Uganda’s diaspora sent home a record US$2.5 billion last year — roughly Shs9.3 trillion, or about 3.8% of the country’s GDP. Equity Bank Uganda wants a bigger share of that money working, not just spending.
The bank will host the latest edition of its Equity Diaspora Webinar Series this Saturday, August 1, aimed at helping Ugandans abroad move beyond covering household bills and into building businesses, property, and long-term wealth back home.
Leading the virtual session will be Prof. Augustus Nuwagaba, Deputy Governor of the Bank of Uganda, who will speak on the diaspora’s expanding role in the country’s economic growth. Interested participants can register at http://shorturl.at/VKA8A.
Much of the diaspora’s remittances currently go toward essentials — school fees, medical bills, rent. That’s not in question. But Equity Bank believes there’s room for more of it to flow into commercial agriculture, real estate, manufacturing, and other productive sectors, provided people abroad have the right financial guidance and banking tools to do it.
It’s a shift the bank has been building toward for a while. It no longer wants to be seen purely as a money-transfer channel — it’s positioning itself as an investment partner, one that helps Ugandans abroad save, invest, and track their money from wherever they are.
Bringing in the Deputy Governor for this session is a signal of how seriously government sees diaspora capital as an economic lever. Expect the conversation to touch on policy, financial innovation, and how secure digital banking can turn remittances into something more durable than short-term support.
The bank’s diaspora push isn’t going unnoticed elsewhere either. Earlier this year, it picked up Corporate Business of the Year at the African Business Chamber’s African Business Awards 2026 in London, recognised for its work in financial inclusion, cross-border banking, and diaspora investment across the continent.
At its core, the webinar series is making one simple case to Ugandans abroad: sending money home matters, but knowing how to grow it matters just as much.
The one major thing that needs to be clearly defined in order to encourage more people in the diaspora to invest in real estate in Uganda is the definition of a Ugandan resident for tax purposes on account of owning a property in uganda.
At the moment, the law states one can be considered a Ugandan tax resident if they own property in uganda. Unfortunately, it doesn’t define what kind of property or how the owner uses it.
This leaves diasporans at a risk of losing everything they’ve built in uganda to a vindictive URA , for example if URA states since you are a government critic who lives in and is a citizen of Norway but you own a Bangalow in Naguru that is rented out for 5M/ month, to please declare your worldwide income so you can be taxed ´accurately’ in Uganda.
If the diasporan does not comply to URAs satisfaction, their properties and bank accounts in Uganda, could be seized through a Court Order, to pay whatever tax liability has been cooked up by URA-and therein lies the problem.
So, clarity around this law would go a long way in assuring us our investments will not be lost to the tax man in the future, of some big fish in government doesn’t like us.