36 Agribusiness Entrepreneurs Graduate With Crucial Skills From ADC’s Business Accelerator Program
At a momentous event held on Friday, 36 Agribusiness entrepreneurs celebrated their graduation from the 2nd and 3rd cohorts of the Business Accelerator Program (BAP). This transformational program, implemented by Agribusiness Development Centre (ADC) in collaboration with GOPA Worldwide Consultants and powered by dfcu Limited and Rabo Foundation, aimed to equip participants with essential business skills and mentorship to drive investor attractiveness, optimize operations, enhance marketing, and seize networking opportunities.
Launched in February 2023, the 2nd and 3rd cohorts of the Business Accelerator Program saw active participation from 110 participants representing 59 enterprises. Throughout the intensive training and mentorship sessions, the program focused on propelling agribusinesses from ideation phase to sustainable growth, ultimately attracting markets and funding for their operations.
ADC, in partnership with dfcu Limited and Rabo Foundation, initiated the Business Accelerator Program in 2018, seeking to support agribusinesses in unlocking their full potential and fostering growth and sustainability. The recent graduation ceremony at dfcu Bank’s Head Offices in Nakasero marked a significant milestone in the entrepreneurs’ journey towards success.
Addressing the graduates as the guest of Honor, Geraldine Ssali Busuulwa, the Permanent Secretary of Uganda Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Cooperatives, emphasized the importance of returning to the cooperative model to facilitate mass production. She encouraged investment in decontamination technology and improved packaging for agricultural products, while stressing the need for affordable credit access to ensure sustainable growth for farmers.
Ms. Josephine Mukumbya, the Executive Director of ADC, expressed her gratitude to all stakeholders, including GIZ, GOPA Worldwide Consultants, ECOS (funded by GIZ), and dfcu Bank, for their invaluable partnership and unwavering support in empowering agribusinesses to achieve their growth objectives.
Speaking at the award event, Charles Mudiwa, CEO of dfcu Bank, underscored the significance of investing in agribusiness to secure food supply for humanity. He encouraged entrepreneurs to think of large-scale production and emphasized the need to find markets for their products.
Mudiwa also challenged the entrepreneurs on the issue of finding markets. He mentioned that in addition to financing agricultural projects, dfcu has recently announced a partnership with Rabo Bank and Master Card to create a platform for agribusiness entrepreneurs to have access to markets for their products. Mudiwa also highlighted dfcu‘s recent partnership with Rabo Bank and Mastercard, which will create a platform for agribusiness entrepreneurs to access markets and further their growth. He said, “It is important to invest in Agribusiness because food supply is very important for the existence of humanity.”
He further highlighted that it is important for farmers to think of large-scale production saying, “It is good to start small, but we have to grow and become big producers.”
Karim Boven, the ADC patron, and Ambassador of the Kingdom of Netherlands commended the pivotal role of farming in wealth creation and propelling Uganda’s economy to new heights. dfcu Bank has a long history of supporting the agricultural sector as evidenced by its diverse initiatives, such as Harvest Money, Best Farmers Awards, and patronage of the Agribusiness Development Centre. The Bank has forged strategic partnerships with Mastercard, Rabo Partnerships, the Royal Dutch Embassy, Aceli Africa and GOPA – to drive skilling of its staff as well as various players in the agribusiness value chain.
Through these initiatives and partnerships, dfcu Bank continues to pave the way for a sustainable and prosperous future for Uganda’s agricultural landscape.
Agribusiness Development Centre Launches a Business Accelerator Program (BAP)
Agribusiness Development Centre powered by dfcu limited and Rabo foundation has today launched a Business Accelerator Program (BAP) that will attract Agribusinesses getting out of ideation phase and offer them a business acceleration opportunity which should enable these enterprises to attract markets and funding for growth and sustainability of their operations.
BAP will enable 350 agribusinesses (40% women-led) to become self-sufficient & create at least 350 new jobs, Link at least 50% of these agribusinesses to financing and markets.
The program aims to link at least 50 of these businesses to affordable Green Finance and technical assistance. The objective of this partnership is to be able to collectively contribute directly to the five SDGs: 5- Gender equality; 7 – Affordable Clean Energy; 8-Decent work and economic growth; and 17- Partnerships for goals.
