I&M Capital enters Uganda’s wealth market as fund manager, betting on a rising investor class

I&M Capital Limited has launched operations in Uganda, extending the I&M Group’s push into wealth and investment management beyond its established banking business.

The company, unveiled at a launch at the Kampala Serena Hotel on Thursday, 13 August, was licensed by the Capital Markets Authority as a fund manager in November 2025. It joins a field of 16 fund managers currently authorised by the regulator, and will offer portfolio management and advisory services, money-market investments, government securities, equities and offshore investments to individuals, businesses and institutions.

I&M Capital chief executive Silas Ngumi Mutuku framed the move as a response to a shifting client base, arguing that wealth management in Uganda had until recently been the preserve of high-net-worth individuals. That was changing, he said, as a growing pool of young professionals, entrepreneurs and affluent savers began asking how to grow and protect their money. Mutuku said the company saw in Uganda the same conditions that had driven I&M Capital’s earlier entry into Kenya — a growing economy, a young professional population and a rising appetite for investing rather than simply saving. He added that the firm wanted to “play our part in building a stronger culture of investment and financial literacy in Uganda”, a stated ambition rather than a measured outcome.

I&M Bank Uganda chief executive Robin Bairstow positioned the new arm as complementary to the bank rather than a substitute for it, saying the group’s banking and investment capabilities together created what he called “a more complete financial ecosystem” able to serve customers “at every stage of their financial journey”.

A fireside chat at the launch, hosted by country manager Philip Musinguzi, featured I&M Bank Uganda board chairman Francis Kamulegeya, who spoke on managing wealth across generations. Effective wealth management, whether for a client holding UGX 100 million or UGX 1 billion, required balancing liquidity, risk and the efficient transfer of assets to the next generation, he said. Kamulegeya argued that younger Ugandans increasingly viewed inheritance in terms of liquid, flexible financial assets rather than land or physical property.

The Capital Markets Authority welcomed the entry. Market supervisor Denis Kizito said capital markets provided the channel through which savings were converted into equity, corporate debt, infrastructure finance and other long-term instruments, and that I&M Capital’s arrival strengthened that ecosystem.

The launch lands during a period of rapid, regulator-reported growth in Uganda’s capital markets. According to the CMA, domestic market capitalisation on the Uganda Securities Exchange rose from UGX 4.33 trillion in June 2021 to UGX 21.77 trillion in March 2026, while assets under management in collective investment schemes grew from UGX 731 billion to UGX 6.02 trillion over the same period. Funded investor accounts increased from about 29,000 to more than 220,000. The figures are the authority’s own and shift quickly; its earlier anniversary communications this year put market capitalisation at around UGX 15.9 trillion as of December 2025.

That growth has drawn a crowd. The collective investment scheme segment remains concentrated, with the CMA reporting that two managers held roughly three-quarters of industry assets under management in late 2025 — a reminder that a growing market is not yet an evenly contested one. I&M Bank Uganda head of marketing and corporate communications Annette Nakiyaga said the launch was intended to give customers “greater choice and access” and to open up participation in what she described as Uganda’s growing investment landscape.