Africa Coffee Academy’s Mentorship and Training Program: Meet Ms Marble Ndagire – their 2018 Youth Flagship Bearer

Uganda the pearl of Africa. Yes, it is. It is the birth place of the second most traded commodity. I call it the black gold; Robusta Coffee. In a country with a wealth of natural resources; it has a lot more to offer to attract business growth and investment, the Uganda government is committed to developing the private sector e.g. it supports business through the private sector foundation to access opportunities under its matching grant facility. Uganda is among the few countries that benefits from the quota and duty free product access into the US (AGOA), EU (under the EBA and GSP scheme), India (Under the DFT scheme) and China (Under the DFQF scheme), with regulations that permit 100% foreign ownership of companies and it produces more than 15,000 university graduates annually and these are a fraction of the 75% youths that comprise the total of the population. Uganda really is the pearl of Africa.

Uganda is the largest African coffee exporter and the second largest producer. Uganda’s agricultural exports average at 80% of which coffee exports contributes 22% of the total exports accounting the lion’s shares as a foreign currency earner. The Uganda Coffee Value Chain system employs over 1.7 million households and it is estimated that the coffee farmer earns over 70% of the export value of the coffee exported. Currently, the Uganda government through the Ministry of Agriculture Animal Industries and Fisheries (MAAIF) and Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) is implement the presidential directive to increase the total coffee exports from the current 4.5 million (60Kg) bags expected to reach over 5 million bags in the coffee year 2018/19 to 20 million bags by the year 2025.

To read more please visit – https://goo.gl/2qbtFd and turn to page 40.