3-day PPDA Business Expo 2022 commences as the Business Community Eyes Big Deals
Drake Nyamugabwa
The Inaugural Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Authority (PPDA) Business Expo 2022 have opened at Kololo grounds from 8th through 10th July 2022 for the business community to be exposed to the government procurement processes, gather information, get training, and network in business-to-business conversations among other opportunities.
The Business Expo according to Benson Turamye, the Executive Director PPDA is aimed at creating a platform to link the business community with the government aimed at contributing to economic growth, connecting businesses to effective procurement systems, and supporting local SMEs by exposing them to information, training, by various stakeholders while assisting providers to tap into opportunities that public procurement offers.
“This is the first PPDA Business Expo bringing together private companies, government procurement entities, public, and the general business community to demonstrate what services and products they have for government, link business with the public to support our local manufacturers,” he said
The ED during an interview on the sidelines of the expo said that the expo is also providing electronic government procurement (eGP) processes for procuring entities to adopt as a way of moving away from the manual systems which he will deliver transparency, efficient service provision, registration of companies among other services.
“We are providing eGP training to procuring entities to transform from the manual system which has been found with some challenges. This will deliver transparency, efficient services provision and registration is going on” he said.
The Chairman PPDA Board also Chief Guest Julius Ishungisha while opening the Business expo said that the expo has gathered service providers for the government and the business community to build capacity to avoid potential challenges during procurement processes.
He said with the open-door policy of PPDA, the procuring authority will ensure proper management to support procuring entities and service providers and scan the provision, regulations, and guidelines to ensure the relevancy of public procurement to government initiatives.
Prudence Ukkonika in above picture, the Proprietor of Bella an agri-business enterprise one of the exhibitors at the PPDA Business expo and the producers of organic wine and juices said in addition to adding value to local farmers producing fruits and distributing them across the East Africa region and globally they are also distributing in the region with the safest and healthiest organic foods to consumers which she says is improving the livelihood of the local communities.
She however decried the high taxes imposed on the products which he said are forcing them to increase prices pointing out that this may become expensive for consumers and lead to other problems like unemployment.
“If I increase the price of my products, consumers may not buy it because it will be expensive and this will affect not only the producer but also government loss and farmers of income. We will have to downsize our workers. Our juice and wine are marketed globally” she said
The CEO of Exim Bank Uganda Edward Kanyike pictured (R) above during the training of exhibiters at the PPDA expo urged the business community to embrace financial knowledge in order to grow their business and generate more income through business activities which he said makes banks raise their trust to offer financial services.
He said that services at Exim bank including trade financing give assurance to suppliers to provide their goods to their customers while acting on behalf of the customer.
“For customers doing international trade we provide letters of credit to give assurance to suppliers we offer that financial service. If the customer fails to pay, we pay on demand basis on behalf of the customer” he said
The CEO added that with the 10 years of Exim bank’s existence in Uganda, after taking over from Imperial bank they are also providing guarantees to customers doing export trade in a bid to build them adding that among their shareholders includes Mukwano Industries and Exim Tanzania as a principal shareholder.
The CEO Milima Security Emanuel Chagara, during the training on cyber security mentioned that they will be offering free cyber security consultancy and advisory at the PPDA Business Expo2022 from 8th to 10th July 2022 to support organizations in building capacity to defend themselves against cyber-attacks.
