By Margaret Karume, Chief Credit Officer – dfcu Bank On Monday, 23rd February 2025, we officially opened our Namanve branch inside the Namanve Industrial Park. At first glance, it may seem like another branch opening with colours and balloons, traditional dancers, a ribbon cut, speeches here and there and photos taken with our huge, wide, smiles.But no. For dfcu Bank, the opening of our Namanve branch represents a convergence of belief in Ugandan businesses, listening to customer needs, response to Government policy, support to enterprise, and financial inclusion. In summary, “tuli ku ground”.As I drove to the launch passing past Bweyogerere, I caught an aerial glimpse of the Kampala Industry Business Park, which is now often simply referred to as ‘Namanve Industrial Park’, I couldn’t help but think that in a park where machines hum, trucks roll, and factories expand, access to finance may well be the most powerful piece of infrastructure of all.To understand why, one must listen to the voices “from the ground’ especially customers at the launch; from Hon. David Bahati, Minister of State for Trade, Industry and Cooperatives and a long standing dfcu customer himself to Hon. George Musisi, the newly declared Member of Parliament for Kira Municipality and also another long standing dfcu customer – who all thanked dfcu Bank for their services over the years.On the day that we were congratulated for bringing services closer to communities and industrial players, we were also encouraged to provide quicker access to finance that is crucial to prevent reliance on money lenders who take advantage of our KYC procedures that we conduct as part of due process before providing credit.With the bank extending multiple loans to support various business operations often with minimal paperwork and a level of responsiveness that matches the pace of their business, I can only imagine that finance is what keeps these critical businesses and enterprises moving.The Namanve industrial park hosts over 400 factories and employs around 4,000 people with Uganda’s industrial sector now contributing 16.5% to GDP, with manufacturing alone generating approximately Shs 8 trillion.More than 1.4 million Ugandans are employed in manufacturing, which is a dramatic expansion compared to the 1980s. Government plans to establish 22 industrial parks across the country, 12 of which are already operational, signal a deliberate shift toward value addition and domestic production.We therefore sit at an interesting intersection where we have to keep on translating policy ambition into financial instruments and converting enterprise potential into economic output.The opening of dfcu Namanve symbolises a deeper shift in how we think about infrastructure while at the same time supporting Uganda’s broader industrial strategy. For decades, infrastructure has meant roads, power lines, and industrial sheds. Today, we must recognize that financial infrastructure; accessible, responsive, and inclusive banking is as equally foundational.Hon. George Musisi, the new Kira Municipality MP (4th left), Hon. David Bahati, Minister of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives (5th left), and dfcu executives pose for a group photo at the launch of Namanve branchIt is no doubt that without timely access to credit, projects stall, workers wait, and costs escalate beyond what was originally budgeted for, eating into the projected interest margins and ultimately negatively impacting the returns on the investment for business owners.Beyond supporting businesses and enterprises, dfcu bank also supports staff workers employed by these same organisations with loan facilities. We’re now looking at how we can responsibly support loan access to those outside formal payroll structures.As I closed my day on Monday, 23ʳᵈ February 2026 I was thankful to work for a bank that considers growing manufacturing inclusively, because finance must evolve alongside it; we must therefore remember that as machines hum and production lines stretch into the night, liquidity is what keeps the gears turning. Trucks may carry raw materials, but credit carries momentum. Factories may shape steel and cement, but finance shapes possibility.If Uganda’s industrial transformation is to accelerate, it will not be powered by machinery alone. It will be powered by capital flowing at the right speed, in the right volumes, to the right hands.Again, at the point of repeating this, while they are important, industrial parks cannot thrive on electricity and roads alone; just like oil is to machines, so is bank finance to manufacturing: without working capital, asset financing, and structured credit, factories remain underutilized and expansion plans remain on paper.And as dfcu Bank, we are here to walk that journey by continuously Transforming Lives and Businesses in Uganda. The post Like Oil to Machines, So Is Bank Finance to Manufacturing appeared first on Business Focus.