Absa puts USD 50 million behind Uganda's power grid as it pushes projects from pipeline to finance

Absa Bank Uganda has provided a USD 50 million five-year facility to Uganda Electricity Distribution Company Limited, the utility’s first debt financing, in a transaction the bank says is expected to enable more than 200,000 additional electricity connections.

The facility sits at the centre of an argument Absa Bank Uganda’s managing director and chief executive, David Wandera, made at the UK-Africa Investment Summit in London on 11 September, and which Absa Group set out in a company announcement on 14 September. Uganda, he said, does not lack investor interest across energy, infrastructure, minerals, manufacturing and technology. The harder task is converting that interest into projects that can be financed and built.

“Uganda has significant investment opportunities. The more important question now is how we convert that potential and investor interest into bankable projects and productive investment,” Wandera said. “The real test is whether we can build projects and businesses that can attract capital, withstand financial and commercial scrutiny and ultimately move into execution.”

Absa also partnered with the Uganda Energy Credit Capitalisation Company on a UGX 11.085 billion concessional credit facility, which provides capital for onward lending to eligible energy companies. The bank presents the structure as an example of commercial and development finance working together to ease financing constraints.

The two transactions build on Absa’s wider financing and advisory work in the country, including participation in a USD 100 million syndicated facility for MTN Uganda and its role as Lead Transaction Advisor on Airtel Uganda’s IPO. The announcement also cites activity across telecommunications, sustainable real estate, green mobility, waste management and capital markets.

Wandera’s case is that different projects need different kinds of capital, and that banks increasingly have to work out what an opportunity requires, structure it accordingly and connect international capital with local knowledge and the ability to execute. “The opportunity is to connect more capital with the right opportunities and create the conditions for that investment to succeed,” he said.

Absa points to Uganda’s financial markets as part of the foundation. The country has risen from tenth when the Absa Africa Financial Markets Index was launched to third in the 2025 Index, a measure of the financial ecosystem available to support investment and growth.

At the London summit, where discussions centred on moving African economies from access to production, Wandera took part in sessions on institutional finance and financial infrastructure, and a closed working session on critical minerals and industrial value addition.

“Uganda’s next investment story is about translating growing opportunity into investment that strengthens businesses, infrastructure and long-term productive capacity,” he said.

The announcement was published by Absa Group at https://www.absa.africa/our-stories/our-voices/2026/absa-calls-for-investment-execution-to-drive-ugandas-next-growth-cycle.