At the Pan African Congress Business Forum (PACBF) organized by the Presidential Advisory Committee on Exports and Industrial Development (PACEID) in partnership with the Africa Global Chamber of Commerce (AGCC) at Munyonyo, 7th & 8th October, JAHL Production (U) Ltd signed a contract with DET Imports from Detroit, USA for first 3 x 20’ container of the new ICED Espresso ready-to-drink liquid Coffee product. This followed three months of negotiation on a distribution agreement, test marketing, innovation in packaging, and USA import approval. The initial contract is worth 1 billion Ugx and is expected to lead to sales of 3-5 billion in the first year to the US market.

JAHL was established in Uganda in 2024. It is a partnership with Farm Mountain Global, Randers, Aarhus, Denmark who developed a patented technology of producing a liquid Espresso coffee product using only fresh roasted coffee from Uganda. In less than 8 months, JAHL has established its first production line in Kampala and will be producing ICED Espresso for the global market.

DET Imports is a Michigan-based based dedicated to importing and distributing Ugandan products in the US market. With a major distribution center in Detroit, Michigan, they will work with Ugandan companies to get them market-ready and distribute the products into US markets. ICED Espresso coffee will be the first product followed by Macadamia Nuts from Amafh Farm Ltd. and Tooke banana flour produced by the Presidential Initiative on Banana Industrial Development (PIBID) in Bushenyi district.

ICED Espresso coffee is a unique product, ready-to-drink liquid coffee. Packed in a 40ml sachet, it has the following unique features:-

• Shot of Espresso. Definition of Espresso: “A type of strong black coffee made by forcing steam through ground coffee beans”.
• Versatile: Suitable for Hot & Cold coffee drinks
• Taste: 100% Authentic Espresso/Artisanal Brewed Espresso/No Additives/Not a Concentrate
• Product variations From Original Espresso Taste/Flavoured Coffee options/Health Boost Options/Energy Boost Options /Alcohol Mix Option
• New Innovation: Uses traditional espresso brewing techniques with new packaging innovation.
• Convenience: Coffee on the Go/Anytime Anywhere/Quick
• Single Serve Portion: No wastage/cost control/low unit price
• Recyclable & Sustainable: Fully recyclable plastic packaging/use of espresso grounds as soil nutrition or bioproduct for products such as coffee body scrubs, candles, etc.
• Shelf life: over 18 months/ambient travel & storage.

Unlike roasted coffee which deteriorates as soon as produced, the ICED Espresso product has an 18-month shelf life without refrigeration. This means Uganda can exported to the global market and be supplied into the retail supply chain.

JAHL, by producing a retail product in Uganda with Ugandan coffee is delivering real added value to our coffee. JAHL can achieve 5 times the export price of Green Bean Coffee.

Uganda has a major competitive advantage in the world coffee market. Producing both Arabica and Robusta coffee JAHL can blend and roast Uganda coffee for any taste profile in the world market. JAHL has received inquiries from Europe, the Middle East, Canada, India, and Asia and expects to expand to meet these demands.

The Presidential Advisory Committee on Exports and Industrial Development (PACEID) proudly announces the successful conclusion of the inaugural Pan African Congress Business Forum, held from October 7-10, 2024, at the Commonwealth Resort in Munyonyo. Organized in partnership with the Africa Global Chamber of Commerce led by Uganda’s Trade Representative in the US, Dr. Olivier Kamanzi and key players from Uganda and the United States, the forum aimed to enhance Uganda’s export potential to the U.S. market.

The forum run under the theme, “A Diaspora Homecoming: Navigating the Next 100 Years”.

H.E. President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni was represented by Vice President H.E. Jessica Alupo at the official opening of the forum. In his speech, read by the Vice President, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni appealed to the US business community to invest in Uganda and expressed gratitude for existing partnerships with the US, particularly in the areas of security, health, and education. He cited successful ventures such as DET Imports from Michigan, which has ordered 600,000 sachets of processed ready-to-drink coffee and invited further investment in computer assembly and technology.

“I invite you to use the Africa Common Market (AfCFTA) that we launched a few years ago to drive trade within our continent to bring technology, skills, and capital to achieve the strategic objective of your continent. I thank PACEID, the organizers of this event and I welcome you all to Uganda. I am inviting you to use this week to think together with me and our people, on how to bring the necessary change in Africa and the US to improve person-to-person exchange and build closer cooperation in the economy. By doing this, we shape the kind of society of Africans we are all proud to live behind for the next generation.” said the President.

