Via our Youth Entrepreneurship Portfolio over the last five years USADF has invested more than $5 million dollars in over 250 early stage African social entrepreneurs.
Agriculture is the largest employer in the developing world. As the co-founder and general manager of Kibinge Coffee Farmers' Co-Operative Society, David Lukwata knows agriculture well. His cooperative has thousands of members who grow and process coffee, and as a result, can take care of their families.
Tell us about your work.
As one of the four founding members and now the general manager of Kibinge Coffee Farmers' Co-operative, my job is to oversee the operations of our entire coffee organization and to guide decision-making for the good of the whole. My responsibilities include representing the cooperative with buyers and other stakeholders, managing the rest of the senior team, and reporting to our board of directors. On any given day, I may be in the coffee fields checking seedlings, talking to export partners in Europe, or reviewing a report with our board's audit committee.
David Lukwata, one of the four founding members and now the general manager of Kibinge Coffee Farmers' Co-operative
How are you impacting social and economic justice in Uganda?
Kibinge Coffee is a member-owned organization with the cardinal objective of providing our thousands of members and communities with services that positively impact their livelihoods. We apply our innovative approach, commonly known as the "inclusive farmer service business model." Our larger goal is to unite all the coffee farmers in the sub-region, increase quantity, and improve the quality of our coffee for corporate marketing.
Kibinge's model also puts a lot of emphasis on youth and gender inclusion, to empower every person in the sub-region to have equal opportunities to succeed and improve their livelihoods. We do this mainly through succession planning and sustainable land use and management.
What do you need from others to move this work forward?
We are learning from others to apply innovations to our business model to achieve better outcomes: more profits, members, and socio-economic impact in our rural area. Also, improving service delivery to transform the coffee farmers' work through technology transfer and innovative processes.
What inspired you to start this venture?
The farmers were not united and were not performing to their best advantage. We wanted to ensure that they were, and continue to be, empowered to come together, both to own and, also, to market value-added coffee at competitive prices.
What is the biggest challenge you have overcome, and how did you overcome it?
Mindset, and we continue to challenge it every day, as our membership grows. Different people think about things differently, and it is sometimes hard to change their thinking and to get them to begin thinking objectively for a common goal. We have overcome this very human tendency by merely challenging the farmers, calling out their silo-ed mindsets as wrong, and calling for a common ground upon which all of them were made to appreciate.
What is the biggest challenge you are facing now in Kibinge Coffee?
The high finance cost that increases our operational costs and decreases our net surplus. Regardless, I see a very bright future for Kibinge Coffee, in terms of infrastructure development, expanded trade, and profitability.
What advice would you give to someone looking to make a difference and start their venture?
Take the time to learn from other people's mistakes or weaknesses in the same ventures and avoid making them yourself.
What is your dream for the world?
I dream of a world of limited economic and social imbalances among people, no matter where they were born.
USADF awarded Kibinge Coffee Farmers' Co-Operative Society, Ltd. with 2 grants to support its 30,000+ members: an expansion grant in 2009 to modernize its processing facilities, lock in its fair trade certification, and expand its sales of Robusto coffee beans and processed coffee, and an enterprise linkage grant in 2018 to reach more new markets outside of Uganda. Kibinge’s recent advancements include upgrading its packaging to international standards and making more contacts in European markets. Kibinge’s 49-member team directly supports the farmer-members, on best practices and quality control, and interacts with stakeholders in the national and regional coffee sector. Kibinge is proud of being the country’s largest individual cooperative in Uganda.
Kibinge Coffee Farmers’ Co-operative Society