Financial research key to Uganda’s economic transformation

Uganda must place financial sector research, knowledge and innovation at the centre of its economic transformation if the country is to achieve its ambitious Ten-Fold Economic Growth Agenda, leaders from Government, the financial sector and academia have said.

The call was made during the second day of the 2026 Annual Research Conference held at Protea Hotel in Kampala under the theme, “Financial Sector Research as a Catalyst for Uganda’s Ten-Fold Economic Growth Agenda.”

The two-day conference was organised by the Uganda Institute of Banking and Financial Services (UIBFS), in partnership with the Uganda Bankers’ Association (UBA) and Makerere University’s College of Business and Management Sciences (CoBAMS).

Participants explored how research can strengthen Uganda’s financial sector and contribute to inclusive and sustainable economic growth.

In his keynote address, Finance ministry Permanent Secretary and Secretary to the Treasury Ramathan Ggoobi commended the organisers for choosing what he described as a matter of national importance.

Ggoobi said the discussions should challenge stakeholders to look beyond the conventional role of finance as an intermediary between savers and borrowers, and instead examine how knowledge, evidence, capital and innovation can be combined to transform the economy.

“Uganda is transforming, and the question we should be asking ourselves is: How do we finance the transformation?” Ggoobi said.

He said financial sector research was critical in helping Uganda understand emerging opportunities, identify financing gaps and develop evidence-based approaches to mobilising and deploying capital towards productive sectors of the economy.

Finance Minister Henry Musasizi, the chief guest at the conference, also underscored the importance of research in supporting Uganda’s economic transformation.

Musasizi challenged academics and researchers to move beyond theory and focus on practical research capable of addressing the challenges facing the economy.

He urged academic and research institutions to work closely with banks, SACCOs and insurance companies to ensure that research responds to challenges confronting the financial sector.

The minister also called on the private sector to invest in research, arguing that understanding customers and markets is one of the most valuable investments businesses can make.

“The best investment you can make is in understanding your customers and your market,” Musasizi said.

He urged regulators to remain open to evidence and innovation, including piloting, testing and scaling solutions that work.

To development partners, Musasizi called for greater alignment of their support with Uganda’s national research priorities.

“Align your support to Uganda’s research priorities, not the other way round,” he said.

Musasizi said Uganda’s Ten-Fold Economic Growth Agenda would require more than access to debt, stressing the importance of combining knowledge, innovation and capital.

“Uganda’s ten-fold growth will not be delivered by debt alone, but by knowledge, innovation and capital working together,” he said.

He challenged stakeholders to make the conference a turning point for financial sector research and ensure that findings from Ugandan researchers inform financial sector policies and products.

“Let this conference mark the moment when financial sector research moves from the periphery to the centre of our economic strategy,” Musasizi said.

Bank of Uganda Governor Michael Atingi-Ego highlighted the need to build a financial sector capable of managing risk while supporting innovation and economic growth.

Atingi-Ego called for risk mastery rather than risk aversion, saying a financial sector that supports businesses, innovation and economic transformation cannot simply avoid risk.

Instead, he said, financial institutions must develop the knowledge, systems and capacity to understand, assess and manage emerging risks effectively.

The governor also called for the deepening of Uganda’s market architecture to create a stronger and more responsive financial system.

He further emphasised the importance of having a regulator that listens and engages with industry as the financial sector responds to new technologies, products and changing market realities.

UIBFS board chair Godfrey Ssebaana called for a stronger culture of evidence-based decision-making within Uganda’s financial sector.

He said the sector would play an increasingly important role in mobilising savings, financing businesses, facilitating investment and supporting economic activity as Uganda pursues economic transformation.

However, Ssebaana questioned whether the financial sector is evolving fast enough to support the transformation the country seeks.

“To answer that question, we need evidence,” he said.

He called for stronger partnerships between industry, researchers, universities, regulators and policymakers.

Ssebaana said financial institutions should not merely consume research but should also help shape the research agenda by identifying practical challenges that require investigation.

He reaffirmed UIBFS’s commitment to strengthening its role as a link between industry, research and professional practice to ensure that knowledge generated through research contributes to better policies, stronger institutions and better decisions.

UIBFS chief executive officer Goretti Masadde also stressed the need to bridge the gap between research and practice.

Masadde said the financial sector is changing rapidly due to technological developments, changing customer expectations and emerging risks, making research and continuous learning increasingly important.

She said research should not end with reports, academic publications or conference presentations but should generate evidence that informs decisions, supports innovation and contributes to practical solutions.

Masadde called for stronger collaboration between financial institutions and academic and research institutions so that industry challenges can be translated into relevant research questions.

She reaffirmed UIBFS’s commitment to providing platforms that bring together industry players, academia, regulators, researchers and policymakers to share knowledge and develop evidence-based solutions.

The second-day discussions reinforced the message that Uganda’s financial sector must become more knowledge-driven, innovative and evidence-based.

The conference highlighted the need to invest in research, strengthen collaboration between industry and academia, understand customers and markets, improve risk management and ensure that financial policies and regulations are informed by evidence.

The discussions built on the first day of the conference, which focused on “Navigating Credit Risk in the Digital Transformation Era to Drive Uganda’s Ten-Fold Economic Growth Agenda.”

Day One discussions examined structural gaps constraining lending, artificial intelligence and AI-powered credit scoring, fraud detection and the changing nature of credit risk in a digital financial ecosystem.

The conference ended with a call for Government, the private sector, regulators, academia and development partners to work together to move financial sector research from the margins to the centre of Uganda’s economic strategy.

The overarching message was that Uganda’s economic transformation will require knowledge, evidence, innovation and capital to work together to build a stronger, more inclusive and resilient financial sector.

The post Financial research key to Uganda’s economic transformation appeared first on Daily Star.