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MTN machines boost Sironko women

Business Edge Reporter 4th Mar, 2024 Telecommunication Business Edge Reporter
MTN machines boost Sironko women

KUDOS: Ms Sandra Nakayenze (L), receives the machines from MTN's Deogracious Odwori in Sironko on March 1. COURTESY PHOTO/BUSINESS EDGE


About nine years ago, Sandra Nakayenze launched Kalaa Mugoosi Women Empowerment, a social enterprise whose main objective was to empower the rural women of Sironko District in eastern Uganda, to add value to their coffee.

Today, the social enterprise is winning awards and grants, having become one of the most successful coffee businesses in the region - boasting of more than 1,200 small-scale coffee growers, mostly women, in Sironko District.

On March 1, telecommunications giant MTN Uganda became the enterprises newest donor, following the handover of three coffee-pulping machines worth UGX20 million. Back in 2022, the social enterprise emerged second-runner up in DFCU Banks inaugural Rising Woman campaign from which they received UGX5 million, which they used to buy a coffee pulping machine.

  • Nakayenze said the machine completely transformed their operations and made them a real value-addition enterprise that started processing more than 250 tonnes per year. The machine was indeed a God-send as it reduced the time that rural women and girls were spending on pulping coffee before sending it to the stores.

Mid last year when MTN Foundation launched the Change-makers Initiative aimed at empowering local individuals and organizations to enact meaningful change within their communities, Kalaa Mugosi Women Empowerment Ltd expressed interest with a proposal to buy three additional machines plus coffee driers.

Their proposal was successful and the equipment was delivered over on March 1 at a colourful ceremony in Sironko, also attended by top district leaders including Hon. Florence Nambozo, the Woman Member of Parliament.

  • "Our support for Kalaa Mugosi Women Empowerment Ltd epitomizes our belief in the power of collaboration to achieve a modern, connected life for everyone," said Deogracious Odwori, who represented MTN Uganda CEO Sylvia Mulinge.

Nakayenze expressed gratitude to MTN, saying the new equipment, which is powered by a small generator and thus can be easily transported on a light pick-up track to the different coffee growing communities during the coffee season, would save farmers the burden and high cost of transporting unpulped coffee to the town.

With the new additional equipment, our capacity will rise from about 250 metric tonnes to more than 500 metric tonnes per year, she said. Most importantly, she said income for the farmer at the grassroots will also almost double as they will be able to produce speciality coffee, which must be de-pulped within eight hours after picking.

Because of the poor means of transport, some farmers have been remaining with unpulped coffee cherries for more than three days, which made it impossible to process into speciality coffee the highest coffee grade.

If it is not speciality grade coffee then it has to be commercial grade, which sells at just UGX8,000 per kilo. On the other hand, speciality coffee sells at between UGX15,000 UGX20,000 per kiogram, so you can see what difference the machines will make on the farmers income, Nakayenze said.

  • . She revealed that on average, a coffee farmer in Sironko has been earning between UGX15m - UGX20 million per year but this could potentially double to more than UGX50 million because of the higher income and lower costs brought about by the new equipment.
  • MTNs machines, she said, would bring Kalaa Mugosi even closer to their dream of becoming the producers of the highest quality coffee and services that meet international standards while also promoting sustainable coffee farming best practices in the communities.

Going forward, the MTN Foundation has earmarked UGX500 million for 25 selected projects across the country, spanning economic empowerment, education, health, water, sanitation and hygiene.

This initiative is part of a broader commitment to invest in the nation's future, targeting youth, women, persons with disabilities, and rural communities across five regions of Uganda.

Over the last decade, the MTN Foundation has dedicated UGX 30 billion towards more than 250 projects, which has significantly impacting communities nationwide and cemented its position as a catalyst for positive change and development in the country.

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