Can East Africa Manufacture Its Way to Economic Transformation? Uganda Makes the Case
Minister of State for Trade, Industry and Cooperatives in charge of Industry, David Bahati, said East Africa must focus on producing more, manufacturing more and exporting more if the region is to become globally competitive.
Government has called for stronger collaboration with the private sector to accelerate industrialisation, deepen regional economic integration and position East Africa as a competitive manufacturing and investment hub.
The call was delivered by Finance, Planning and Economic Development Minister Henry Musasizi, who represented President Yoweri Museveni at the 3rd Annual Regional Industrialisation Conference 2026, held under the theme “Unlocking Industrial Competitiveness through Innovation and Regional Value Chain Integration.”
Musasizi said industrialisation is central to Uganda’s structural transformation because it creates jobs, adds value to locally available resources, expands trade in manufactured goods and reduces the country’s vulnerability to external economic shocks.
He said Uganda’s industrialisation strategy is anchored in the national development framework, with the development and expansion of industrial parks forming a key pillar of Government’s efforts to increase production and value addition.
The Minister cited the Kampala Industrial and Business Park at Namanve, which covers approximately 1,000 hectares, as a major production hub attracting investment in manufacturing, logistics, food processing and agro-processing.
He also highlighted the Sino-Uganda Bio-Industrial Park, covering about 619 acres, which hosts approximately 75 factories employing more than 12,000 people.
According to Musasizi, the industrial parks are being developed not only to serve Uganda’s domestic market but also to produce competitive goods for the wider East African and African markets.
He identified agro-processing, leather, textiles, pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals, steel, construction materials and logistics among the priority areas with potential to strengthen Uganda’s industrial base and regional value chains.
East Africa must become a shared market
Musasizi urged East African countries to shift from viewing their economies as separate national markets and instead treat the region as a shared investment and production space.
He noted that East Africa has a consumer market of more than 400 million people, while the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) provides businesses with potential access to a continental market of about 1.4 billion people.
“The opportunity is not simply Uganda; the opportunity is East Africa and Africa,” Musasizi said, stressing the need for businesses to expand production and take advantage of regional and continental markets.
He reaffirmed Uganda’s commitment to deepening economic integration within the East African Community through the removal of non-tariff barriers, operationalisation of one-stop border posts and improved access to regional markets.
Musasizi said Uganda’s ambition of transforming the economy into a US$500 billion economy, representing a 10-fold growth target, cannot be achieved by Government alone.
He called for a genuine Government-private sector partnership in which public investment in infrastructure, energy and trade facilitation is matched by private-sector investment in production, innovation and value addition.
Infrastructure and trade barriers remain key concerns
Minister of State for Trade, Industry and Cooperatives in charge of Industry, David Bahati, said East Africa must focus on producing more, manufacturing more and exporting more if the region is to become globally competitive.
Bahati identified inadequate power, infrastructure constraints, irrigation, limited regional connectivity and persistent non-tariff barriers as some of the challenges undermining industrialisation and intra-regional trade.
He called for coordinated regional interventions to address these constraints and create an environment in which businesses can produce competitively and access markets across East Africa.
Private sector calls for practical reforms
Private Sector Foundation Uganda (PSFU) Board Chairman Humphrey Nzeyi said manufacturing remains below its potential in the East African region.
Nzeyi said manufacturing contributes between 9.7% and 11.8% of regional GDP, compared with the East African Community industrialisation policy target of 25% by 2032.
In Uganda, however, manufacturing contributes more than 16.5% of GDP and supports approximately two million direct jobs, demonstrating the sector’s importance to employment, exports, tax revenues and structural transformation.
Nzeyi called for practical measures to address long-term industrial financing, non-tariff barriers, infrastructure gaps, energy costs, standards enforcement, illicit trade and weak cross-border value-chain linkages.
He said strengthening these areas would enable manufacturers to increase production, create more jobs and compete more effectively in regional and international markets.
The conference brought together policymakers, industrialists, financiers and private-sector leaders to explore practical approaches to industrial development and strengthen cooperation between Government and business.
The discussions are expected to focus on converting regional industrialisation commitments into increased production, investment, employment, value addition and intra-African trade.
For Uganda, the Government-private sector partnership is increasingly being positioned as a critical driver of the country’s industrial transformation, particularly as the country seeks to leverage its natural resources, expanding infrastructure and access to regional markets to accelerate economic growth.
