dfcu Bank’s CEO, Mathias Katamba (3rd right) joins the sponsoring partners of the 2021 Uganda Top 100 mid-sized companies’ survey to officially launch the initiative.
The Uganda Top 100 mid-sized companies’ survey 2021 was launched yesterday October 06, 2021 at a press conference at Sheraton Hotel Rwenzori Ball Room. The Top 100 survey is an initiative of the Daily Monitor and KPMG. The sponsoring partners of the 2021 survey are Uganda Investment Authority, and dfcu Bank.
The theme for this year’s survey is “SMEs overcoming challenges and harnessing opportunities for future business modelling.”
The Purpose of the Top 100 Survey is to identify Uganda’s fastest growing medium-sized companies, to showcase business excellence and highlight some of the country’s most successful entrepreneurship stories.
Tony Glencross, Nation Media Managing Director, noted the importance of supporting and empowering local Ugandan businesses to fill the gaps brought about by the closure of several regional and international companies which have been operating in Uganda.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has placed severe limitations on all businesses, and it’s in the best interest of our economic growth, to nurture Ugandan owned Small and Medium Sized Businesses. This year’s survey will focus on turning the business lessons from the past 2 years into a foundation for economic recovery.”
Speaking at the event, dfcu Bank CEO Mathias Katamba observed that the past two (2) years have had significant impact on Small and Medium Enterprises, which are responsible for 70% of job creation. “The full impact of the pandemic has not yet been fully felt but with every crisis comes opportunity. With partnerships like this one, SMEs can be assisted in harnessing the ones that have risen out of the pandemic.”
Katamba pointed to the urgent need for local SMEs to embrace and incorporate technological advancements into their business operations. “By harnessing the possibilities within digital transformation, SMEs can start the road to recovery, overcome logistical challenges and attain sustainable growth,” he noted.
In his closing remarks, Mathias restated dfcu Bank’s unique and longstanding understanding of the SME Sector in Uganda.
“dfcu Bank has a strong cognizance of the SME community’s financial needs. Our teams, products, services, and countrywide presence provide the perfect resources for new and existing businesses. We are hopeful that working with the partners in the Top 100 Survey will enable us to forge a clear way ahead for business recovery, growth, and stability.”
Membership of the Top 100 Club sets companies on the road to gaining competencies they need to step ahead of the competition and grow into the corporate league.
How to Participate in the 2021 Uganda Top 100 mid-sized companies’ survey:
To take part in the survey a company needs to complete a general questionnaire. The questionnaire will be shared with respective companies online through a link. To access the questionnaire, you can call 0392-080708 and the questionnaire link will be sent to your email.
Participation is voluntary. Any company can participate especially those that have been part of the TOP100 in the past (with the exception of banks and insurance companies).
Start date for data collection
The 2021 survey will run from 06th October 2021 till 2nd December. Participation will be open to both Kampala based companies and those operating from upcountry.
Key Distinguishing Factors of the Uganda Top 100 Survey
This Survey differs from other Surveys because: –
·It focuses on objectivity:
·It is exclusively for medium-sized enterprises
Special 2021 survey
Unlike the previous surveys, the 2021 survey will not rank the TOP 100 companies but rather seek to understand how companies have adapted to changes that have come as a result of the pandemic (both positive and negative) through a series of parameters such as challenges faced, strategies employed to overcome the challenges and new innovations developed to adapt to the situation among others.
Objectives of the survey
What data will be published?
-To create industry databases and
-Enable medium-sized (‘mid-sized’) companies to benchmark themselves against their peers
-Highlight to policymakers the mid-sized companies’ contribution to economic growth.
-To support mid-sized companies in their growth by linking them with key service providers. Some of these service providers will form relationships with the companies by sponsoring the survey and/or special forums for the Top 100 companies.
-To address the challenges faced by SMEs in the evolving economic environment.
-To facilitate networking amongst the Top 100 companies.
-To create platforms for the Top 100 companies to engage individually and collectively in activities, particularly those related to promoting entrepreneurship in the country.
Data will be aggregated to show key trends shown by the Top 100 companies. Highlights of the survey results/ findings will be published in the Daily Monitor. No single name of a company or enterprise will be mentioned in the survey results.
How the survey will run:
In the past, the survey has been primarily used to rank the TOP 100 SMEs for a particular year based on nine main parameters i.e., percentage of return on equity, return on weighted average equity, retention ratio, current ratio, quick ratio, interest cover ratio, debt equity ratio, revenue growth rate and number of days’ sales debtors. The 2021 survey will focus more on Challenges faced by SMEs during the time of the pandemic. Strategies taken to overcome the challenges faced, Innovations achieved to manage the remote working model, Lessons derived – both positive and negative, Impacts on business, BCI, expectations from government and the Top100 partners.
After the Survey, a Survey report Presentation will be made where the findings from the survey will be presented before all the stakeholders.
