How to check a Ugandan company before you ship

To check a Ugandan company, confirm it appears on the register of the Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB), and that the name and registration number match your contract. URSB runs its company register through its eRegistry portal, where a free search of the non-individuals register returns a company's registered name, registration number, entity type and compliance status without an account. The formal record search on the register is a paid application you file from a portal account. No single search proves a buyer is safe.

Key facts

• URSB's eRegistry portal has a free "Search Non-Individuals Register" that is open without signing in, accepts an entity name or a registration number (the portal calls that number the ERN), and returns the registered name, that number, the entity type and a compliance status; its status line reads "Registered" even for companies whose compliance status is dissolved or in liquidation (URSB eRegistry).
• URSB's business, company and document registration fee schedule lists UGX 25,000 for "Record search on the register of companies" (URSB fees).
• Uganda's PPDA publishes government procurement records, including contract awards, as open contracting data: July 2015 to October 2026, updated monthly, in JSON, Excel and CSV (Uganda: PPDA, OCP data registry).

What should I check first?

Check that the registered name and URSB registration number match the contract, and that your contact can act for the company. A trading name or a shop sign is not a registration. Ask the buyer for the registration number and compare it with every document and invoice you receive.

How do I search the URSB register?

Open URSB's eRegistry portal and use the search at the top of the home page, "Search Non-Individuals Register" (URSB eRegistry). It is free, open without signing in, and it takes either an entity name or a registration number — so you can paste the number the buyer gave you and see which entity it belongs to. The portal labels that number "ERN", and shows it next to the registered name, with one line for the entity type and a status. Opening a result separates the type from the sub-type and adds a compliance status and any other registers the entity appears on. Compare the name and the number with what the buyer told you, and treat a number that returns nothing, or returns a different name, as a reason to stop and ask.

The register also shows whether the company is current with URSB. Each opened record carries a compliance status: compliant, non-compliant, dormant, or — for companies that have stopped trading — ceased, dissolved, in liquidation or de-registered. Non-compliant means the company is on the register but behind on the filings URSB expects, such as annual returns; it is common, so treat it as a question to ask, not as proof of a problem. Dissolved, in liquidation, ceased or de-registered is a reason to stop and establish who you would actually be contracting with. Read the compliance status, not the green "Registered" status above it: on this portal the status line read "Registered" for every entity we searched, including companies whose compliance status is dissolved or in liquidation. Ignore the "Registered On" date on an opened record: it is the date the record was created in this portal, not the date the company was registered — every record we opened in October 2026 showed a date in mid-2026, including long-established companies, so the date says nothing about how old a business is.

The tile labelled "Company / Business Name Search" on the same page is a different tool. It checks whether a name is still free before you register one: URSB's own prompt is "Enter a proposed business name above and click Check to see if similar names already exist in the register", and after a result it offers to create an account so you can reserve the name. It matches loosely, so it returns names that merely sound similar, and it mixes registered entities with names someone has only reserved — the same company can appear twice, once as "Registered" with its registration number and once as "Reserved" with a reservation number. Use it to clear a name you want to register, not to check a buyer.

If you need the formal record search rather than the free register search, the portal runs it as a service called "Business Search & Certification": you sign in, choose a search type, enter the ERN, pay online, then pick the documents you want certified, and they arrive by email. URSB's fee schedule lists UGX 25,000 for a record search on the register of companies, and UGX 35,000 for one on the business name register or the partnership register (URSB fees); confirm the amount in the portal before you pay, since fees can change.

Has the company won government work?

Uganda's Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Authority (PPDA) publishes government procurement records, including contract awards, as open contracting data. The Open Contracting Partnership's registry lists the dataset as covering July 2015 to October 2026, updated monthly, in JSON, Excel and CSV (Uganda: PPDA, OCP data registry). The same page notes that 210 government entities are enrolled on the portal and that not all of them have data for every year. The registry offers the data as downloads rather than a search box; the same page says PPDA publishes interactive visualizations and the full datasets on its own procurement portal (PPDA procurement portal). Either way, checking one company's public-sector history is a separate, slower job than a URSB register search.

How do I check sanctions and other records?

Screen the company and its directors against the sanctions lists you are legally required to use, which depend on your own country and business. See our guide to sanctions screening for South African trade for how the lists work, and ask your compliance adviser which ones apply to you. Also compare the buyer's website domain, email domain and company name, and ask your bank how it would verify the buyer's account.

What are the red flags?

These patterns appear often in trade fraud and are reasons to slow down, not proof of wrongdoing:

• The buyer says money must be paid first for "court approval" or a "registration fee" before the order can proceed.
• The registered name or number does not match the one used in emails and invoices.
• Bank details change during the conversation, or the account is in a different name or country from the buyer.
• The contact uses only a free email address, or the domain is very new.
• The buyer pressures you with urgency or offers unusually large orders without detail.

Where does this guide stop?

This guide covers public steps you can take yourself with the Ugandan registry. It does not describe a B2B.Africa service. To compare company registries in six African countries, see the guide to verifying a company in Africa. Get advice from a lawyer or your bank before relying on any single check. This article is general information, not legal advice.