Chief Internal Auditor of the Uganda Investment Authority Mr. John Kyamakya Bwambale has advised investors to include risk management in their corporate strategies.
“This is because risk management supports a business as a tool for decision-making but the ultimate aim of risk management is to inform and provide measures for effective decision-making.
He said this at a training session of the UIA Business Development staff on key issues in risk management that they have to pass on to potential and existing investors for implementation to avoid negative effects of disasters and pandemics to their projects.
“He however advised that risk management can be properly addressed with the introduction of a risk management framework that must introduce a systematic and planned approach to risks, determine accountability for risk management and clarify governance in matters of risk management.
He pointed out that effective risk management involves the identification, assessment, and prioritization of risks or uncertainties followed up by minimizing, monitoring, and controlling the impact of risk realities or enhancing the opportunity potential by applying coordinated and economical resources.
Risk management is essential in any business/organization and there are three types of risk control that include preventative, detective, and corrective.
He advised that investors should develop risk control strategies that would include the application of safeguards to avoid risks, transfer the risks for example to insurance protection and those that reduce effects such as mitigation measures.
“Risk management is the role of the Board or the investor, the Board delegates this role to Management-Set the Tone at the top. Management appoints a risk officer or department, all departments, project and unit heads are risk owners, therefore all staff have a role in risk management,” he explained.
He said that investors need to apply techniques and tools that include brainstorming during which you assess the risks that could impact your business.
Other techniques include assessing strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, maintaining and updating a risk register, risk data quality assessment, tracking risks, and holding meetings.
The investor journey starts with us- UIA, URSB
The first contacts for a potential investor in Uganda are the Uganda Investment Authority (UIA) and the Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB). It is therefore critical that these institutions work closely together in order to serve investors better.
This observation was made during a courtesy visit between the two institutions in which the new Registrar General, Ms. Mercy Kainobwisho, paid her first official visit to UIA in this position.
According to the UIA Acting Director-General, Mr. Lawrence Byensi, the partnership between UIA and URSB started way back in the year 2000 when UIA and Ministries, Departments and Agencies agreed to work together under the banner of “Team Uganda” to promote Uganda through a uniformed platform. URSB was one of the 22 institutions that formed that team.
URSB was also part of the first Agencies to open up offices when the physical One-Stop Business Center was established under the UIA. In 2014/15, when the OSC online E-biz platform was being established, URSB was among the first institutions prioritized to provide services through it.
“Our relationship has been established and developed over the years and we need to enhance this partnership for the good of our country,” noted Byensi.
In her remarks, Ms. Kainobwisho appreciated the role UIA is playing in attracting investors. “We are hopeful for a forward-looking mentality, we need to consolidate our efforts in order to work better, bigger and broader,” she said, adding that the two institutions need to cooperate more in order to have a seamless journey for the investors.
The two institutions will continue their quest to achieve business process simplification and increased access of the public to government services both through their physical offices and online, and particularly when both institutions move into the Uganda Business Facilitation Center (UBFC) later on this year.
“The UBFC is as a result of a partnership between UIA, URSB and CMA. We will be happy to provide coordinated and timely services to our mutual clients under one roof,” Mr. Byensi added.
The UBFC is an under-one-roof mechanism for key business facilitators – Uganda Investment Authority, Uganda Registration Services Bureau and Capital Markets Authority.
