Borneo Journal of Social Science & Humanities DOI: https://doi.org/10.35370/bjssh.2022.4.2-03 e-ISSN: 2682-8235 © 2018, UCTS Publisher. Submitted:10 November 2022 Accepted: 20 December 2022 Published: 31 December 2022 32 The Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic (Coronavirus) on Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Kampala Central Division, Uganda Kizito Emmanuel Nyeko 1 , Ngui Kwang Sing 2 and Voon Mung Ling* 3 1,2,3 School of Business, Faculty of Business, Design and Arts, Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus, No 1. Jalan Simpang Tiga, 93350 Kuching *Corresponding author: mvoon@swinburne.edu.my Abstract Whilst acknowledging the importance of the Ugandan Government’s Covid-19 containment plan to curb the spread of the virus so as to safeguard the public health, the researchers are of the view that there are certain unexplored socioeconomic impacts and outcomes of the said response measures on the Enterprises in Uganda. This is premised on the shutdown of numerous sectors with severe adverse effects on the nation’s informal, hybrid and formal economies. Therefore, the aim of this study is to establish the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic (Coronavirus) on Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Uganda. 30 Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) found in the Business Register of Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB), operating in the Central division of Kampala the Capital City of the Republic of Uganda, were identified and interviewed via telephone. The findings reveal that the COVID 19 pandemic (Coronavirus) took a massive toll on all sectors in the Ugandan economy; in particular, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) bore the greatest brunt of the unprecedented business disruptions, leaving many of them on the brink of insolvency despite gradual opening of the economy. The existing literature encompasses mainly studies that investigate short-term, medium-term and long-term impacts, and the current pandemic crisis is still ongoing with renewed lockdowns in spite of vaccinations. This paper presents an empirical study with theoretical and practical contributions to the body of knowledge on how this pandemic has adversely affected the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), Uganda Introduction The first outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was reported in December 2019 in Wuhan City, China. By the end of the first quarter of 2020, the virus had spread to many regions across the globe, and the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared this disease a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (Sahu, 2020, WHO, 2020). The disease seemed to hold no bar and continued its relentless march to all corners of the earth at an alarming rate, with 629,370,889 confirmed infections and 6,578,245 deaths as of 7 November, 2022. Though the number of virus infections was initially insignificant in the continent of Africa, the number of cases is now increasing rapidly. The first case of COVID-19 infection in the Africa Continent was recorded on February 14, 2020; since then, the disease has spread unabatedly, registering