Opportunity Uganda Limited

Last updated
Opportunity Bank Uganda Limited
Private
Industry Financial Services
Founded1995;24 years ago (1995)
Headquarters1259 Old Kira Road
Kamwokya, Kampala, Uganda
Key people
Emmanuel Tineyi Mawocha, CEO [1]
Products Loans, Savings, ATM, mobile banking
Total assets US$36.3 million (USh132 billion) (2019) [2]
Number of employees
365 (2015) [3]
Website Homepage

Opportunity Bank Uganda Limited (OBUL), is a commercial bank in Uganda. It received a commercial banking licence from the Bank of Uganda on 25 September 2019. [2]

A commercial bank is a type of bank that provides services such as accepting deposits, making business loans, and offering basic investment products that is operated as a business for profit.

Uganda Republic in East Africa

Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a country in East-Central Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The southern part of the country includes a substantial portion of Lake Victoria, shared with Kenya and Tanzania. Uganda is in the African Great Lakes region. Uganda also lies within the Nile basin, and has a varied but generally a modified equatorial climate.

Bank of Uganda central bank

The Bank of Uganda is the central bank of Uganda. Established in 1966, by Act of Parliament, the bank is wholly owned by the government but is not a government department.

Contents

Location

OBUL's headquarters are located in Opportunity House, at 1259 Old Kira Road, in Kamwookya, a business and residential neighborhood within the city of Kampala, Uganda's capital. [4] The geographical coordinates of the bank's headquarters are 0°20'43.0"N, 32°35'37.0"E (Latitude:0.345278; Longitude:32.593611). [5]

Kamwookya Place in Central Uganda, Uganda

Kamwookya, sometimes spelled as Kamwokya, is a location within the city of Kampala, Uganda's capital and largest metropolitan area.

Kampala Capital city in Uganda

Kampala is the capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper is estimated to have population of 1,680,800 people in 2019 and is divided into five boroughs of Kampala Central Division, Kawempe Division,Makindye Division, Nakawa Division, and Rubaga Division.

Overview

Opportunity Bank Uganda Limited is a Tier I Financial Institution (Commercial Bank), licensed by the Bank of Uganda, the central bank and national banking regulator. [1] [2]

Before Uganda's independence in 1962, the main banks in Uganda were Barclays ; Grindlays, Standard Bank and the Bank of Baroda from India. The currency was issued by the East African Currency Board, a London-based body. In 1966, the Bank of Uganda (BoU), which controlled the issue of currency and managed foreign exchange reserves, became the central bank and national banking regulator. The government ownedUganda Commercial Bank and the Uganda Development Bank were launched in the 1960s. The Uganda Development bank was a state-owned development finance institution, which channeled loans from international sources into Ugandan enterprises and administered most of the development loans made to Uganda.

Central bank public institution that manages a states currency, money supply, and interest rates

A central bank, reserve bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages the currency, money supply, and interest rates of a state or formal monetary union, and oversees their commercial banking system. In contrast to a commercial bank, a central bank possesses a monopoly on increasing the monetary base in the state, and also generally controls the printing/coining of the national currency, which serves as the state's legal tender. A central bank also acts as a lender of last resort to the banking sector during times of financial crisis. Most central banks also have supervisory and regulatory powers to ensure the solvency of member institutions, to prevent bank runs, and to discourage reckless or fraudulent behavior by member banks.

As a credit institution, it is not authorized to offer checking accounts or deal in foreign exchange. The company is authorized to take in customer deposits and to establish savings accounts. It is also authorized make collateralized and non-collateralized loans to savings and non savings customers. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Opportunity International and is a member of their network. They specialize in lending to the poorest of the working poor. As of December 2015, the institution's total assets were valued at US$20.53 million, with shareholder's equity of US$7.86 million. [3]

Opportunity International is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that is working to end global poverty by creating and sustaining jobs. Through a network of 47 program and support partners, Opportunity provides small business loans, savings, insurance and training to more than 14 million people in the developing world. It has clients in more than 20 countries and works with fundraising partners in the United States, Australia, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, Singapore, Hong Kong and the United Kingdom. Opportunity International has 501(c)(3) status as a tax-exempt charitable organization in the United States of America under the US Internal Revenue Code.

The working poor are working people whose incomes fall below a given poverty line due to lack of work hours and/or low wages. Largely because they are earning such low wages, the working poor face numerous obstacles that make it difficult for many of them to find and keep a job, save up money, and maintain a sense of self-worth.

History

This microfinance institution was licensed in 1995 and began operations in 1996 as Faulu Uganda, a programme of Food for the Hungry International, a non-governmental organization. In July 1999, Faulu Uganda incorporated as a limited liability company in Uganda, becoming Faulu Uganda Limited. Under that name, the company became part of the Faulu network in Uganda and Kenya. [6]

Non-governmental organization organization that is neither a part of a government nor a conventional for-profit business

Non-governmental organizations - commonly referred to as NGOs, are usually non-profit independent of governments, many are active in humanitarian etc. areas, however, NGOs can also be as lobby groups for corporations, such as the World Economic Forum. NGOs is also sometimes expanded to nongovernmental or nongovernment organizations. They are thus a subgroup of all organizations founded by citizens, which include clubs and other associations that provide services, benefits, and premises only to members. Sometimes the term is used as a synonym of "civil society organization" to refer to any association founded by citizens, but this is not how the term is normally used in the media or everyday language, as recorded by major dictionaries. The explanation of the term by NGO.org is ambivalent. It first says an NGO is any non-profit, voluntary citizens' group which is organized on a local, national or international level, but then goes on to restrict the meaning in the sense used by most English speakers and the media: Task-oriented and driven by people with a common interest, NGOs perform a variety of service and humanitarian functions, bring citizen concerns to Governments, advocate and monitor policies and encourage political participation through provision of information.

