Tugume showcases some of the coffee varieties sourced from his farms and out-growers to Investment Minister Evelyn Anite during the Coffee City unveiling
A new approach by Coffee City, a subsidiary of Inspire Africa Coffee in partnership with Young Africa Works Program and supported by Private Sector Foundation Uganda (PSFU) is expected to create demand and increase domestic consumption.
The franchise model is a 2-year project is intended to increase domestic coffee consumption through a robust and invigorating coffee shop and mobile booth franchise model which is new in Uganda.
The project targets young people between the ages of 18-35 across the country and focuses on empowering them with skills in coffee value chain activities. The overall objective of the project is “to create 3,515 decent job opportunities for young people between the ages of 18-35 years, majority being women (70%) through a series of coffee value chain activities.”
Nelson Tugume, proprietor of Coffee City says that their approach is to create additional coffee demand centers and franchises owned and managed by the youth- with a focus on young women, using a unique Coffee Shop; Mobile Booth Franchise model.
“Young people are able-bodied and the future of tomorrow so it goes without saying that they should be the ones standing front-and-center in this initiative. The potential that lies within the coffee ecosystem is immense and is yet to be fully tapped into effectively,” Tugume said Wednesday.
He added: “Coffee City is Uganda’s epicenter for experiencing life with a touch of coffee. This means that our coffee has high quality ingredients, brewed with fresh, appealing and savory selections. More to that, Coffee City is a fully-fledged hub for learning, innovating, researching and promoting coffee in niche global markets worldwide while we provide a platform for advocacy and policy development.”
While they source ethically and sustainably from reputable out-growers, Coffee City strives to enhance the ordinary coffee Shop experience by offering the unique element of being able to self-express through different forms of coffee.
Furthermore, their vision is to leverage Uganda’s coffee sector through promoting its coffee.
To that end, Tugume says: “we intend for them to acquire and manage mobile coffee booths as their own business entities under the business franchise arrangement. This helps young people to actively participate in coffee businesses with less constraints of capital investment.”
He explains that the project focuses on supporting 200 MSMEs like hotels, restaurants, farm inputs and creating collaborations with 100 Community based organizations (CBOs) for youth mobilization and support.
The project, Tugume says works with 550 young coffee farmers among the marginalized communities of IK and Topeth in Kabong and Moroto districts of Karamoja sub region).
“Our coffee machines shall be placed at selected hotels and restaurants at an affordable hire purchase price, providing Baristas and business management skills to their staff in order to improve on their efficiency and productivity for business growth,” Tugume says.
