Ugandans tipped on business opportunities in South Sudan

Brig. Gen. Ronnie Balya, Uganda’s envoy to South Sudan pictured (New Vision)

With South Sudan slowly rebuilding itself after the war, many business opportunities abound for Ugandans. 

Uganda’s envoy to South Sudan, Brig. Gen. Ronnie Balya, told the media last week that South Sudan is endowed with vast natural resources that are waiting to be tapped. These include rich and fertile agricultural land. 

“South Sudan has fertile soils for commercial and mechanized agriculture. We need to replace World Food Programme in South Sudan. Africa should be feeding the world not the other way round,” he said. 

Gen. Balya explained that despite the fertile soils, 60% of the population has a shortage of food, adding that Ugandans can invest in commercial and livestock farming. 

“This is an area that we can handle. South Sudan is two and a half times the size of Uganda. Whereas Uganda has 46 million people, South Sudan has 13 million. The country is green with commercial agriculture and livestock farming,” he noted. 

Currently, Uganda exports mainly cereals, such as maize and flour, sugar, beverages (beer and soft drinks), vegetable oils, building materials (iron bars and cement), and imports scrap iron and timber from South Sudan. 

Balya said as South Sudan was becoming safer for the business community, there was a need for stakeholders to do more market surveys and intelligence on various opportunities. 

The general said there existed opportunities for the Uganda business community to engage in joint ventures with the South Sudan business community in agro-based industries, hospitality Balya said South Sudan is becoming safer for business and in real estate. 

Balya noted that accommodation was currently expensive in Juba and the demand was high, adding that a three-bedroom house costs over $10,000. 

When it comes to the hotel industry, the city has only 30 hotels which is not enough to satisfy the demand. 

“South Sudan is a rich country endowed with vast resources. It has oil and gas. Oil production now stands at 180,000 barrels per day. The government wants to restore the previous capacity before the war in 2013 which was 350,000 barrels per day,” he said.

Other Opportunities

Balya stated that the security situation in South Sudan was taking a positive trajectory and had greatly improved since the war in 2013-2015. 

He said currently Ugandans form the largest diaspora in the country and were involved in both the formal and informal sectors. 

“We shall protect them and their businesses. After that bitter war, the government is doing its best to restore systems. The Uganda embassy is also conducting a registration exercise in all the 10 states of South Sudan and the response is good,” he said noting that the business environment was currently conducive. 

Uganda’s current exports to South Sudan are valued at between $350m and $400m while South Sudan’s exports to Uganda are worth $86m.