and illiteracy, the African American investors group is not looking at offering charity to Africa, but rather talk into the human capital development to enable Ugandans to become self-sustainable.
Kigozi remarked, “When we discussed with this group, they said the government has done enough opening up doors to them and are now looking at what they can do for the government and the people of Uganda. This is exactly what enticed me to bring them to Uganda because they are not looking for free things.”
He called on Government agencies and Ugandans at large to offer support to the team noting that the planned investment will be critical at addressing the employment ravaging the country and propel Uganda to middle-income status as well as attaining Vision 2040.
Kigozi assured the investors of peace and security and informed them that Uganda is a signatory to a number of international treaties like East African Community Market, COMESA which will further widen market for their investment products.
The team is set to meet President Yoweri Museveni with Kigozi remarking, “The President is aware that you are here and is ready to meet you anytime. As Diaspora League, it’s our mandate to always encourage our friends in the outside world to come and invest in our country. It’s good to have a mixture of not just investment but marketing, real estate, tourism on the delegation. They are here on a fact-finding mission and they are ready to share the business knowledge they have been blessed with in America to be able to impact our young population in Uganda and take Uganda to the next industrial revolution.”
