On Friday, May 23, Uganda played host to the Africa Business and Investment Forum at the state-of-the-art Africa Coffee Park in Rwashamaire, Ntungamo District. The high-level event brought together stakeholders from across the continent to discuss strategies for advancing industrialisation, innovation, and value addition, with a spotlight on Uganda’s coffee sector.
The forum was convened by Inspire Africa Group in collaboration with the Government of Uganda, through the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation. It aligns with Uganda’s Fourth National Development Plan (NDP IV), which prioritizes expanding productivity in sectors such as agriculture, ICT, tourism, and finance while accelerating private sector development and financial inclusion for the 39% of Ugandans still outside the money economy.
Inspire Africa CEO, Nelson Tugume, emphasized the need to create meaningful opportunities at home for Uganda’s youth. “Uganda’s young people are ready to lead in agriculture, biotech, and tech. But to do that, we must invest in homegrown opportunities. Our coffee industry has the potential to bring global icons like Bill Gates to Uganda,” Tugume remarked.
Uganda remains one of the world’s top coffee producers, yet most of its exports are unprocessed. The Africa Coffee Park seeks to change that narrative—by boosting value addition and increasing coffee export earnings from the current USD 1.2 billion to USD 5 billion within five years.
Equity Group Holdings CEO, Dr. James Mwangi, delivered the keynote address, highlighting strategies for overcoming Africa’s industrialisation hurdles. He was joined by other thought leaders, including Professor Augustus Nuwagaba and the Bank of Uganda’s Deputy Governor, who explored how central banks can fuel innovation.
The Africa Coffee Park home to the forum is a transformative agro-industrial hub equipped with the region’s largest coffee processing facility. It features advanced freeze-drying technology for producing instant coffee, ready-to-drink beverages, cosmetics, and more.
Beyond processing, the 150-acre park also houses a multipurpose infrastructure that includes a 4,000-seater sports arena, a 1,000-seater convention centre, an IT park aligned with Africa’s AI aspirations, a coffee academy, a business centre, and an exhibition complex.
The forum underscored Uganda’s leadership in promoting value addition and industrial development as a pathway to economic transformation—not just for Uganda, but for the continent at large.
