E.V. Assets Management Uganda Limited (FMO-64190)

Regions
  • Africa
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Countries
  • Uganda
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Financial Institutions
  • Netherlands Development Finance Company (FMO)
International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.
Project Status
Approved
Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.
Bank Risk Rating
B
Environmental and social categorization assessed by the development bank as a measure of the planned project’s environmental and social impacts. A higher risk rating may require more due diligence to limit or avoid harm to people and the environment. For example, "A" or "B" are risk categories where "A" represents the highest amount of risk. Results will include projects that specifically recorded a rating, all other projects are marked ‘U’ for "Undisclosed."
Voting Date
Mar 20, 2025
Date when project documentation and funding is reviewed by the Board for consideration and approval. Some development banks will state a "board date" or "decision date." When funding approval is obtained, the legal documents are accepted and signed, the implementation phase begins.
Borrower
E.V. Assets Management Uganda Limited (Watu Holdings Ltd.)
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Energy
  • Transport
The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.
Investment Type(s)
Loan
The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.
Investment Amount (USD)
$ 5.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Loan Amount (USD)
$ 5.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Project Cost (USD)
$ 10.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Other Related Projects
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ FMO website

Updated in EWS Jun 10, 2025

Disclosed by Bank Nov 1, 2024

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Project Description
If provided by the financial institution, the Early Warning System Team writes a short summary describing the purported development objective of the project and project components. Review the complete project documentation for a detailed description.

As stated by the FMO, the transaction concerns a USD 5 mln committed senior bilateral loan ("Facility") plus USD 5 mln uncommitted senior bilateral loan ("Uncommitted Facility") to fund the Borrower's investment in electric vehicle batteries and battery swapping stations infrastructure in Uganda.

The objective of FMO's financing is to fund the Borrower's investment in electric vehicle batteries and battery swapping station infrastructure across Uganda.

The lack of clean and affordable mobility solutions holds back the shift to a green transportation system in Uganda, a least-developed country (LDC). This transaction addresses this deficiency and aligns with FMO's Energy and overall strategy. The investment is labeled 100% Green and 100% Reducing Inequalities.

Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.
Private Actors Description
A Private Actor is a non-governmental body or entity that is the borrower or client of a development project, which can include corporations, private equity and banks. This describes the private actors and their roles in relation to the project, when private actor information is disclosed or has been further researched.

As stated by the FMO, the Borrower is 100% owned by Watu Holdings Limited ("Watu"). Founded in 2015, Watu is a leading provider of motorcycle financing in Uganda and Kenya and one of the key players in the PAYGO space across Sub Saharan Africa, with over 1 mln loans and presence in Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and DRC. Watu offers product-acquisition finance to households that are not able to access traditional financial services.

Private Actor 1 Private Actor 1 Role Private Actor 1 Sector Relation Private Actor 2 Private Actor 2 Role Private Actor 2 Sector
- - - - Watu Holdings Limited Client Transport

Contact Information
This section aims to support the local communities and local CSO to get to know which stakeholders are involved in a project with their roles and responsibilities. If available, there may be a complaint office for the respective bank which operates independently to receive and determine violations in policy and practice. Independent Accountability Mechanisms receive and respond to complaints. Most Independent Accountability Mechanisms offer two functions for addressing complaints: dispute resolution and compliance review.

Client - E.V. Assets Management Uganda Limited (Watu Holdings Ltd.):

Website: https://watuafrica.com/

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

As part of FMO's ex-ante disclosure (disclosure of transactions before contracting), you can send requests or questions for additional information to: disclosure@fmo.nl

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF FMO

Communities who believe they will be negatively affected by a project funded by the Dutch Development Bank (FMO) may be able to file a complaint with the Independent Complaints Mechanism, which is the joint independent accountability mechanism of the Dutch Development Bank (FMO) and the German Investment Corporation (KfW). A complaint can be filed in writing, by email, post, or online. The complaint can be filed in English or any other language of the complainant. The Independent Complaints Mechanism is comprised of a three-member Independent Expert Panel and it can provide either problem-solving, compliance review or both, in either order. Additional information about this accountability mechanism, including a guide and template for filing a complaint, can be found at: https://www.fmo.nl/independent-complaints-mechanism

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How it works