Mathias Katamba, dfcu Bank CEO noted that dfcu has worked closely with ADC to create the Business Accelerator Program whose main objectives is to support business improvements and facilitate the necessary linkages for growth and sustainability.
“Since its inception, dfcu Bank has made continuous commitments to support a wide base of customers that include; SMEs, women entrepreneurs, Investment Clubs. Our partnership with ADC is part of a joint mission to grow, build and promote the prospect of a sustainable future. Agribusiness is the future of Uganda, and this partnership will help us continue to fulfill our commitment to serve and build this sector.”
The program cohorts shall be thematic to consider varied hindrances to agribusiness growth as well as harness opportunities for business acceleration. The themes under consideration over two years, shall be; key value chains; greening agribusinesses; Oil & Gas opportunities for Agribusinesses; Youth in agribusiness with the first cohort premised on a theme of gender inclusivity in agribusiness development.
“We hope to Influence youth& women inclusivity in the leadership of at least 50% businesses at the end of the program. The learners will also be exposed to peer and networking opportunities through learning visits to experts in varied fields.” Josephine Mukumbya, Executive Director, ADC.
Why the “Women in Agribusiness” as the first cohort?
Women make up to 52% of the labour force and are an important talent to help Uganda meet its development goals especially in entrepreneurship and micro, small and medium enterprises growth. However, it is generally known that women face more challenges than men in starting, managing, and growing their enterprises as they are more likely to be impeded by a lack of the necessary capacities, skills, and resources. They are more disadvantaged than men due to legal impediments and others.
Therefore, a Business Acceleration Program (BAP) targeted for women-led agribusinesses will build their capacity and investment readiness to access financing from investors and financial institutions.
Promoting entrepreneurship and innovation coupled with the growth of Agri-SMEs will help women develop greater economic prosperity. With the training experience and unique position of ADC having dfcu Limited and Rabo Foundation as their member partners, we believe it will open more opportunities for the women led agribusinesses under the first cohort which is now open on all online channels of ADC and dfcu.
Application submission:Eligible candidates should submit their applications by using the special form available on websites: www.adc.ug/ www.dfcugroup.com or use link www.soma.adc.ug/bap to provide the following information/documents.
UCDA equips farmers with coffee export skills
Coffee business has been in the news lately. Stakeholders in the coffee sector met at Coffee City in Ntinda a Kampala suburb to deliberate on ways local players can bolster their participation in the sector.
“Over time, our coffee sector has become dominated by multinationals. They control 80 percent of the coffee export volume and Ugandan cooperatives control 10 percent volume. We have organised the price risk management workshop to address that and see how Ugandan organisations and cooperatives can improve the export market,” says Wilber Kayinga, a business advisor at Agribusiness Development Centre (ADC), a farmer based organisation that promotes sustainable agriculture.
Farmers and cooperatives members were equipped with monitoring skills and how best they can secure good contracts, fix good prices and export to big buyers on the international market.
Export figures
According to James Kizito- Mayanja, the Uganda Coffee Development Association’s (UCDA) market intelligence and information officer, the country exported 6.1 million 60 kilogramme bags in green form.
Uganda has two coffee seasons, in March/April and in September. The major take-aways from the workshop for Stephen Mugoya, a finance manager with Ankole Coffee Producers Cooperative Union in Kabwohe, Sheema District, were the importance of coffee farmers sharing experience on how the seasons went because the September season was a competitive one.
“There was stiff competitive for the crop. We have also learnt from each other on strategies we need to take to mitigate risks of trade in coffee. I am confident of leaving richer because I have been contacted of local and international buyers. The facilitators training us do a lot of research and benefit from their knowledge of what global trends are,” Mugoya explains.
Export promotion
President Museveni has tasked UCDA which is mandated to promote and add value to the beverage, to up the exportation volumes to 20 million 60 kilogrammes bags.
Uganda exports the graded green coffee berry. According to the International Coffee Organisation (ICO), an intergovernmental organisation for coffee, global exports of green beans in March 2022 totalled 11.79 million 60kg bags, compared with 11.48 million bags in the same month of the previous year, up 2.6 percent.
