Centenary Rural Development Group Limited and Huawei Technologies Uganda have signed a strategic partnership aimed at accelerating digital transformation and expanding financial inclusion in Uganda and across Africa.
The partnership, formalised through a Memorandum of Understanding signed in Shanghai, China, is expected to modernise Centenary Group’s banking systems, strengthen cybersecurity infrastructure and improve access to digital financial services for millions of customers.
The agreement follows a high-level benchmark visit by Centenary Group’s governance and executive leadership to Huawei’s global headquarters in Shenzhen in April this year.
During the visit, the delegation met Huawei’s global digital finance leadership, toured technology innovation centres and studied banking technologies already being deployed in markets across Asia and Africa.
The two organisations agreed on eight priority areas of cooperation, focusing on artificial intelligence-driven banking systems, cybersecurity and the modernisation of Centenary Group’s data centres and applications.
The partnership will also cover staff training, research, innovation and the development of shared technology capabilities within the Group.
Centenary Group said the agreement marks the most significant technology partnership in its four-decade history and reflects its ambition to build what it describes as a “Bank 5.0” model, where artificial intelligence, cloud infrastructure and real-time data systems are integrated into everyday banking operations.
Centenary Bank, the Group’s flagship subsidiary, currently serves more than four million customers, most of them in rural and peri-urban communities across Uganda.
The bank said the partnership would help improve access to faster credit services, smarter banking platforms and more responsive customer support for smallholder farmers, traders and micro-entrepreneurs.
The agreement is also aligned with Uganda’s National Development Plan IV, the Digital Transformation Roadmap and the National Financial Inclusion Strategy, which seek to expand access to digital services and strengthen the country’s digital economy.
Centenary Group’s Tier Three Data Centre in Masaka is expected to play a central role in supporting the digital infrastructure required for the transformation.
Prof. John Ddumba-Ssentamu, the executive chairman of Centenary Rural Development Group Limited, described the partnership as the most important agreement the Group had signed in a generation.
He said Huawei brought global expertise while Centenary contributed local experience and community trust.
“Together, we are building something that will matter to millions of Africans who deserve the kind of digital and financial inclusion this partnership will make possible,” he said.
Prof. Ddumba-Ssentamu added that the visit to China reinforced the Group’s belief that artificial intelligence should not simply be treated as software but as a system that shapes how institutions operate and make decisions.
Mr Fabian Kasi, the managing director of Centenary Bank, said the banking industry in Uganda was evolving rapidly as customers increasingly demanded quicker credit decisions and smarter financial services.
“This partnership gives Centenary Bank the technology foundation to deliver exactly that. For our four million customers and the next eight million, this is a defining moment,” he said.
Dr Grace Ssekakubo, the chief executive officer of Centenary Technology Services Limited, said the agreement would give the company direct access to Huawei’s expertise in artificial intelligence, data governance and enterprise modernisation.
Zhang Hao, the country managing director of Huawei Uganda, said Africa’s financial services sector remained one of the fastest-growing in the world, with Uganda emerging as a leading market.
He said Huawei admired Centenary Group’s long-standing mission of extending banking services to underserved communities and pledged to bring lessons learned from supporting more than 5,600 financial institutions in 80 countries.