In 2006, Opportunity Transformation Investments and Opportunity International Australia each purchased a 31.5 percent stake in Faulu Uganda Limited, giving Opportunity International a combined majority stake of 63 percent in the fourth largest microfinance institution in Uganda. In December 2009, Opportunity bought the remaining shares of Faulu Uganda, thereby taking outright ownership of the company. The financial institution was renamed Opportunity Uganda Limited. [7] [8] In November 2011, the institution rebranded to "Opportunity Bank Uganda Limited". [9]

Ownership

The company is owned by five different entities, as of October 2016. [10]

Opportunity Bank Uganda Stock Ownership
RankName of OwnerPercentage Ownership
1 MyBucks
49.00 [11]
2 Opportunity Transformational Inc
36.79
3Faulu Trust
7.14
4 Opportunity International Canada
6.06
5 Food for the Hungry Organization
1.01
Total
100.00

Branch network

The branch network of OBUL has included the following locations: [12]

  1. Kira Road Branch - 80 Kira Road, Kamwookya
  2. City Center Branch - 14 Kampala Road, Kampala
  3. Kawempe Branch - 494 Block 204, Goshen House, Kawempe
  4. Nateete Branch - 715 Masaka Road, Nateete
  5. Owino Branch - Ovino Shopping Complex, 22 Kisenyi Road, Kampala
  6. Gayaza Branch - Gayaza-Kampala Road, Gayaza
  7. Nansana Branch - Hoima Road, Nansana
  8. Jinja Branch - 9 Skindia Road, Jinja
  9. Iganga Branch - 88 Main Street, Iganga
  10. Mbarara Branch - 90 Highway Street, Mbarara
  11. Masaka Branch - Edward Avenue, Masaka
  12. Kalagi Branch - Mukono-Kayunga Road, Kalagi
  13. Mubende Branch - 103 Lubanga Road, Mubende
  14. Head Office - 7A Acacia Avenue, Kololo, Kampala
  15. Mayuge Branch - Mayuge
  16. Mbale Branch - Mbale
  17. Kyenjojo Branch - Kyenjojo
  18. Hoima Branch - Hoima
  19. Mukono Branch - Mukono
  20. Soroti Branch - Soroti
  21. Mityana Branch - Mityana
  22. Abaita Ababiri Branch - Entebbe

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 Muhereza Kyamutetera (29 September 2019). "What Do We Know About Opportunity Bank, Uganda's Latest Commercial Bank, Which You Probably Did Not Know". Kampala: CEO Magazine Uganda. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
  2. 1 2 3 Martin Luther Oketch (2 October 2019). "Opportunity raises commercial bank operators to 25". Daily Monitor . Kampala. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
  3. 1 2 TMO (31 December 2015). "MFI Report: Opportunity Uganda Data As At 31 December 2015". Themix.org (TMO). Retrieved 14 October 2016.
  4. ↑ Alon Mwesigwa (19 March 2018). "Opportunity Bank Shifts From 'Elitist' Kololo to Kamwokya". The Observer (Uganda) . Kampala. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
  5. ↑ Google (3 October 2019). "Location of the headquarters of Opportunity Bank Uganda Limited" (Map). Google Maps . Google. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
  6. ↑ Sources (14 June 2014). "History of Faulu Uganda Limited". List-Company.com. Retrieved 14 June 2014.
  7. ↑ Kamau, Scola (16 December 2009). "Faulu Uganda Rebrands to Opportunity Uganda". Daily Monitor . Retrieved 15 June 2014.
  8. ↑ Vision Reporter (14 December 2009). "US-based Group to Take Over Faulu". New Vision . Kampala. Retrieved 15 June 2014.
  9. ↑ Kalungi, Nicholas (24 November 2011). "Opportunity Uganda Takes On New Name". Daily Monitor . Kampala. Retrieved 15 June 2014.
  10. ↑ OBUL (9 August 2016). "Opportunity Bank Uganda Limited: Shareholding". Kampala: Opportunity Bank Uganda (OBUL). Retrieved 9 August 2016.
  11. ↑ Busuulwa, Bernard (11 October 2016). "Uganda: Mybucks Enters Uganda With 49 Percent Stake in Opportunity Bank". The EastAfrican . Nairobi. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
  12. ↑ OBUL (14 October 2016). "The Branches of Opportunity Bank Uganda". Kampala: Opportunity Bank Uganda (OBUL). Retrieved 14 October 2016.

Coordinates: 00°20′43″N32°35′37″E / 0.34528°N 32.59361°E / 0.34528; 32.59361

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