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He said the investors are guaranteed security and a huge return on their investment, citing non-tax and tax incentives, a large market in the East African region, Africa, and access to free markets in China, Europe, and the United States.
Tayebwa was speaking at the Uganda-UK Trade and Investment Summit held at The Skyline London, Blue Orchid Hotels, Tower Bridge, United Kingdom.
"If you're producing in Uganda, you can sell anywhere in the East African Community duty-free, but it is also a way to get to the rest of the continent, especially if you're prepared to benefit from the African Continental Free Trade Area, which we believe is going to transform the African continent," he said.
Tayebwa urged UK investors and businesses to take advantage of Uganda’s profitability by building and locating production facilities in the country.
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He said that the Uganda government is now implementing measures, including efficient, reliable, and cheap electricity, faster internet, and good infrastructure, to ease the cost of doing business.
"We have linked with the rest of the content, and we have built enough human capital to support your investments, and now we are looking at investing in them further to increase their purchasing power. Fighting poverty is our major strategy," he added.
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The Ugandan Convention-UK, in its 13th edition, seeks to promote trade and investment between Uganda and the United Kingdom.
The event gathered prominent industry leaders, investors, and ministers from the UK and East Africa to forge new business deals, invest in bankable projects, and reinforce economic relationships between the UK and Uganda, including the East African Community.
The First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for East African Community Affairs, Rebecca Kadaga, highlighted investment opportunities available in the country.
She listed tourism, water transport on the Nile and Congo, and railway systems to further connect the region among other areas for investment.
The River Nile is an area you can think about working on, especially in areas of tourism and water transport. There are also other transboundary projects, such as railways, that we can consider partnering on to ease the movement of goods in the East African region," she said.
The Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) Commissioner General, John Rujoki Musinguzi, explained a number of exciting tax incentives and non-tax incentives for foreign investors, including access to land in the industrial parks, facilitation for infrastructure needs, and policy advocacy for a conducive environment.
"The Government of Uganda took a decision to identify and support investments, especially in nine strategic areas including education, manufacturing, tourism, construction, health care and medical services, agriculture, ICT, logistics, and warehousing," he said, adding that for each strategic sector, there are different tax exemptions.
Musinguzi told investors that for the customs duties, the exemptions are not just for Uganda but for the East African region.
"The market you're looking at when you think of investing in Uganda is not just a Ugandan market; you’re able to sell goods in the East African market, and to guarantee that, exemptions are really catered for in the East African Community Customs Management Act. This means that any goods produced in Uganda will be transferred to Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan, and the DRC at no further taxation," the URA boss said.
He said goods produced in Uganda move free to any of the East African member states.
He told investors that for strategic areas such as the development of industrial parks, VAT is exempt right from the stage of feasibility studies, design, construction, and all the materials used in setting up the industrial park.
"If you’re a foreign investor, it is assumed that for an industrial park, you will not invest less than USD 10 million, but if you're a Ugandan citizen in partnership with a foreign investor, then the threshold for investment reduces to only $300,000."
"If you want to invest outside Kampala to promote the creation of jobs and industries outside the city, the investment threshold even goes down further to $150," he added.
The Minister for Gender, Labour, and Social Development, Amongi Betty Ongom, told the investors that Uganda has enough skilled and semi-skilled labour forces to fuel their investments.
"I'm here to assure you that in Uganda you will get abundant and cheap labour that is also innovative and most qualified to help you strike your investment," she said.