By Weswa Ronnie
MBALE CITY
The Government of Uganda launched the Uganda Development Bank, (UDB) Mbale Branch to ease financial problems for the people of the Bugisu region.
The bank was launched on Friday, 17th October, 2025 at its office premises located along Republic Street, opposite Court View Hotel.
Patricia Ojangole, the Executive Director of Uganda Development Bank, represented by Francis Mwesige, Director of Economics at the Bank, stated that the purpose of extending the branch to Mbale is to bring services closer to the people of Bugisu and the Eastern region at large.
He revealed that the bank plans to open five more branches in different regions across the country to extend its services to more people.
During the launch, Uganda Development Bank Mbale Branch also graduated over fifty entrepreneurs who had been trained for two months in areas such as agriculture, agro-processing, manufacturing, education, tourism, and health, with skills in entrepreneurship, marketing, bookkeeping, governance, and business planning.
Mwesige encouraged entrepreneurs and people from Bugisu region to utilize the bank’s services, highlighting the availability of quick loans at a 12% interest rate to improve their businesses and promote employment and national development.
Nathan Okia, one of the entrepreneurs who graduated, expressed his satisfaction with the bank, stating that they had been struggling with high-interest loans from private commercial banks.
He added that the knowledge acquired would be used to improve his business.
Ahmed Mayanja, an officer from the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) Mbale Branch, urged entrepreneurs to register their workers with NSSF and remit their 15% contributions for a secure future. He revealed that NSSF had written to the government to close all companies that have not registered their employees.
Mbale now has three government bank branches Post Bank, Micro Finance Bank and Uganda Development Bank.
