FEATURE NEWS ARTICLE (UGNEWSLINE) – Upendo Malikia, managing director of Machame Farm, says funding accessed at zero per cent interest through Pearl Bank under the LSF fund has helped transform the farm’s operations, increase production and improve efficiency.
Malikia says the financing has enabled the farm to expand its cultivated land from 200 acres to 800 acres this season, with plans to reach 1,300 acres next season.
“The funding has enabled us to acquire essential agricultural equipment, including tractors, zero-till planters, sprayers and a combine harvester, improving operational efficiency and reducing post-harvest losses,” she says.
The investment has also expanded the farm’s market reach. According to Malikia, Machame Farm has grown from serving one off-taker to more than five and secured a grain supply contract with the World Food Programme.
“Beyond expanding our production, the farm continues to create employment and support community livelihoods, contributing to Uganda’s socioeconomic transformation,” she adds.
Her experience highlights the role of affordable financing in supporting agricultural businesses, improving productivity and creating economic opportunities. It also reflects Pearl Bank’s broader message during Customer Service Month, under its campaign, When You Grow, Uganda Prospers, which focuses on how supporting customers’ growth can contribute to the prosperity of communities and the country.
The campaign builds on the bank’s tagline, Grow. Prosper, and its stated purpose of fostering prosperity for Ugandans.
As Uganda reflects on its identity and aspirations during the Independence season, Pearl Bank is using its new identity to connect its services with the country’s economic ambitions. The institution, formerly known as PostBank Uganda, draws inspiration from Uganda’s description as the Pearl of Africa.
However, beyond the new name, logo and colours, the bank’s transformation is also being viewed through the experiences of customers whose businesses and livelihoods depend on access to financial services.
Supporting businesses to grow
Another customer who attributes business growth to the bank’s support is Christopher Mugwanya, who started Clever’s Origin Schools in 2005 with little capital but determination and teaching experience.
Mugwanya says his relationship with Pearl Bank has helped the school expand, overcome setbacks and establish additional branches.
“Today, we employ more than 100 people and continue to contribute to the community,” he says.
The school’s journey has not been without challenges, including the loss of part of its land to a planned road project. However, Mugwanya says the institution has continued to grow with financial support from the bank.
The school’s experience illustrates how access to financing can help businesses invest in infrastructure, sustain operations and create employment. It also demonstrates how the growth of an enterprise can benefit people beyond its owners through jobs and services to the wider community.
For Pearl Bank, these customer experiences reflect its ambition to make financial services an important part of Uganda’s economic transformation.
A long-standing banking relationship
Although Pearl Bank is a new name, the institution has a history dating back nearly a century. Its roots lie in the Post Office Savings Department, established in 1926. It later became PostBank Uganda Limited in 1998 and obtained Tier One commercial bank status in December 2021.
The transition to Pearl Bank represents another chapter in the institution’s history, building on relationships established with customers over several decades.
Hajj Jamali Basalirwa is among the longtime customers who have witnessed this evolution. He says his relationship with the institution began in the late 1980s, when his father opened savings accounts for the children.
Basalirwa later opened his own account and watched the institution evolve from a post office savings service into a commercial bank.
“I have been banking with this institution since its days as a post office savings bank in the late 1980s,” he says.
He adds that he now receives his salary through the bank and can access financing to support the growth of his business.
“I am grateful to the management and staff for the transformation I have witnessed over the decades, and I am proud to have grown alongside the bank,” he says.
His experience highlights the importance of maintaining customer trust while adapting to changing financial needs.
Pearl Bank’s Head of Marketing and Communications, Priscilla Akora, says the new identity reflects a connection with Uganda’s national heritage.
“By adopting the name Pearl Bank, we honour this legacy and evoke a deep sense of national pride,” she says.
The institution’s challenge is to ensure that the promise behind the rebrand translates into practical benefits for customers, including access to savings products, credit and convenient banking services.
Linking customer growth to national prosperity
Through its When You Grow, Uganda Prospers campaign, Pearl Bank seeks to highlight the connection between individual progress, business expansion and national development.
The idea is that when businesses access the financial services they need to grow, the benefits can extend to employees, suppliers, families and communities.
Agriculture is one of the sectors where such support can make a difference. Machame Farm’s expansion, for instance, shows how financing can support investment in equipment, increase cultivated land and help farmers reach more markets.
The development also aligns with Uganda’s broader economic transformation ambitions, which prioritise agro-industrialisation, tourism, minerals and manufacturing, and science and technology under the government’s tenfold growth strategy.
Pearl Bank groups these sectors under the ATMS framework and positions its financial services as part of the effort to support businesses operating in areas considered important to economic growth.
The bank offers financing for agriculture and businesses, alongside digital services that include its mobile application, online banking, USSD banking and the Wendi mobile wallet.
Its service network comprises 59 branches, 59 ATMs, more than 13,000 Wendi agents and 14 mobile banking vans, which are intended to bring financial services closer to customers.
The impact of these services ultimately depends on whether customers can access appropriate financing, use banking facilities conveniently and sustain the growth of their enterprises.
Taking the new identity to communities
Pearl Bank has also sought to introduce its new identity to the public beyond its banking halls.
In December 2025, the institution conducted its Pearl Santa campaign, taking the character to communities across different parts of Uganda, including the northern, eastern and western regions.
The campaign used festive activities and community engagements to introduce the new brand to a wider audience.
Akora described the transition as “more than a name change; it is a renewed promise to serve our customers better”.
As the institution continues to build its identity, the experiences of customers such as Malikia, Mugwanya and Basalirwa provide different perspectives on the relationship between banking and economic progress.
For Machame Farm, the reported expansion from 200 to 800 acres demonstrates the scale of growth its managing director attributes to affordable financing. For Clever’s Origin Schools, the relationship has supported an education business that employs more than 100 people. For Basalirwa, the institution represents a banking relationship spanning decades.
While these experiences do not capture the entire picture of Uganda’s economy, they illustrate why financial services matter beyond deposits, loans and transactions.
As Uganda looks towards greater economic prosperity, Pearl Bank says it aims to make its new identity meaningful through the everyday experiences of the people and businesses it serves.
Whether through farming, education, trade or other enterprises, the bank’s message is that customer growth can contribute to wider national progress.
Its campaign therefore poses a question to Ugandans: what is the next step in their personal or business growth, and how can the right financial support help them achieve it?
For Pearl Bank, the ambition is clear: When you grow, Uganda prospers.
