Diacente Group, a Ugandan company that develops green industrial zones, has partnered with US-based Global Settlement Network (GSN) on a $5.5 billion plan to build a national digital infrastructure that links Uganda’s farms, mines, power projects, and factories.
The project also includes a pilot of Uganda’s first central bank digital currency (CBDC), the digital shilling, backed by treasury bonds. The CBDC will allow millions of Ugandans to send, receive, and save money on their phones while tying financial activity directly to real economic activities.
The $5.5 billion investment will be financed through tokenised loans and investors from Korea and the Middle East. In a country where more than 80% of the workforce operates in the informal economy, the system could make trade faster, cheaper, and more transparent.
Ryan Kirkley, co-founder and CEO of GSN, said the project will link technology with real production: “We are building infrastructure that goes beyond theory, a programmable economy grounded in real assets, regulatory collaboration and mass accessibility.”
The GSN system is designed to protect users and keep Uganda in control of its digital infrastructure. It uses advanced privacy tools to secure every transaction, even for people using basic phones, according to Kirkley.
He added that the technology, managed by government and local institutions, will be licenced locally, keeping all operations in Uganda and the wider East Africa region.
The rollout will start in the Karamoja Green Industrial and Special Economic Zone (GISEZ), a government-backed development area tied to Uganda’s Vision 2040 plan, which seeks to industrialise and grow the economy tenfold to $500 billion, and strengthen regional trade through better infrastructure and digital integration. The zone is expected to create over one million jobs across farming, mining, and manufacturing, while serving as the testbed for the digital currency and its connected services.
“This goes beyond infrastructure. It is about unlocking long-term value for our people and our region,” said Edgar Agaba, chairman of Diacente Group. “By integrating tokenisation and digital currency into Uganda’s development roadmap, we are creating transparent, technology-driven ecosystems that empower local industries and attract sustainable capital.”
The digital infrastructure will run on GSN’s blockchain network, which allows Uganda to keep its own locally controlled digital infrastructure while still connecting to global and regional markets.
Uganda’s success with mobile money is expected to make adoption easier. The digital shilling CBDC will work with the same USSD technology used by MTN MoMo and Airtel Money, allowing it to reach people with even the most basic phones.
Kirkley said the project’s design avoids the mistakes of earlier African digital currencies, like Nigeria’s eNaira, which never saw much adoption.
“Previous systems failed because they were not linked to real use,” said Kirkley. “We are starting with industries, with jobs and production, so people have a reason to use it.”
Farmers supplying the zone’s agro-processing hubs could be paid instantly for their crops. Traders moving goods between regions could settle payments securely through their phones. Small businesses working within the zone could build credit and borrow against their verified digital records.
The wider goal is to help Uganda capture more value from what it already produces. Today, many transactions in agriculture, mining, and trade rely on foreign settlement systems, adding cost and delay. A locally anchored digital network could keep more of that value inside the economy.
The project will also anchor job creation in the Karamoja zone, a resource-rich but underdeveloped region that the government has identified for new investment. The digital system will link farming, processing, and logistics under one connected digital framework.
“The jobs are projected to be created through the entire ecosystem around the three sectors of agro processing, mineral value addition, and knowledge-based industries,” said Peter Turyasingura, chief investment officer at Diacente. “This is right from the value chains of agriculture and mining, to the industries and factories in the zones, to the logistics and all supportive infrastructure around the entire ecosystem.”
GSN estimates that over time, the project could bring formal financial access to more than 60 million people across East Africa.
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