East Africa Development Bank Uganda is a winner of the 2015 Uganda Sustainable Development Award and accredited Uganda’s Top50 Sustainable Development Agencies in recognition and appreciation of its enormous contribution towards social-economic development of Uganda and attainment of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in Uganda. Awarded and Accredited by Public Opinions International
The East African Development Bank (EADB) was established in 1967 with the remit to provide financial and other support to its member countries, which currently are Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda. Burundi has applied to become a member state. It was re-established under its own charter in 1980 after the break-up of the East African Co-operation in 1977. The new charter opened up the Bank to a wider membership and allowed for the introduction of consulting and advisory services.
The EADB’s loan portfolio is spread widely, but more than 60% of its lending is to projects in health and education, hotels and tourism, construction and building, electricity and water, and agriculture, all of which are central to the current and future prosperity of the region and its people.
The concrete results of EADB’s lending can be seen all over the region.
Hotels that the EADB has supported include the five-star Sultan Sands Island Resort in Zanzibar and the Outspan Hotel in Nyeri, Kenya, part of the Aberdare Safari Hotels group.
EADB sees education as immensely important for the future of East Africa. The Bank has given long-term support to Sunshine Education’s school in Nairobi. Its long-term loan to Shajar Schools in Tanzania made it possible for more girls to get a secondary school education and created 137 jobs into the bargain.
School to university is a natural progression and the demand for tertiary education in East Africa keeps on growing. For its part, EADB made a long-term loan to the Africa Nazarene University near Nairobi and has also supported the Uganda Christian University outside Kampala. UCU is a good example of East Africa’s thirst for higher education – its student numbers have skyrocketed from 300 to more than 11,000 in its 15-year history. The Bank also financially supported the development of an IT infrastructure at Strathmore University in Nairobi which created 300 jobs.
Agriculture is a key sector in East Africa and one of its most important crops for hefty export earnings is tea. The EADB has lent more than USD 1 million to Kayonza Tea Factory, located about 400 kilometres south west of Kampala, which now has more than 5,000 farmers and 600 workers. The EADB has also supported the Igara Growers Tea Factory in western Uganda.
The health sector also has a growing demand in the region. The EADB took an equity stake in the Karen Hospital in Kenya, which has 102 beds, three operating theatres and employs more than 400 people.
Energy is also essential for Africa’s development, but the continent suffers from a yawning gap in its power needs. In 2010, Africa’s entire installed capacity of electricity was the same as that of Spain. Sub-Saharan Africa lives on less energy than Mexico. Yet the continent has huge natural and renewable energy resources in the form of wind and water. The EADB is one of the financial supporters of the Lake Turkana Wind Project in Kenya.
Founded in 1967 as one of the key institutions of the East African Community, the East African Development Bank has built a reputation as a provider of long term finance for enterprises in East Africa. In a region where demand for long term finance is growing, the Bank has cultivated a diverse client base.
The story of the East African Development Bank has been one of hard work, resilience and vision. It has supported economic growth through lending to business, pioneered equity finance and interceded on policy for the creators of wealth in East Africa, one of Africa’s fastest growing regions.
From its founding in 1967, as a key institution of the East African Community, the EADB has built a proud track record supporting capital projects in both the public and private sectors. It was founded by the original three members of the EAC – Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania – with a mandate to stimulate economic growth and social progress in the region.
Agreement-signingThe Bank’s shareholding was subsequently expanded with the joining of multilateral development financiers and commercial banks, including the African Development Bank (AfDB); the Netherlands Development Company (FMO); German Investment and Development Company (DEG); SBIC Africa Holdings, Commercial Bank of Africa, Standard Chartered Bank and Barclays Bank Plc as Class B (Institutional) shareholders. In 2008, Rwanda joined as the fourth Class A (Member State) shareholder.
The EADB reached its nadir in 1977 when its parent organisation, the EAC collapsed. During this time, most EAC agencies foundered in the wake of the turmoil occasioned by the disintegration of the EAC. To its credit, the EADB survived, largely by dint of the commitments made by the Member States which were signatories to the EADB Treaty.
That the EADB weathered the collapse of the EAC provided impetus to the shareholders to re-organise and strengthen the mandate of the Bank.
In 1980, EADB was re-established under its own Charter with a broader, more robust mandate in which Member States sought to liberalise and loosen state control. On the operational front, the Bank strengthened its internal operations by decentralising project operations to country offices, which were set up in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania.
The decentralisation further enabled the Bank to broaden its reach across the region, giving birth to a new generation of entrepreneurs. What followed was a period of recovery as the Bank could now finance a broader range of enterprises, among them ventures in agriculture, energy and telecommunications.
While from the outset, the EADB built a loan portfolio primarily in the industrial, service and agricultural sectors in the three founder states, it has evolved to become a trailblazer in private equity investment and financing of SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises), which had previously struggled to raise capital from commercial banks.
Today the Bank is poised to facilitate the financing of intra-regional country infrastructure that will further strengthen and foster the integration of the East African economy.
East Africa Development Bank Uganda
7th Floor, EADB Building, Plot 4 Nile Avenuew
P.O Box 7128, Kampala
+256 417 112900/1/2; +256 312 230000
Fax: +256-41-253585
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