The Brazilian Naturals and Robustas were the main forces behind the increase, shipping 3.58 million bags and 4.65 million bags of green beans in March 2022 as compared with 3.44 million bags and 4.31 million bags in March 2021, respectively, up 3.9 percent and 7.8 percent.
80 percent of the coffee produced in Uganda, is Robusta and 20 Arabica. Robusta coffee is of high value and popularly blended by top roasters around the world given its rich aroma.
Market intelligence
According to Mayanja, they are in the process of profiling coffee as per the district or area it is grown just the way Ethiopians do as a way of attracting and attaching a higher price.
At a recent training workshop on price risk management organised under the auspices ADC, Kizito’s two cents were the need to build and strengthen cooperatives.
Markets are driven by prices and for any business, there is some level of risk but the farmer or anyone in coffee business would need to know how to deal with or avert risks should they encounter them.
Mugoya, says that sharing strategies will go a long way in mitigating risks of trade in coffee.
Agronomy
In establishing a coffee farm, UCDA advises that a farmer needs to space the trees, Robusta plants is 10 feet by 10 feet and between Arabica ones is eight by eight feet.
You are then required to dig the right size of holes – two by two feet long and wide and four feet deep. While digging holes, heap the top soil on one side and bottom soil on another side and add manure to the dug-out soil and return it into the holes.
Mark the centre of the holes and leave them for two to three months before planting then obtain coffee plantlets from Certified Coffee Nurseries. During the planting season, UCDA tips that you can plant very early in the morning or late in the evening.
You will need to remove the polythene pot cover before planting the seedling/cutting and provide temporary shade to the newly planted coffee plantlets and water in case of water stress. Water conservation channels are important in coffee. When the coffee plantlets have attained a height of about one and a half foot or six to nine months after planting, they should be trained, that is bent in an east to west direction where the sun rises or sets to initiate multiple branches from which the lowest and most healthy two are selected and maintained together with the original plantlet. This ensures higher yield and profitability per tree.
The coffee garden should always be mulched and free of weeds. Beans and bananas are good intercrops for coffee. Continuous de-suckering of the coffee plants should be practiced preventing development of a microclimate that encourages pests such as Black Coffee Twig Borer (BCTB).
UCA, ADC partner to extend education to cooperatives
The Uganda Cooperative Alliance (UCA) Limited has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Agribusiness Development Center (ADC) to provide capacity building to cooperatives in the country.
The scheme places prime focus on capacity building which will involve training in among others content generation and development, joint proposal writing for successful resource mobilization, monitoring, and evaluation.
The General Secretary of Uganda Cooperative Alliance Limited, Mr. Ivan Asiimwe decried the lack of information and added that the friendship is timely and it has come at a time when some cooperatives and SACCOs are facing leadership challenges.
“To run a cooperative successfully, then education and information must flow in the system, everybody needs to be educated on the responsibilities to be able to catch up with change,” Mr. Asiimwe said.
He justified the need for constant education as it will enable cooperatives to be self-efficient, run smoothly, and social empowerment of cooperatives in Uganda.
“If members in a cooperative are well equipped with knowledge regarding the cooperative laws, policies, regulations, bylaws values and principles they will be able to contribute more effectively to cooperatives,” he said.
In a rejoinder, the Excitative Director Agribusiness Development Centre (ADC)
Ms. Josephine Mukumbya said that the partnership has come at a time when there is a need to restart the Agricultural sector since it is the back born of Uganda’s economy.
“We see promoting self-sufficiency as an effective tool to transforming the Agricultural Sector in Uganda, It is better to teach them how to fish than giving the fish for s day” Ms. Mukumbya said.
She also decried the leadership problem faced by cooperatives and saving societies.
Agribusiness Development Centre launches new strategic plan
The Agribusiness Development Centre (ADC), a financial literacy training centre for Farmer Based Organisations (FBOs) has put together a 3-year work-plan that seeks to improve social entrepreneurship.The strategic plan launched on Thursday June 2, according to Ms. Josephine Mukumbya, the ADC Executive Director, will be a big boost in the area of job creation and increased income generation, while enhancing the much sought-after social economic transformation.
