In 2016, the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Report ranked Uganda among the world’s top entrepreneurial country. The report, however, also showed that the rate of failure of businesses in Uganda was one of the highest in the world, citing that for every business that was started, another closed.
The Directorate of Insolvency and Receivership at URSB engaged business owners in trainings on entrepreneurial and business management skills, financial illiteracy, and basic corporate governance structures. The trainings were aimed at achieving the Uganda Registration Services Bureau’s contribution towards National Development Plan (NDPIII) program of developing the private sector through strengthening the corporate rescue framework.
The programme that ran from the 2nd till the 6th of September focused on creating awareness amongst the target groups about the mandate of the government of Uganda and URSB as a whole, as well as insolvency services, in particular the concept of Corporate Rescue.
Mr. Ntale Mustapher, Director Registration, URSB told the participants that failure is the first step to success, it teaches, but failure to learn means more failure. Ms. Barbara Kasekende, Head Advisory Department UDB, posed an important question for all, ‘ask yourself, is my business growing my community by employing the youth?’
This high rate of failure is attributed to inadequate entrepreneurial and business management skills, financial illiteracy, lack of basic corporate governance structures, unforeseen occurrences such as COVID-19 and the resultant public health measures among others. These shortcomings equally affect the solvency of these entities, hence their unviability. Thus, emphasis on corporate rescue is deemed the ultimate cure.
URSB is taking steps to raise awareness and the level of appreciation of insolvency law and practice in Uganda. This includes equipping entrepreneurs with the necessary skills to avoid business insolvency and the dangers associated with poor business management. It is crucial to equip all actors to enable them to deal decisively with issues that cause financial distress to business as well as individuals while according support to viable businesses to thrive in the economy. This would definitely involve a reasonable understanding of best practices in the field of insolvency law.
URSB is committed to keeping up with the latest commercial and financial trends. In line with this aspiration, it has held insolvency conferences on six occasions, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 targeting Judicial Officers, Insolvency Practitioners, and select players in the business community such as bankers, regulators and policymakers. It is against this background that URSB embarked on developing the skills of business owners to partake in a campaign to keep businesses thriving.
The programme presented a broad range of skills to the business owners, ranging from financial management to basic corporate governance to help sustain businesses, practical experience and perspectives from the diverse legal systems. The beneficiaries were also exposed to the ever-growing insolvency regime that leans most towards corporate rescue mechanisms as opposed to entity dissolution.
The specific objectives of this program were; to provide a platform for business owners to acquire skill sets in business financial management and literacy, provide skills to participants in basic corporate governance practices, train the business owners on general business management practices necessary for business growth and survival, train the business owners on the available corporate rescue mechanisms both in the law and in practice, and lastly create a platform for sharing and learning from experiences by business experts and amongst the business owners.
The Business Rescue and Aftercare Program (BRAP) under URSB is a catalyst for economic development, provides mechanisms to help struggling businesses return to profitability, strives to support private sector development in Uganda by lowering the rate of failure in businesses through providing the necessary skills to avoid business insolvency and the dangers associated with poor business management.
