Pearl Bank mining support is taking a more prominent role in Uganda’s push to turn its mineral wealth into productive businesses, jobs and export earnings as the country works towards a $500 billion economy by 2040.
The bank says access to the right type of financing could help transform thousands of artisanal and small-scale miners from largely informal operators into licensed, organised and bankable enterprises.
That message was delivered at the 15th Annual Mineral Wealth Conference in Kampala on September 29, 2026, where financial institutions, government officials and mining industry players discussed how Uganda can extract more economic value from its mineral resources.
The conference was held under the theme “Beneath the Surface: Unlocking Africa’s Next Mining Powerhouse.”
For Pearl Bank, however, the discussion goes beyond what lies underground. The bigger challenge is creating businesses above ground that have access to capital, formal markets, technology and financial services.
Pearl Bank Mining Strategy Focuses on the People Behind the Sector
Pearl Bank Chief Treasury and Markets Officer Yunus Mugula said Uganda needs to pay closer attention to the large community of artisanal and small-scale miners already earning a living from the sector.
Estimates cited by Pearl Bank put the number at about 500,000 people.
Many of these miners operate at a small scale and outside fully formalised business structures. That can make it difficult for them to access ordinary banking services, secure larger contracts or raise the capital necessary to improve production.
Mugula said helping these operators become licensed, organised and connected to formal markets would be critical to unlocking more value from Uganda’s minerals.
This is important because formalisation can change how a mining business operates.
A registered and financially documented enterprise is generally in a better position to seek financing, purchase equipment, employ workers formally, negotiate supply agreements and participate in larger mineral value chains.
Wendi Brings Financial Services Closer to Small-Scale Miners
One part of Pearl Bank mining financing involves the bank’s Wendi mobile wallet.
Pearl Bank says it is already using Wendi to provide financial services to artisanal and small-scale mining cooperatives and their members.
The approach is aimed at reaching operators who may otherwise have limited interaction with the formal banking system.
Digital financial services can be especially relevant in mining communities where operations may be located far from conventional bank branches.
Bringing transactions into the formal financial system can also help miners build financial histories that may later become useful when seeking credit or other banking services.
But Pearl Bank’s involvement is not limited to mobile payments.
Pearl Bank Mining Financing Extends Across the Value Chain
Mining businesses have very different financing needs depending on where they sit in the industry.
A company conducting exploration does not face the same financial requirements as one purchasing machinery, processing minerals or exporting finished products.
Pearl Bank says its offering to businesses across the mineral value chain includes invoice discounting, contract financing, import and export finance, guarantees and letters of credit.
These products could support companies at different stages, from production to processing and international trade.
Contract financing, for example, can help an enterprise meet the costs associated with delivering an already secured commercial contract.
Invoice discounting can help businesses receive working capital while waiting for customers to settle outstanding invoices.
Letters of credit and trade-finance products can meanwhile support transactions involving equipment suppliers, exporters and international buyers.
Why Traditional Commercial Loans May Not Be Enough
Mining presents a particular challenge for banks because the industry can require substantial amounts of capital long before meaningful revenue is generated.
Exploration is a good example.
Companies may spend heavily studying mineral deposits without knowing immediately whether those deposits will eventually support a commercially viable operation.
Mugula argued that financing therefore needs to reflect the different stages of mining projects rather than relying entirely on traditional commercial loans.
The issue has also emerged in broader discussions within Uganda’s financial sector.
The Uganda Bankers’ Association’s 2026 Annual Bankers Conference included a dedicated session on patient capital for minerals, oil and gas and the need to move beyond conventional short-term commercial lending towards longer-term structured finance.
This matters because productive investments such as mines, processing facilities and major infrastructure projects often need longer repayment periods than ordinary working-capital facilities.
Mining Is Central to Uganda’s $500 Billion Ambition
Uganda’s government has placed mineral development at the centre of its long-term economic transformation strategy.
The Tenfold Growth Strategy identifies four broad priority areas: agro-industrial development, tourism, mineral-based development including oil and gas, and science, technology and innovation.
These priorities are commonly referred to as ATMS.
The government’s aim is to expand Uganda’s economy to $500 billion by 2040.
The economy has already grown significantly in recent years. In July 2026, Permanent Secretary and Secretary to the Treasury Ramathan Ggoobi said its size had reached about $70 billion.
That still leaves a considerable distance to the 2040 ambition.
