Following on its last meeting in Uganda in 1999, the consulting engineers from across Africa converged on Kampala in March 2005. The week long event probed possible ways of getting development spearheaded from within, utilising experts trained at high cost to their nations but often sidelined in key activities in the guise of lacking adequate skills and experience. The vicious cycle of ‘no work no experience, no experience no work’ was seen as a scapegoat that undermines development efforts. Many countries have had to get experience through learning from their mistakes, and as such, Africa should be no exception.

The new head of Uganda Manufacturers Association’s consulting unit, Dr. Bruno Emwanu presents a critique of the mobile telecommunication sector developments that every business entrepreneur should not miss. This review demonstrates how pioneering firms may use monopolistic advantages prior to markets opening out to other players, and how a setting may change with more competition, with numerous techniques employed by market players to influence the events in their favour to varying degrees of success. The Uganda market is studied, starting with Cel Tel, the pioneering player, followed by MTN and later Uganda Telecom. Likewise, other businesses need to examine their performances, seek mechanisms of improvement, and where inevitable, contemplate change in business outlook.

In the area of diversifying sources of energy, Uganda is considered to be firmly on the path to picking up solar, along with many nations worldwide. Although the developing world is slowly getting converted to integrating more non-traditional sources, the case of Uganda is arguably slowly getting on board, starting with solar lighting and to a lesser extent water heating. These efforts are to a large degree spearheaded by the government through the line ministry responsible for energy, with greater public awareness of late, more sector players, from retailers to those undertaking part manufacture and assembly.

The recent meeting of consulting engineers in Africa dwelt at length on the need for enhancing doing work for Africa from within expertise on the continent playing a pivotal role. Obstacles to successful achievement of this were highlighted, ranging from donor influences, general perceptions within our governments, and, what needs to be given focus to improve the situation for the better. This article cites key speakers on the matter and presents their sentiments on the way forward.

The annual exercise of contributing to the national budget has been in process from various interested parties. The Private Sector Foundation (PSF) organized consultations amongst its members, the latest being at the Uganda Manufacturers Association (UMA) show grounds at Lugogo on May 20th 2005, in preparation for a joint meeting with government officials from ministries for finance, energy, as well as tourism, trade and industry.

Uganda Manufacturers Association (UMA) started a new service, known as the UMA Business Consulting Unit. This venture has already attracted assistance from the Confederation of Danish Industries through provision of a Midterm Expert. Although his term did end recently, he prepared an article on distribution structures for enterprises, which we reproduce without amendment, even though it is also appearing in a bulletin of UMA . We hope it will contribute to improving performance and competitiveness, especially now that our enterprises have to open up and brace for competition in the new East African Community (EAC) regional arrangement.

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