“We plan increase our investment in the whole agricultural value chain by supporting groups and farmers on the best financial management, agronomy, price risk management, value addition and export procedures while addressing their financial needs,” she said, emphasising that ADC’s capacity building interventions in the agricultural sector was necessary given the current high levels of unemployment.
Ms. Mukumbya was speaking to reporters after presenting the strategic plan to a group of stakeholders during an event held at dfcu head offices in Kampala.
The Agribusiness Development Centre was initiated in 2017 and is powered by the Rabo Foundation and dfcu Bank.
“If we give the knowledge in areas of record keeping, financial literacy, especially financial management in areas of agronomic practices, we should be able to see more of youth engaged in this area. We should even give them the information, guidance and incentives that actually pull them to be engaged in this sector. We are looking at having a quarter of a million in terms of beneficiaries by the end of the strategic plan and we are looking at over 1000 direct jobs right from the enterprises themselves,” Ms. Mukumbya said.
In the 2022 – 2024 strategic investment plan, ADC plans to support business in Cocoa and Coffee, Banana, cereals and oilseeds, Dairy and Livestock in areas of value addition, mixed cropping, export and market changing dynamics.
“We want to increase income and we are targeting to see a 10% increase over the next three years,” Mukumbya said.
Women and youth
“For at least 50% of the trained parties, we will want to see women and youth well included. We want to see that there’s more women in leadership, a percentage of 30% is what we’re looking at. We are currently showing baselines that are under 10%. In that regard, we want to introduce green financing. We are starting humbly but we believe this is an area that has so much potential for growth. A number of enterprises that would want to link through our business accelerator programs are identified. And in terms of self sufficiency, if 50% of the trained enterprises are self sufficient, we envisage leveraging over 10 fold and want to look at about USD 30 million in funding towards them, ” Ms. Mukumbya said, noting that the agricultural sector in Uganda can only be transformed through innovation and collaboration.
Mr. James Ssemwanga, an agronomist and a board member of ADC, said the three-year strategic plan is designed to leverage the funding from current funders to mobilize some more to scale and sustain operations for deeper impact.
“ADC’s ambition is to achieve a growth trajectory in the medium and long term by continuing to build capacity that delivers financial, social and environmental benefits to her target customer segment,” Mr. Ssemwanga said.
On his part, Mr. Mathias Katamba, the managing director and chief executive officer of dfcu Bank said: “We are responding to government call to the private sector to support agriculture. One of the ways we are doing it is through our partnership with Rado Bank and ADC aimed at transforming agricultural sector”.
Katamba said Agriculture is one of the leading employers of Ugandans and that there’s a need for collective effort to support it.
“By facilitating ADC in its operations, dfcu Bank and Rabo bank are building capacity for the farmers to access much needed financial services,” he said, adding that:
“dfcu Bank will continue to provide tailor-made products for the farmers and with the capacity building delivered through ADC, the small holder farmers will be more eligible for financing from commercial banks. They will also be better placed to increase productivity and possibly embrace commercial farming which is more profitable at household and national level,” he added.
ADC envisions promoting self-sufficiency as an effective tool to transform the agricultural sector in Uganda. This can be achieved by strengthening Farmer Based Organizations in respect of efficiency and creating economies of scale, in order to make them profitable, sustainable and bankable enterprises that are able to provide efficient and effective services to their farmers.
Mukumbya is the new executive director of ADC
Josephine Mukumbya has been appointed as the executive director of Agribusiness Development Centre (ADC); an entity which was founded by Rabo Foundation and dfcu Limted to specialise in capacity development of farmer based organisations through training, business mentorship and coaching, offering them the prospect of a sustainable future.
Mukumbya will be responsible for providing strategic leadership for growth of the overall organisation, its partners and the agribusinesses working with ADC.
She holds a Master’s Degree in Banking and Finance for Development from the Fondazione Giordano Dell ‘Amore in Italy and is a certified coach credentialed by the International Coach Federation as an Associate Certified Coach.
Mukumbya is an experienced professional in governance, risk management, business planning, financial portfolio management, capacity development, coaching and working cross culturally.
She has a proven track record of superior performance in five financial institutions, an International Development Agency and a multi- donor funded social enterprise in varied roles.
