Local businesses are the lifeblood of Uganda’s emerging Jinja City’s economy, driving innovation, creating jobs, and building a resilient urban community. As Jinja City embraces a data-driven future, enhancing the way trading licenses are managed has become a priority, supported every step of the way by DataCities Consortium (ToroDev – ODA, Sunbird AI and UNGP).
Through our recent partnership with Jinja City, ODA supported the DataCities team to analyze trading license data and uncovered both challenges and promising opportunities. In the Northern Division alone, the licensing register includes over 4,000 records, while the Southern Division features an impressive 8,800 business assessments. These figures reflect a dynamic and growing local economy.
With our technical guidance, Jinja City is preparing to implement the Integrated Revenue Administration System (IRAS) in the FY 2025/26. This platform will integrate all revenue data like the property tax, trading licenses and more – into a single, user-friendly modern data system. This shift will eliminate duplicate licensing records and mismatched contacts, resulting in a clean, reliable dataset on platform that supports both business owners and city authorities in planning, routine decision and policymaking processes.
We are also co-creating a digital platform as the DataCities team, where business owners can check their license status, update their details, and make payments easily. This modern approach goes beyond streamlining administration; it equips entrepreneurs with tools to thrive – a considerable intrinsic incentive to business owners to positively contribute to the city’s development with less costs on enforcement.
To ensure business owners remain at the center of this transformation, we are also working closely with the city to support outreach campaigns, host business development and compliance meetings, and deliver updates through local radio and social media data analytics – to get the pulse of business owners regarding city authority’s support. These efforts are fostering a culture of voluntary compliance and building a stronger partnership between city officials and entrepreneurs.
Our collaborative approach is aimed at transforming city business licensing from a bureaucratic task into a data-driven shared responsibility, building trust and strengthening Jinja City’s business environment.
Together with Jinja City, we are building a business-friendly future. By focusing on data accuracy, transparency, and user-friendliness, the city is positioning itself as a hub of innovations, entrepreneurship and growth. When local businesses thrive, the entire city benefits, and that’s a journey we are proud to support.
