“I Was Stressed — Four Rejected Business Names Later, I Knew I Had to Speak Up,” Says Dr. Aguma as URSB Opens Doors to Reform
“I was stressed — four rejected business names later, I knew I had to speak up,” recalls Dr. Dennis Aguma, Executive Director of NASE Africa Ltd, as he narrated his experience during a special engagement with the Registrar General and top management at Uganda Registration Services Bureau.
What began as frustration over repeated business name rejections turned into one of the most constructive dialogues between a private-sector innovator and a public regulator.
The meeting, initiated by the Registrar General, Ms. Mercy K. Kainobwisho, aimed to allow Dr. Aguma to address her and URSB’s top management on how the institution could evolve from a compliance-first regulator to an innovation-enabling institution.
As Dr. Aguma explained, URSB’s mandate goes beyond mere registration; it underpins Uganda’s ambitions in Ease of Doing Business, innovation, SME growth, and investment climate. “Regulatory rigidity,” he noted, “risks undermining investor confidence and stifling start-up energy.”
Drawing lessons from Singapore, Kenya, South Africa, and the UK, Dr. Aguma advocated for an “enable-first, correct-later” model that promotes enterprise birth rather than hindering it.
His presentation emphasized URSB’s pivotal role in achieving Uganda’s 10-fold growth strategy, calling for simplified registration, better collaboration with innovators, and smarter use of data to guide policy.
Ms. Kainobwisho and her team engaged deeply with his proposals, reviewing real case studies and noting actionable reforms.
In the end, the tone shifted from frustration to optimism. URSB’s openness to listen and act reflected a growing institutional maturity and a step toward the transformative partnership between regulation and innovation that Uganda’s economy urgently needs.
