While Uganda’s coffee story has long been told through the beans it grows and the markets it supplies, at the launch of the Uganda Coffee Group at Namunkekera Industrial Park in Kapeeka, the conversation shifted towards ensuring that more of the wealth generated by Uganda’s coffee industry is earned, created and retained within the country.
KCB Bank Uganda joined the Uganda Coffee Group as one of its partners, supporting a private sector-led initiative designed to strengthen the country’s coffee value chain by connecting farmers, cooperatives, processors, manufacturers, investors and financial institutions.
The launch brought together stakeholders from across the coffee industry to mobilise investment and promote a new approach to commercialising one of Uganda’s most important agricultural commodities.
Chief Fundraiser General Salim Saleh, Chief Coordinator of Operation Wealth Creation and Senior Presidential Advisor, called on stakeholders and Ugandans to support the initiative and take a more active role in the coffee value chain. The ambition is to move beyond exporting raw beans and create more opportunities for Ugandans to grow, process, roast, package, brand and distribute coffee locally and internationally.
The opportunity is significant. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, Uganda exported approximately 7.75 million 60-kilogramme bags of coffee in the 2024/25 financial year, earning about US$2.21 billion. These figures underscore coffee’s importance to the national economy while highlighting the potential to build more businesses and industries around the crop.
The next frontier, therefore, is to capture more value from every kilogramme of coffee produced. The Uganda Coffee Group has been established as an indigenous, private sector-led investment and commercialisation platform intended to bring together different players in the industry and accelerate Uganda’s participation across the coffee value chain.
Its ambitions include promoting climate-smart production, improving coffee quality, expanding local processing and manufacturing, strengthening research and innovation, and building a globally competitive Ugandan coffee brand.
For farmers, this could mean stronger market linkages, improved access to finance and better opportunities to earn from their produce. For entrepreneurs, it could open doors to businesses in roasting, packaging, distribution and other coffee-related industries. For Uganda, the initiative presents an opportunity to expand industrial capacity, create employment and increase the contribution of locally processed and manufactured goods to the economy.
Speaking at the launch, Edgar Byamah, Managing Director of KCB Bank Uganda, said the bank would draw on its regional experience in agricultural financing, trade and value-chain development to support the initiative.
“Coffee transcends borders. It is a crop that is present in four or five of the countries in the East African Community, and we bring that experience on top of access to market, which is very critical,” Byamah said.
He noted that KCB Bank’s experience in supporting aggregators and promoting value addition in other agricultural industries, including sugar, provided a foundation for its involvement in the coffee sector.
“We are happy to be one of the partners, and we pledge to you that we will make that initial contribution that is expected of the members as part of this Uganda Coffee Group,” he added.
KCB Bank Uganda’s participation highlights the importance of financing in helping agricultural businesses move beyond production into higher-value commercial activities. Farmers need resources to improve productivity, while aggregators and processors require working capital to purchase produce, fulfil contracts and expand operations. Manufacturers and exporters, meanwhile, need financing and market connections to compete effectively.
Through its agricultural financing value proposition, KCB Bank Uganda seeks to support businesses at different stages of the coffee value chain, from farmers and agricultural input dealers to aggregators and processors.
The bank highlighted financing solutions for aggregators and processors, including unsecured contract financing of up to shs800 million and invoice financing of up to shs1 billion for eligible businesses with qualifying contracts and invoices.
For agricultural input dealers, the bank offers financing of up to 80 per cent of eligible input-supply requirements, subject to the applicable facility terms. Farmers and farmer groups can also access digital solutions for purchasing agricultural inputs, as well as unsecured business loans of up to UGX200 million, subject to the bank’s assessment and lending conditions.
Additional support includes asset financing, advisory services and collaboration through the Agricultural Credit Facility, a financing arrangement involving participating financial institutions and the Bank of Uganda.
These solutions are intended to address a challenge that often limits agricultural growth: the gap between identifying a viable business opportunity and securing the capital needed to pursue it.
For Moses Kawombe Tamale, Chairman of the Uganda Coffee Group, the initiative represents a deliberate shift in how Uganda approaches its coffee industry.
The Group’s guiding ambition, “From Green Bean to Global Value,” reflects its desire to move Uganda from being predominantly a producer and exporter of raw coffee towards becoming a more competitive participant in processing, manufacturing, branding, financing and international trade.
The Group aims to mobilise shs30 billion in initial capital over two years and grow investment in Uganda’s homegrown coffee industry to shs1.57 trillion by 2040. It also seeks to double the value farmers derive from the coffee value chain every two years.
Achieving these ambitions will require coordinated investment, stronger market access, improved production practices and sustained collaboration between the public and private sectors.
It will also require a shift in how the country views its coffee potential. Beyond agricultural production and exports, coffee can serve as the foundation for local manufacturing businesses, distribution networks, homegrown brands and employment opportunities for Ugandans across the value chain.
By supporting the Uganda Coffee Group, KCB Bank Uganda is positioning itself as a financial partner in this broader transformation, helping connect agricultural production with the financing and commercial infrastructure needed to create value beyond the farm.