Uganda: $500,000 fund for MSMEs along pipeline

The Ugandan government has launched a USD 500,000 fund to support micro, small and medium-sized enterprises situated along the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) route.

The fund is supported with a grant from the African Development Bank and was unveiled by the Petroleum Authority of Uganda (PAU) on Monday.

The country’s Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development joined with the PAU to launch the fund.

The fund aims to help MSMEs build capacity in order to secure a share of the estimated USD 3.5 billion of investment flowing into the pipeline, which will link Hoima in western Uganda to the coastal town of Tanga in Tanzania.

The fund aims to help Ugandan MSMEs along the EACOP “access new market opportunities, and [build] linkages with larger, national, regional and international companies” while promoting private-sector growth and creating around 500 jobs, according to a statement from the PAU.

Uganda first discovered oil in 2006 in the Albertine Rift Basin. Since then, the government has been putting comprehensive measures in place to ensure the efficient and value-added development and commercialisation of the country’s oil and gas resources.

For more on Uganda’s burgeoning oil and gas industry, read our interview with Peter Muliisa of Uganda National Oil Company.