Policy & Capital

The region’s largest pools of patient capital are its pension funds, and the rules that cage them are political documents. What liberalization means, who resists it, and why founders should care.

Nigeria, Kenya, and Tunisia legislated for startups while Uganda’s ecosystem runs on general company law. What startup acts actually change, where they disappoint, and a draft worth having.

Uganda’s mobile money tax and its neighbors’ versions ran a live experiment in taxing digital rails. What transaction volumes did, who bore the burden, and the design lessons that stuck.

Track-and-trace stamps promised to kill counterfeits and raise revenue. For small manufacturers the per-unit cost works like a regressive entry fee. The arithmetic, and the survival plays.

Penalty waivers and voluntary disclosure windows keep returning to East Africa’s tax codes. What amnesties fix, what they teach, and how an informal firm should read the bargain.

First oil is a governance exam Uganda has not yet sat. The Petroleum Fund, the spending rules, and the design choices that still separate Norway’s path from the resource curse.

The EAC Common Market promised free movement of workers and services. Founders still pay for permits, wait on discretion, and structure around friction. A practical map.

Power is a top-three cost for East African manufacturers, and the tariff schedule is negotiable terrain. How tariff classes, time-of-use windows, and self-generation reshape factory economics.

BUBU reserves public demand for local firms. The policy is real, the preference margins are real, and most SMEs still cannot collect. The Tender Ladder shows what qualification takes.

Every East African government now sells a one-stop shop for investors. What the model fixes, where the queue re-forms behind the counter, and how a founder tests the difference.