Coffee has rarely been out of the headlines in Uganda this year. In February the finance ministry signed an agreement with the Uganda Vinci Coffee Company – a mysterious firm, led by an Italian businesswoman, which promised to build a factory processing 60,000 tonnes of coffee annually.

The deal sparked outrage, not least because it gave Vinci huge tax breaks and priority supply. In May a parliamentary inquiry found that the deal was “unconstitutional, illegal, void and unenforceable”, and parliament voted to terminate it.

Read More: https://african.business/2022/06/energy-resources/uganda-faces-storm-in-a-coffee-cup/

By September of 1969 when I was born, Makerere University in my home country of Uganda was the most prestigious African university any young person with the rare means to access an education could aspire to. But the college, then affiliated with University College London, had less than 3000 students. This was out of a population of 9 million, some 96 percent of whom were subsistence farmers – simply growing food for survival with nothing left to sell – a typical pre-industrial society.

Like many African nations, Uganda had gained its independence just a few years earlier. Across the continent then was an opportunity for us to grow our countries. However, those few who could access university went not with an aspiration to enter the hustle and grind of enterprise; rather, in the hope of filling the coveted positions left by departing colonial offers. Families sacrificed much and risked everything to keep their children in school. Even of those who enjoyed access to education, many struggled to pay the fees and students would often have to cover long distances on foot every day. A government job at the end of all this promised security and comfort. Our nascent enterprise and innovation sectors seemed to offer just risk and uncertainty in comparison.

Read More: https://www.cnbcafrica.com/2022/lack-of-patents-and-small-cash-investments-for-african-youth-undermines-innovation/