Head of agribusiness at Stanbic Bank Richard Wangwe (right) looks on as a Rusekere Tea Growers official (centre) explains how the company puts to use the loan. PHOTO by shabibah nakirigya Stanbic Bank has financed and is continuing to support the expansion of grain storage and processing facilities for key industry players in the formal grain trade, writes Richard Wangwe
More than 70 per cent of Uganda’s population is employed in agriculture which contributes 25 per cent to our GDP.
As such supporting business development in Uganda is not complete until you support agro-business. As a bank that is strongly rooted in the growth and development of Uganda, Stanbic Bank Uganda has partnered with Nation Media Group (NMG) to help create awareness to the public and customers about the various agriculture products and services that can benefit farmers and agribusinesses across the country.
Stanbic Bank has a wide branch network across the country with more than 63 branches and more than 1,000.
This makes it easy for us to tap in to the agricultural economy which is common upcountry using a separate unit to handle agribusiness.
Our support towards the agriculture sector has mainly been through providing financial support in form of loans, credit facilities and overdrafts to farmers, agro-processors and aggregators, agriculture-related industries, cooperatives and key players in agricultural value chains across the country.
In 2018, the bank provided facilities worth Shs360b annually to the agricultural sector. This is by far the largest amount of any commercial bank spending in the sector in Uganda.
In addition, the bank also plays an important role in providing foreign currency advisory services to farmers and other agricultural stakeholders who are dependent on imported inputs to reduce risk by hedging themselves against exchange rate fluctuations.
With Stanbic Bank’s wide branch network spread across the country, it is able to support the rural areas.
This is the case in the peak harvest periods when the bank provides the much-needed financing and lines of credit that allow large scale buyers to purchase produce from small holder farmers. Stanbic also plans to be more involved with small holder farmers by developing products more suited to their size and needs hence the reason the bank recently launched an Agri-financing partnership with Consortium for enhancing University Responsiveness to Agribusiness Development Limited (CURAD).
Growing with our clients
Stanbic Bank continues to support […]