In his remarks, PACEID Chairman Odrek Rwabwogo highlighted the committee’s efforts to grow Uganda’s economy through exports and hit the extra USD 6 billion target in export revenues by 2028 and USD 100 billion by 2062. He further emphasized Uganda’s readiness for business. “Uganda must become a nation of manufacturers and exporters of complex goods. By 2062, our exports must reflect a diversified and competitive economy.”

Robert Blackwell Jr., a U.S. tech Entrepreneur & expert on technology innovation emphasized the importance of dignity and opportunity for black communities globally. “The prosperity and dignity of the black man lies in the connection between Africa and its people in the Americas. There is a big global market opportunity ready for us. Now is the time, Africa is the place.”

Hon. David Bahati delivered closing remarks at the close of Day Two. He praised the event for its practical nature, remarking on the importance of tangible results. “In many business forums, we sign MOUs, and after two or three months, you can’t find an MOU but today, we have signed not just an MOU but an LOP.” He highlighted partnerships as crucial for Uganda’s ambitious plans to boost the economy from USD 55 billion to USD 500 billion by 2062 through export promotion and import substitution.  

Some of PACEID’s local partners were; the Presidential Initiative on Banana Industrial Development (PIBID), Private Sector Foundation Uganda (PSFU), East African Business Council (EABC), Uganda Communication Commission (UCC), Uganda National Chamber of Commerce (UNCC), UG EXIM Limited, Trademark East Africa, Government Citizen Interaction Centre (GCIC), Creatives, and various MDAs.

Key Outcomes of the Forum:

Annual Buyers Forum: PACEID is committed to promoting Ugandan products globally, with plans to conduct at least three market summits each year across Africa, America, and Europe. The Pan African Congress Business Forum will now be an annual event every July, focusing on connecting pre-qualified buyers and suppliers of Ugandan products from different regional trading blocks.

Notably, this year the DET Imports from Michigan signed agreements with JAHL for three 20-foot Containers of new ICED ready-to-drink coffee and with Amafh Farms, one container of  Macadamia nuts. Additionally, the American delegation had a meeting with H.E the President and visited several Ugandan exporting companies, including the Presidential Initiative on Banana Industrial Development for the Tooke flour, Amafth Farms in Mityana for Macamadia, and  CTC Convention Center in Mpigi for tourism.  They also visited Kiira Motors, and Source of the Nile in Jinja to gain insights into the local value chain.

Investment Attraction: The forum successfully showcased Uganda’s potential in the electronics, computing, infrastructure, and tourism sectors. PACEID aims to forge strategic partnerships that will drive economic development and position Uganda as a tech and innovation hub in Africa.

Cultural and Personal Engagement: The forum also fostered personal connections between the American delegation and Ugandan leaders, including a meeting with Mr. Robert Blackwell Jr., a prominent entrepreneur from Chicago. H.E. the president allowed Mr. Blackwell to establish an analytics center in Uganda. This will create efficient systems, further bridging business relations and enhancing understanding of Uganda’s unique cultural and business environment.

The Pan African Congress Business Forum marks a significant step toward strengthening economic ties and collaborative opportunities between Uganda and the United States.

The ministers present and government officials

The Ugandan entrepreneurs

The visiting business delegations of sisters and brothers from the USA

Uganda Trade Representatives

Ladies and Gentlemen who came to participate in the Pan African Congress Business Summit

It was in the middle of winter, December 2022 when Uganda first hosted three back-to-back business summits in one week – in the cities of London, Washington DC, and Chicago. At that time, we were figuring out how to deal with the twin issues of post covid economic recovery and crafting a new message for the country on how to deal with trade and exports as the oxygen that would underpin this recovery. As some of you might know, Asian countries recovered faster on manufacturing than Africa given what many thought would be a difficult return to the old manufacturing and distribution chains the pandemic had disrupted. There was an estimate that up to USD4.9trillion (McKinsey, August 2021) worth of manufacturing, food, pharmaceuticals and transportation, would shift from China to regional centers, East Africa among them. This shift didn’t happen because China had done some good industrial capacity preparatory work and we all returned to them for industrial inputs and consumer goods, instead of taking advantage of this crisis.