Government therefore expects sectors capable of generating large amounts of exports, investment and industrial activity to play a much bigger role.
Mining is one of them.
Uganda’s Mineral Sector Still Has Significant Untapped Potential
Uganda possesses dozens of identified mineral resources, but the sector’s contribution to the wider economy remains relatively small.
Government information released in 2026 placed the wider extractive sector’s contribution — including mining, quarrying, oil and gas — at roughly 1.28% to 2.2% of GDP.
Gold accounts for a particularly large share of mining output, while many of Uganda’s other identified minerals collectively make a much smaller contribution.
That gap helps explain why policymakers and financial institutions are increasingly talking about value addition.
Simply extracting minerals does not necessarily capture their full economic value.
Processing, refining and manufacturing mineral-based products within Uganda can potentially generate more employment, investment and export revenue than exporting raw material alone.
It is here that banks could play an important role by financing companies further along the mineral value chain.
Formalising Artisanal Miners Could Unlock More Value
One of the largest challenges is the informal nature of much of Uganda’s artisanal mining activity.
Government estimates suggest between 200,000 and 600,000 Ugandans may be involved in informal artisanal mining.
This creates an unusual situation.
Uganda already has a large workforce actively participating in mineral extraction, yet much of that economic activity is difficult to connect with formal finance, taxation, industrial processing and established export markets.
Pearl Bank believes greater formalisation could help close that gap.
For miners, formalisation can potentially provide access to financing and more reliable markets.
For banks, it creates enterprises with clearer financial records and business structures.
For government, it can improve visibility across an industry that has historically been difficult to regulate comprehensively.
Pearl Bank’s Wider Lending Growth Shows Its Financing Ambition
Pearl Bank’s push into priority sectors is taking place as its overall lending activity expands.
The bank’s loan portfolio increased from Shs749 billion at the end of December 2025 to Shs1 trillion by June 2026, according to figures reported by Daily Monitor.
Agriculture and agro-industrialisation accounted for about 35% of the loan portfolio at the time.
The expansion illustrates the scale of demand for business financing in Uganda.
Mining, however, presents a different risk profile from established industries where companies may already have predictable monthly revenues.
Financing the sector sustainably will therefore require banks to balance the country’s development ambitions with careful assessment of commercial viability.
More Than Financing Will Be Needed
Money alone will not transform Uganda into a major mining economy.
A functioning mineral sector also depends on geological information, predictable regulation, licensing, infrastructure, electricity, transport links, skilled workers and transparent markets.
Government recently paused the issuance of new mining licences while authorities work to clean up aspects of the sector.
As of June 30, 2026, Uganda had issued hundreds of mineral-related approvals, including 497 exploration licences, 212 prospecting licences and 205 mineral dealers’ licences.
The scale of licensing activity shows strong interest in Uganda’s mineral resources, but turning licences into productive operations requires investment long after paperwork has been approved.
Financiers therefore become part of a much larger ecosystem involving government, miners, investors, processors and international buyers.
Pearl Bank Mining Investment Could Support Local Value Addition
One of the most important questions for Uganda is how much value from its minerals ultimately remains within the country.
Pearl Bank says it wants to support viable mining enterprises as they move through exploration, production, processing, trade and value addition.
That final stage could prove especially important.
A mineral that is processed locally can generate economic activity through factories, logistics, employment, energy consumption and supporting businesses before it is eventually sold.
Pearl Bank has said its objective is to help more viable enterprises become productive and bankable while allowing a larger portion of the value generated by Uganda’s mineral resources to remain within the domestic economy.
The Bigger Picture
Uganda’s $500 billion GDP ambition is much larger than any single bank or industry.
Reaching that level by 2040 will require rapid expansion across several productive sectors, higher exports and sustained private investment.
The government’s Tenfold Growth Strategy specifically identifies mineral-based development as one of the engines expected to support that transformation.
Pearl Bank mining financing provides one example of what that strategy could look like at ground level.
Instead of treating mining simply as the extraction of minerals, the bank is focusing on formalising businesses, expanding financial inclusion and supporting companies throughout the mineral value chain.
For Uganda’s estimated hundreds of thousands of small-scale miners, the biggest opportunity may therefore not be finding more minerals. It may be gaining the financing, business structures and market access needed to turn what they already extract into sustainable enterprises.
If Uganda can combine that financial inclusion with investment in exploration, processing and local value addition, mining could become a significantly larger contributor to the country’s economic ambitions.
