The Union Transport Alliance (UNION) and the United Informal Sector Forum (UISF) have formally launched a strategic partnership that will use their combined membership numbers to dominate the market, attract investment, create jobs, and unlock affordable financing. Key to all this, officials said, is making Uganda’s informal economy visible.
The partnership, launched at a high-key event Friday at Hotel Africana under the theme “Tuliwamu- Building Uganda’s Invisible Economy Together,” brought together representatives from all 18 informal-sector categories, UNION leadership, stakeholders, and the media.
For UISF members, the partnership will mean greater access to digital markets and new channels through which they can sell and distribute products, whereas for the Union, the partnership opens its ecosystem to a much broader network of entrepreneurs and customers beyond transport operators.
“With the partnership of the Union Transport Alliance and the Informal Sector Forum, growth of members is guaranteed,” said Fred Ssenoga, Chief Executive Officer of the Union, at Friday’s launch. “We can undertake various ventures to manufacture products for the market by harnessing the value of numbers, discipline, and systems within our Union.”
At its core, the Union Alliance is designed as a commercial platform (“supermarket”) for already existing products such as the Union ride-hailing app, bike loans, Union water, pads, smartphones, and Union Oil, the newly launched Union Data Bundle, as well as future products such as Union matatus (taxis), Union buses, Union trucks, tyres, spare parts, electric cars, backpacks, laptops, and scholastic materials.
The alliance has struck partnerships with key players in the banking, transport, telecom, and digital sectors and recently introduced the Union Online Duuka via Ruka Pay, designed to make everyday shopping simpler and more accessible by connecting customers with a growing range of products from Union and trusted Union stockists.
Uganda’s informal economy is described as “invisible” not because it lacks economic value, but because much of its contribution remains outside formal systems and conventional economic structures. Yet millions of entrepreneurs, traders, producers, and service providers generate income, create employment, provide essential goods and services, and sustain families and communities every day.
The partnership seeks to change this by connecting UISF’s diverse membership to UNION’s expanding product ecosystem, designed not only to meet everyday needs but also to create opportunities for members and their families to participate in distribution, retail, and other income-generating activities.
A significant milestone in the partnership is the appointment of Ssenoga as Product Advisor to the United Informal Sector Forum. The appointment is intended to strengthen UISF’s ability to identify, develop, and connect its members to products and services that respond to their actual economic realities.
Asuman Mwanje, head of UISF, also chairman of the Uganda Tailors Association, and spokesperson for KACITA, said unity will directly address key challenges facing informal traders, including formalising member enterprises through government agencies and improving internal business dispute resolution.
Uganda’s transport sector long fragmented, informal, and underserved has lacked the structure, financing, and coordination needed to unlock its full economic potential. Progress has already been accelerated by strong, high-impact partnerships with leading institutions, including NSSF, MTN, Housing Finance Bank, Spiro, Next Media, and others, enabling the Union to deliver financing, connectivity, mobility solutions, and nationwide visibility to its members.
The Alliance, the first of its kind in the region, also opens the door for deeper collaboration with partners across the mobility, financial, manufacturers, and other service providers, offering access to one of the largest organized transport networks in the region.
The event was capped by the presence of artist Grace Nakimera, who received a sh10 million boost for her live concert due at Kampala Serena Hotel on September 11. The Union also announced an education initiative offering 100 full bursaries and 1,200 half bursaries for primary and secondary schools.
The ambition behind the UNION-UISF partnership is to make this economic activity more organized, more connected, more productive, and more visible to opportunity. “Building Uganda’s Invisible Economy Together” is therefore a call to recognize the economic power that already exists in Uganda’s informal sector and to build the systems, partnerships, and opportunities that allow that power to translate into stronger businesses, higher household incomes, and more resilient communities.
