President Museveni has asked heads of state under the African Union (AU) to enforce laws that restrict the export of unprocessed raw materials to other countries.
In a speech read by Vice President Jessica Alupo during the African Industrialisation Week celebrations held at Speke Resort Munyonyo last Thursday, Mr Museveni said Africa has about 65 percent of the world’s arable land and substantial freshwater reserves.
‘However, our major exports are mainly agricultural products, minerals, and fuels. What is disturbing is that we export raw materials for value addition elsewhere and then import finished goods made from those same materials,’ he said.
‘When we insist on adding value to milk, coffee, and other raw materials, it is simple strategic sense. Coffee costs $2 when exported raw, but when processed, it fetches between 20 and 50 dollars. That is 10 times more value for the same coffee beans,’ he added.
AU agenda
The President said AU Agenda 2063 is clear on the need for African countries to intensify efforts to shift from primary raw material exports to value-added production.
He said the coming decade (2026-2035), recently declared the Fourth Industrial Development Decade for Africa (IDDA), offers a major opportunity to accelerate that transition.
Currently, manufactured goods account for about 24 percent, about $2.4 billion, of Uganda’s total exports worth $10.6 billion. Ms Alupo said in 1986, Uganda was not exporting any manufactured products and was instead importing almost everything it needed.
She, however, said due to the enforcement of industrial development initiatives, the country is now a net exporter of several goods that were previously imported, including soap, sugar, milk, cooking oil, soda, beer, cement, steel, and paper.
She said over the last 15 years, 31 additional value-added products have been included in Uganda’s export basket. This year’s African Industrialisation Week organised by the Ministry of Trade, the African Union, and partners attracted nearly 500 delegates, including 200 AU representatives.
The event is themed ‘Transforming Africa’s Economy through Sustainable Industrialisation, Regional Integration, and Innovation.’ Ms Ron Osman Omar, the director of Industry, Minerals, Entrepreneurship and Tourism at the African Union (AU), decried Africa’s low contribution to global manufacturing despite its vast mineral wealth, and called for deliberate policies to empower women in processing and value addition.
She said the continent produces only 1.5 percent of the world’s manufactured goods, a situation she described as ‘simply unacceptable.’
‘We have an abundance of raw materials, about 30 percent of the world’s minerals, yet we are not manufacturing them ourselves,’ she said.
‘If you visit the exhibition, you will see that we have a lot of shea butter on the continent. Africa exports shea butter worth about $90 billion, yet the global cosmetics industry, which relies heavily on shea butter, exceeds $500 billion,’ she added.
Ms Omar also highlighted the leather sector as another area of untapped potential, noting that while countries like Ethiopia produce high-quality leather goods, the industry across the continent remains underdeveloped.
She called for stronger policy interventions to support women in manufacturing, arguing that industrial growth requires competitive corporate taxes, access to technology and financing, and committed government support.
‘One of the key policies we are pushing for is that at least 30 percent of all government procurement should go to women and youth. This policy is already being implemented in Kenya. We need to push for it in Uganda and across the continent. If our women are producing goods here, why should we outsource production outside Africa?’ she said.
Call for standards
Ms Omar stressed the need for African products to meet global branding and certification standards.
For products such as shea butter and leather goods to compete internationally, she said, they must be properly designed, packaged, certified, and standardised.
Ms Rebecca Nalumu, the director of Special Economic Zones at the Uganda Free Zones and Export Promotion Authority, urged SMEs struggling to access manufacturing space to take advantage of free-zone industrial parks.
She said SMEs in free zones benefit from government financing programmes such as the Agriculture Credit Facility, GROW loans for women, and the Parish Development Model (PDM), which allocates 30 percent of its funding to women and another 30 percent to youth.