The Capital Markets Authority on Tuesday used a press conference at the Uganda Media Centre to advance its year-long 30th anniversary programme, as Finance Minister Henry Musasizi called on the industry to mobilise more long-term capital for Uganda’s drive toward a US$500 billion economy by 2040.
CMA was established in 1996. The Authority opened CMA@30 celebrations earlier this year, on 30 March. The main awards night is scheduled for 8 October at Kampala Serena Hotel. Tuesday’s briefing, held under the theme “Reimagining Uganda’s Capital Markets for a Sustainable Future,” brought the anniversary into the national policy debate.
Musasizi said Uganda’s capital markets had grown from a nascent industry into a more important part of the financial system, but that progress now had to accelerate under the Tenfold Growth Strategy. That plan, he said, will need large volumes of patient capital for infrastructure, industrialisation, commercial agriculture, tourism, energy, housing, manufacturing, technology and the expansion of Ugandan firms.
“This ambition cannot be achieved through Government expenditure or bank financing alone,” he said.
Citing August 2026 figures, the minister put domestic market capitalisation at Shs 24.28 trillion, corporate bonds at about Shs 290 billion, and Collective Investment Scheme assets under management at about Shs 7.08 trillion. He said those numbers showed rising formal investment, alternative financing for business, and a larger role for capital markets in long-term mobilisation.
He also urged Ugandans to move from saving to investing, backed by financial literacy and investor education. Investor protection, he said, must stay at the centre of market development through disclosure, surveillance, enforcement, corporate governance and public awareness.
CMA Chief Executive Officer Josephine Okui Ossiya said the Authority had grown from a small institution into one with a larger duty to connect national savings with investment opportunities.
In the first year of CMA’s current five-year strategic plan, she said, 63 per cent of 43 strategic indicators were achieved or exceeded, and work-plan implementation stood at 99.5 per cent. She reported CIS assets of about Shs 7.06 trillion, total funds mobilised through capital markets of about Shs 23.4 trillion, public understanding of capital markets at 60.8 per cent, and 241,000 CIS investor accounts. Domestic capitalisation on the Uganda Securities Exchange, she added, had surpassed Shs 15 trillion. CMA now regulates more than 160 licensed market participants.
The minister’s Shs 24.28 trillion market-capitalisation figure and Ossiya’s “surpassed Shs 15 trillion” USE figure should not be treated as the same statistic. They appear to reflect different snapshots or measures.
Ossiya restated CMA’s target of one million funded CIS accounts within five years, plus wider share ownership and more Ugandan companies raising growth capital through the markets.
Board chair Saul Sseremba reviewed the Authority’s record and stressed deeper participation, stronger investor confidence and broader access.
Founding CEO Japheth Katto said CMA’s early achievement was proving that a capital market could work in Uganda. Former CEO Keith Kalyegira said the industry should move beyond listings toward productive capital, wider participation and a stronger role in growth.
CMA said it remains committed to investor protection, deeper participation, market confidence and a more inclusive, resilient and sustainable market.
