By Steven Baryevuga
As the Ugandan economy grows, people are getting wealthier, the middle class is surging and there is money for investing in long term ventures. In an era where saving and investment have become the major motivation for nearly all hard working citizens, everybody is looking at an easy way of investing and being assured of a sizeable return on their investment.
Most long term investment alternatives in Uganda are limited to stocks, land and real estate which coincidentally have increased demand for timber, while to those in stable permanent jobs, pension funds are their savings for the future.
While the stock market bounces around wildly, one alternative investment option that sits a safe distance away from the world’s financial woes is not easy to notice.
Many a time, people say money doesn’t grow on trees. Certainly money doesn’t grow on trees but one can make money growing trees. This article explores a less tasking long term investment option commercial tree growing that most Ugandan land owners are overlooking in their quest to invest, and even save for the future.
Green investment
Green, sustainable and considered low risk over the medium to long term, investment in tree growing or timber sounds like an
investors dream, especially when its inheritance tax and capital gains tax free potential is brought into play. With the competition for investment capital getting intense and the hitherto land and real estate bubble slowing down and diminishing in quick easy
returns, the typical Ugandan middle income investor is looking elsewhere.
Timber management investment often gives a new definition to the phrase “long term investment