This Week in Ugandan Coffee
Day Seven
We are now in Madrid for their Coffee Festival. Our first day here and it is already intense like an espresso 🤣. I have only one regret & it will haunt me for a very long time. I wish I heeded my instincts and simply carried my packs of roasted coffee. It would have been the best day at work. Here is why.
Our stall, set up by the @ITCnews funded by the UK Trade Partnerships Program of the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office (@UKinUganda) stands out prominently. It is the only coffee producing country with such a presence. So consumers are flocking in for a taste of Ugandan coffee. They are liking it & our fine robusta is proving to be a hit. @DrIanClarke’s washed robusta is selling out fast because he had the good sense to carry some packs. Our @RugyeyoFarmLtd fermented robusta is even more appealing but I have no product for sale. Just brewed coffee to drink. Potential buyers are looking at me as if I am from Mars. Like “why did you come without coffee to sell” kind of look🤣. I hate myself for this lack of foresight!
Anyway, the positive side of our presence here is that Ugandan coffee is taking its place on the market. First, we have with is the big volumes movers like @kyagalanyicoffe, @DreamCoffeeUG, The Edge Coffee Trading Co & Mwanyi Terimba of @BugandaKingdom_ . Then our cooperatives people like @acpcu_ltd & @CoRubanga who are holding the flag for sustainable coffee. Specialty coffee masters like Mountain Harvest, @zamanicoffeeug & Kwezi Coffee. There is also @GCCoffee1 which is a conversation project that supports @DoctorGladys work on mountain gorillas in south west Uganda. In fact she is here in person with all her celebrity power. This alone is more than enough firepower for us in the market
Perhaps the most powerful endorsement was to find Ugandan coffees on display by exhibitors from other parts of the world as part of their offering. There was Bukonzo coffee from Rwenzori, @BarbaraMugeni’s @KweziCoffee from Butambala & @KBarigye’s @mtnharvestug brand that he sources from Elgon, Rwenzori & Kisoro.
We are out here putting our best foot forward within our limited means & the support of those what want us to gain something. We hope we can open a route to market. We have to start somewhere. And for us, it is coming out here to get the world to taste our coffee. This is how we can best move the needle.
This morning in Musanze town, the RDF and UPDF conducted a route march and tree planting exercise, which will be followed by a friendly football match between the Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) 2nd Division and the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) 2nd Division at Ubworoherane Stadium.
Happiest birthday Maama @JanetMuseveni. We bless the Lord for these 77 years. May our God continue to fill your heart with joy and peace and your mouth with laughter🤍🤍
ROAD WORKS ALERT! MITYANA-MUBENDE ROAD.
As recently promised by Minister for Works and Transport @GenWamala our contractor along the 86km Mityana-Mubende Road has resumed civil works for reconstruction of the road.
Men
You earn throughout your lives, you provide for your families without even complaining, you always stay strong no matter what, when you feel tired there is no rest and even when you feel much you don’t express.
I know sometimes you lose hope, but I believe we can all taste our wins.
Wake up Kings, let’s go get the bread or the whole bakery 👏❤️