Inside Shs10b gamble on local music promoters

What the report says

Sqoop Uganda reports that Uganda’s music promoters are operating in a high-risk, capital-intensive industry where large sums are spent before any ticket revenue comes in. The article says promoters must pay artistes, secure venues, handle publicity and equipment, and manage logistics, often while borrowing at high cost and facing the uncertainty of whether a concert will recover its investment. That fragility became more visible after Covid-19 disrupted live events and left the sector struggling to restart.

Against that backdrop, the government’s release of Shs10 billion last Friday to three promoters’ savings and credit cooperative societies (Saccos) was greeted with relief by many in the industry. The publisher says the funding was not delivered to a single, unified group, but instead followed a more complicated path shaped by disagreements among promoters and negotiations with government officials. What started as a request for support eventually produced three separate Saccos and a shared package distributed among competing groups.

The article identifies promoters Andrew Mukasa, also known as Bajjo, and Abbey Musinguzi, also known as Abtex, among those involved in the discussions with President Museveni after the 2021 elections. According to Sqoop Uganda, they had argued that the sector needed affordable capital to recover from pandemic losses and to sustain businesses that many see as more like enterprises than informal entertainment ventures.

The key question now, the piece says, is whether the Shs10 billion package will help promoters move beyond survival and into long-term business growth. More broadly, the report highlights the continuing financial vulnerability of Uganda’s live-music economy and the challenges of organizing support for a fragmented industry.