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Financial Inclusion and foreign direct investment in Uganda are expected to increase following the amendment of the Financial Institutions Act by the Parliament in January to introduce Islamic banking in the country.

Against this backdrop, the Sub-Saharan Islamic Finance Convention will hold in Kampala on May 10-11. It is a platform that will promote the growth of the Islamic finance industry in Uganda and Sub-Saharan Africa. The conference is being organised by Ethico Live, a UK-registered company that organizes conferences in global financial markets, in partnership with ABL Dunamis, a Kampala-based finance and investment advisory firm.   

The conference will bring together more than 200 international delegates to drive forward the dialogue on the progress of Islamic finance in Sub-Saharan Africa. The theme of the conference is: Africa’s New Momentum.

Africa is known to have nearly a quarter of the world’s Muslim population. The continent is at different stages of developing legal and regulatory framework to enable Islamic banking practices, products and institutions. Sudan has a banking and financial system that is fully-fledged Sharia compliant.

Uganda is a member of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the law will potentially improve capital inflows, drive large-scale infrastructure projects, increase technology innovation and create jobs. President Yoweri Museveni, who won reelection for a fifth term after 30 years in power, is expected to sign the bill into law. The proposed law requires financial services like mobile banking, money transfer, insurance, among other services, to be sharia compliant.
 
“Since the Parliament in Uganda has finally approved Islamic banking, we can expect an increase in investment from leading Islamic banks that provide commercial services free from interest (Riba in Arabic) and compliant with the religious tenets of Islam,” Abubaker Mayanja, Partner and CEO at ABL Dunamis, said. “Uganda is a somewhat late arrival to the Islamic finance eco-system within East Africa, but the country does possess the key advantage of Islamic Development Bank (IDB) membership. This can provide the impetus that will enable Uganda to become a hub for Islamic banking by attracting institutional technical support and long-term capital from the IDB."