We wasted a good crisis; a very important inflection point at which Africa’s regional manufacturing capacity would have been strengthened to endure further shocks and give us better industrial capabilities. Even for America, there was a survey of about 346 firms on whether they would be willing to leave China and return to their home ground even with incentives and subsidies at home. The survey turned up 79% of the companies saying they weren’t prepared to leave China! It shows that economies are planned like raising a child. What you put in early, it will show up later in good or bad ways. Africa hadn’t prepared and we missed an opportunity in this crisis.

Anyhow, after these marathon business summits in December of 2022; we kept up much pressure on the US market. We held several mini events in Washington DC; we tried to work with some airlines for a possibility to land in Chicago, New York or Atlanta at a future date, reduction of cargo charges to flights in parts of middle east and Africa; we kept up media engagements (Mark Pursey and BTP Advisors are in the room) including meetings with several US based thinktanks, business groups, the House of Congress, State department and many others. This was in order to consistently make a case for our country to be restored to the AGOA opportunity; to deliberately create more understanding with our allies as well as those who tend to misunderstand Uganda and Africa. We have been in Chicago a number of times to find African America allies and work with them, Detroit, Michigan to find off takers of coffee, dried fruits nuts, and banana flour.

I am happy today that we gather in Kampala to begin this annual event (we hope to do this every July) and work under the Pan African umbrella, given the last time we held the Pan African congress was April 1994. We feel strongly that a home is built by both those who travel and learn (the diaspora) and the citizens who (remain and produce). There couldn’t have been a better time to visit Uganda than when we celebrate 62 years of independence and the return of our sisters and brothers’ home!

Why do we do all this and more? Because in a massive global trade of more than USD32 trillion, Africa’s share remains only 3% and even in many areas, productivity of firms and exports has fallen, yet we are surrounded by a rising young population and immense natural resources.

The market of the US for which we are gathered here to build bridges with, is USD18 trillion worth of consumption.

It imports over USD3 trillion in products and services. For a developing country like Uganda to succeed, we got to have presence on this market. To ignore it or simply connect with it only on politics, diplomacy and other areas of partnership, is to miss a good place to begin mindset change on enterprise building. Our SMEs can learn much by having elemental interactions with US firms; our youth and their growing creative and business acumen could be built to an international level and give us future companies with scale. This is why we don’t give up on this market even if politics often interferes. There is no time in life when all is clear; Instead, life teaches us to keep pushing on for what we believe is good for the country and for our enterprises. If you take a look at Uganda and its USD200m worth of trade or the EAC at USD1bn, this is small for the US market. Even all our annual trade as EAC block with the world standing at USD62bn, (equivalent to three financial year budgets for Uganda), all of us are punching below our weight. We can do more and better. This is why we bring our allies this week to have a mature and informed discussion on the possibilities of working together for a better positioning for Africa starting here in Uganda.

I should tell you Africa hasn’t been the same; we have been evolving and for better. It is good that we remain optimistic about the direction even if we might have questions about the pace of progress.

Let’s take a look at these maps:

Map one: Africa has no agency, no decision making and it is a society of Four classes:

-Sons of chiefs and priests who would be instrumental in strengthening the colonial state,

-Illiterate soldiers commanded by colonial officers who carried out coups and caused instability

-Few Afro-Asiatic and Lebanese entrepreneurs on the coasts and in some pockets in the hinterland

-Massive numbers of peasants, in Uganda more than 96% when I was born in 1969.

Map Two: An Africa beginning to understand where the drivers of prosperity come from – The Market and reducing trade barriers, removing suspicion and letting the private sector speak directly to each other on the market.

Map Three: An Africa optimistic, aiming at USD30 trillion worth of GDP by 2050. Uganda aims at USD100bn worth of exports by this time as we approach a century as a country.

Yes, we still have very high transaction costs on account of:

Land borders – 107 that require 57,000 kilometers of roads, bridges and highways to connect 54 countries. Only 60% is complete in various shapes and forms and 40% including power lines, interest cables, all needs funding of up to USD100bn for some years to come in order to make this a competitive infrastructure compared to Asia, EU and USA. This too is an opportunity in infrastructure funding on pay per user basis.

Rail of 75,000kms for a land surface of more than 30 million square kilometers translating to 2.5km per 1000sqkm of population density of population. Asia is 23km for every 1000 square kilometers of population. There is work to be done but as more clarity becomes available to many of our leaders these days, we will get there.