How trust enhances team performance
Building trust in the workplace contributes to more than just company culture it is a hard economic driver. Studies have shown that high-trust organisations are more likely to be high-performing revenue companies when compared to their low-trust counterparts.
It takes time to establish a high level of trust amongst employees, and even longer to fix a trust issue. Here is how you can help create a culture where employees feel safe, supported and respected, and in turn, respect and support you and the business.
Empower staff
Mutual trust and respect are built through reciprocity. Employees who feel trusted will trust you more. That is why it is important to empower your team by regularly giving away your authority. Delegate responsibilities to individuals and encourage a collective team decision-making process whenever possible.
Commit with actions
“Do what you say and say what you do.” Going back on your word is a sure-fire way to create doubt and break your team’s trust, fast. However, if you practice what you preach, employees will believe you are reliable and true to your word, and trust in your leadership. Building trust as a leader is done one step, one conversation and one action at a time.
Don’t make grand promises to employees in the hopes of pleasing or showing off to them as a way to build trust. Instead, focus on committing to key actions and delivering on them.
Encourage authentic communication
Even the best leaders fail. The difference between trustworthy leaders and others lies in their response to failure. If you try to hide mistakes from your team, they will feel like you do not trust them with important information or even worse, that you do not respect them enough to tell them the truth. Being authentic, vulnerable and transparent with your team helps build your credibility and humanises you. Own your mistakes and tackle difficult issues in a timely manner. Be clear on what went wrong, what could have been done better and highlight how you’ll improve next time.
Praise publicly, correct privately
An essential component of trust is a feeling of psychological safety. If your employees feel you will throw them under the bus or humiliate them in front of their peers, they will be less likely to trust you as a leader and might even lie to avoid getting caught out in the future. Commend employees on what they did well.
If a project did not go as planned and you are conducting a post-mortem, adopt a constructive approach problem-solving; “What can we do better next time?” Rather than pointing fingers at specific team members or resorting to blame. This fosters a feeling of support and trust in your team.
SOMA, an e-leaning solution for farmers
By Katia Mugenzi
The Agribusiness Business Development (ADC) powered by DFCU bank and Rabo Foundation offers Farmer Based Organizations (FBOs) trainings in good governance, financial literacy, marketing, and price risk management. ADC has trained 114 Farmer Based Organizations (FBOs) with over 8042 farmers in the East, West, Central and Northern region. Our goal is to train 375 Farmers Based organizations by 2022; with SOMA, we shall be able to reach our goal.
SOMA is an eLearning platform which was developed based on an identified learning gap; mismatch between demand of learning services and the capacity of the ADC to match this demand in the physical and high cost of carrying out one on one classroom trainings for each individual farmer. Developing the eLearning is an opportunity to bridge the gap between demand and supply of the ADC technical services at a cost-effective way. It is designed to be a self-based learning where members can access the system, register for accounts, and choose any courses they may wish to learn and gain skills on.
With SOMA we shall be able to render a unique learning experience to users through a variety of content mainly in the categories of video, graphics, audio, and text. We plan to reach over 10,000 + farmers remotely by 2022.
SOMA will give the farmers the opportunity for education without the restrictions of time or location. This is going to solve the challenge of gender imbalance since most women miss the lessons due to other home obligations. Furthermore, some learners prefer working at their own pace and prefer not to restrict their learning to a specific location, this will help the farmers save on transport to go to learning centers.
ADC’s long plan is to establish learning centers or hubs in different Farmer Based Organizations (FBOs) where farmers can be able to come take lessons in their own time of convenience. When a farmer registers for a lesson and starts learning, the system offers the learner resume capabilities that is; they can always stop and later continue from where they last stopped.
The other uniqueness of SOMA is that it offers a certificate for each course completed. The fact that most of the farmers we are training are semi illiterate; this is also a motivation for them to complete these lessons. A farmer who has completed these lessons is at an advantage of being able to do business with financial Institutions, buyers, and processors.
It goes without mention that the COVID 19 has compelled most business to include technology in their activities, farmers are the back bone of this country therefore there is need for them to adopt real quick and ADC is here to support them.
To access the platform, go to www.soma.adc.ug or email us for assistance info@adc.ug