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Globalization has sharpened competition even more that any one can imagine. .

Competitiveness in Ugandan Business circles ought to continue taking centre stage. The main challenge facing firms in Uganda remains how to survive in the wake of opening doors like East African Integration, Economic Partnership Agreements and Globalization. How do we as a country or developing economy tackle competition? At policy level, Government is challenged with how to design and implement supportive policies and strategies that will protect and nurture the growth of its young industries. At a sector meeting with the Minister of Tourism Trade and Industry, she remarked that Government is interested in assisting industry assist become more competitive through appropriate policies. But can Government develop these conducive policies on its own? Business and Government both need to intensify their partnership to build and strengthen competitiveness. As a country, there are strategies that can be put in place to improve the competitiveness of Ugandan companies and they include:

A stable, predictable macroeconomic environment for business investment characterized by low budget deficits, tight inflation control and competitive and stable exchange rates.

 A liberal import regime defined by an absence of import controls, few import bans and local content rules, and relatively low import tariffs — to encourage business to restructure.

 A strong export strategy to push SMEs into export markets maintaining access to raw materials at zero tax, an efficient, demand-driven and service oriented trade promotion organization (TPO), and a comprehensive export marketing programme for SMEs.

 An effective domestic competition regime with free entry and exit at with free entry and exit at industry level and a strong regulatory authority to deal with anti-competitive practices.

 A proactive foreign investment strategy that emphasizes the targeting of a few realistic sectors and host countries, overseas promotion offices as public-private partnerships, competitive investment incentives and radically streamlined investment approval processes.

 Streamlined procedures and regulations affecting enterprises to reduce business transaction costs for small businesses’ start-up, tax administration and local authority approvals.

 Sustained investments in human capital at all levels (particularly tertiary-level scientific and technical education) and increased enterprise training, for example, assistance for industry associations e.g. UMA, to launch training schemes and an information campaign to educate SMEs about training benefits and tax breaks for training.

 Comprehensive technology support for quality management, productivity improvement, efficiency improvement, energy efficiency improvement, metrology and technical services for SMEs (including grants for SMEs to obtain ISO 9000 certification, creating productivity centers and commercialization of public technology institutions.

 Promotion of industrial clusters involving small and large firms to maximize cooperation and synergies, through the provision of key infrastructure, technological support, trade finance and export marketing assistance.

 Access to affordable finance at competitive interest rates and with good lending terms through prudent monetary policy management and competition in the banking sector.

 An efficient and cost-competitive infrastructure with respect to Mombasa- Kampala cargo, electricity, telecommunications and Internet access.

 Apex public-private sector bodies such as a national competitiveness council, to formulate, manage and implement business competitiveness strategy.

Good policies strategies and protectionism by Government alone will improve the business environment but there is a lot that individual businesses need to tackle.

Quality, Quantity and price are the primary factors to get right however, there are underlying factors that need redress by businesses and these include: high levels of waste in production, low energy productivity that is a result of poor energy management, poor management that often leads to wrong business decisions, poor time management, failure to create an environment that fosters innovation, failure to harness human capital and several others.

In general, developing countries and especially Uganda are disadvantaged in so many ways in relation to its neighbors when it comes to competitiveness. Many factors naturally render our firms uncompetitive and they include: inadequate capacity, poor technology, lack of access to affordable financing, lack of skills, poor infrastructure, costly energy etc.

Energy cost in Uganda is one of the factors that can directly determine competitiveness in the wake of regional integration because Uganda has one of the highest electric power tariffs as well as petroleum costs. The recent oil discovery in Uganda is looked at with pessimism by many, anxious that it may become a curse to the nation. Industrialists on the other hand ought to look at it as an opportunity to become more competitive. All that needs to be done is to ensure that proceeds from oil are used to lower the cost of doing business in Uganda through cheaper energy, cheaper fuel, improvement of infrastructure etc. Although Government has put up a National Oil and Gas policy, industrialists ought to have been more interested in the policy to ensure that it fully addresses their requirement.