These numbers are rapidly changing for better. You can tell this from the trade numbers with some of our partners worldwide by the end of 2019:

China -USD259bn

UAE -USD159bn – ports and infrastructure even more

EU -USD150bn

Intra Africa -USD100bn-USD150bn

USA -USD70bn

Therefore, our allies and our diaspora would like to hear and see more work done on trade integration in Africa, productive capacity integration (joint border processing zones), infrastructural integration (work between Uganda and eastern DRC for 100kms inside stopping insecurity and pulling in USD600m in sales) and free movement of the people of Africa (labour and travel without limits and visas) and their trade allies. This should be a rallying cry for all of us – the private sector, civil servants and our mutual friends from the US who hope to invest in Africa. The US FDI into Africa stands at only 13% largely because of these weaknesses.

This is why in Uganda under our teams who we call combat commanders given this mental, philosophical and cultural battles for unity around trade in Africa, are making interventions at three levels we hope to drive this change:

At the market level, we insist on research where we don’t have data, better preparation, trade representation, trade hubs, on customer level engagement, retail level engagement etc. The Serbia and Balkans model as you will hear later today (thank Trade Representative Bratislav Stoiljkovic represented by Boris and Bragan), has processing at home of some 6000MTs of our coffee as part of the 40,000MTs we import as replacement, retail outlets, including restaurant level distribution, storage level, technology for tracking products and transactions and assembly of equipment. We combine this with Bilateral negotiations on rates and air travel. This is to help our firms and products get to regional and international value chains in a sequenced manner so we can learn what to do. Markets can also get the taste of our products and in the end invest at source in Uganda. There is no way to do this differently because we would need more than USD2bn to invest in global promotion, money we don’t yet have.

At Firm level, we meet companies as they are not often what we expected them to be. We are a young country and continent with few large size businesses. We got to be conscious of the fact that large size businesses that we compete against were initially supported by their governments in foreign markets. We too are building a model to support these SMEs through export orders, working capital and some grants. We have partnered with a fund called Uganda Exim Ltd and I hope the team is here to speak later about this. The fund is in its early stages and has given one grant so far but hope by end of October, more loans and grants at very low rates will be given. The Fund now has more than 46 applicants and it is building capacity to serve export businesses better. In the month of November, we have two grants for DET imports in Detroit Michigan and in Chicago once they demonstrate orders have been picked and warehousing and distribution set. They can also apply for low fee loans at Ug Exim.

At Government level, we work on a Standards and compliance authority for our food safety (Food & Agriculture Authority) to match what FDA and other international protocols require, all under one roof. Our people are here to speak more on this later. We continue to work on infrastructure support on land, air and at sea to get better competitive rates for exporting firms. We also continue to make inroads for bilateral trade negotiations with a number of countries. This October, we will be in the southern Balkans and in DRC for these negotiations on off take of products and launch more facilities. The US/Uganda firms here can supply these markets too. This is why my brother Anni Bassey (Nigeria Trade Representative is here) and Justin Katoto (DRC Trade Representative is here too). Please reach out to them on this. Let us see what we can do together!

Our target for the US partners is twofold:

First, at industrial level, for investment in the various fields, education, cultural exchange and tourism. We think we can reduce the cost of industrial inputs and service skilling from outside if we work with the US firms. Industrial inputs or intermediate goods into Africa stand at:

Europe – 26%

China 15%

USA 7% (small)

Sadi Arabia 4%

India 3%

Africa 16%

Africa remains small in sourcing industrial intermediate goods amongst each other yet 45% of all our value-added goods are sold within Africa! This can be grown to 70% and Africa will industrialize and learn to work together as regional blocs and continent.

The Second need is Value addition to both food and minerals, refrigeration, transportation and firms’ partnerships. Just think of one sector of animal feeds. To produce 1m tons of fish as Uganda target, we require 800,000MTs of maize and 600,000MTs of soya. These will in the process, give us 100,000MTs of cooking oil we are importing at more than USD80m annually. Who can we get on land, investment, technology and we give supply connection to the two firms that are producing 100,000MTs of fish feeds beginning 2025?

This is the same for fertilizer production for maize. The current 2.3 million acres we use for maize production across the country gives us 1.5tonnes or less, an acre. Simply applying some basic NPK (and there is a firm here for example trying to separate hydrogen from Oxygen using an electrolyzer and add ammonia and even others using animal manure) we could raise to 3.9 tons per acre and earn USD1.7bn a year from maize alone. These projects need skill and capital and this is partly why we look to friends in the US to keep this conversation going. Yes, we need to move our country to the computing age and take advantage of the Generative AI tools and data, but we still have huge competitive advantage on production of food for the world that we aren’t using well. I need some support in this area.

Therefore, given Africa and Uganda is industrializing at a time when global value chains are highly fragmented post covid 19, there is increased protectionism in each country that wasn’t the case in the 1980 and 1990s when nations in the Far east were rising, there is rapid digitalization affecting low value commodities Africa is in, increased levels of sea costs on account of terrorism, threats of war, etc., I would like us to act with wisdom and haste when we have friends in the room who want to buy our products. This is because we face a vastly changed world that asks us for glass jars for fruits into Europe yet we haven’t even started making tins, it puts barriers in the way of our youth scaling their businesses when they give subsidies to the farmers in the west to keep our organic foods out of the market, the US allies become key in the battle for export knowledge and business growth.

Our team and our government will keep up with the following in order to support this work:

Build a pocket of excellence on the matter of trade and exports. We want to strengthen the work done so far and build a Uganda Trade and Exports negotiations center. This will give us a bridge between public sector and the actions you are taking to help us achieve targets on the US and other markets.

Keep directing attention to the layers of complexity of trade and exports with the world. This is so we can create cultural change, a mind shift of sorts to improve our society’s understanding of the exports and manufacturing as a driver to ending poverty. This knowledge once it tips over, it will be a way of life for the next generation just like we see in many Far eastern countries. This is how we can increase production, keep time and build trust and confidence on the markets you are giving us.

Thank you

A team from DET Imports, an American company based in Detroit, comprised of Tambouridis Angela Elaine (Product Sourcing Analyst), Karboske Joel Nathan (Director), Alebiosu Lanre (Partner), and Oluwole Johnson Oluwaseto (Director) was in Uganda late last month (from July 28, 2024, to August 2, 2024). Facilitated by the Presidential Advisory Committee on Exports and Industrial Development (PACEID), they visited over ten producers and exporters dealing in dried fruits, vanilla, Moringa, fish, macadamia nuts, coffee, and Banana flour among others to ascertain their capacity to supply the US market.

Some of the companies visited include; Amstus Farm, Discovery Group, Zahra Foods Industry, PIBID- BIRDC-makers of tooke flour, Miecca (U) Limited, Pure Grow, Masheda Mixed Farm, Amafh Farms, Raintree Farms, Fine Spinners, and JAHL Production (U) Ltd among others.

The visit led the American team to discover the quality and uniqueness of innovative Banana (tooke) products made by the Banana Industrial Research Development Centre (BIRDC) and iced expressos produced by JAHL Production (U)Ltd. This sparked off immediate interest to have these two and other Ugandan products in the American market. There is confirmed readiness by the parties involved to pursue partnerships.

At the end of their feasibility study, the DET Imports team had an opportunity to share some of their insights about Ugandan products and their commitment to expanding markets and creating new opportunities for their partners in Uganda. Below is their brief conversation with PACEID’s Communications Officer Rowland Bon Nkahebwa.

What were some of the key factors that influenced your decision to consider Ugandan products for your imports?

We had an opportunity, an introduction to Uganda and what it has to offer and it was enticing to come and see, and once we came here, we saw the abundance of products and the opportunity.

PACEID Chairman Odrek Rwabwogo’s trip to Detroit influenced our decision. At first, we didn’t even understand all the opportunities in Uganda. We first came here in February 2024. After that, we assembled our team to come back and we knew we wanted to work with Ugandans and import their products. We think there a real story here, and we can help from the farmer all the way to our retailers and make an impact here.

What are the key factors that differentiate Ugandan products from other potential sources and make them attractive for import to the US market?

When we visited the farms, it was educating how the products are made. Like in the USA, you might find 1000 acres from one farmer but in Uganda, it is everywhere on a small acre where they do everything from seed, there are not a lot of pesticides, and everything is real, green, and organic. The environment here, being on the equator and having a 365-day farming season. Those are some of the key factors, it is a better product than other places we have been.

Also, we want to do business with the country and be involved with a country that takes care of its people. We want to be involved with those types of businesses and suppliers as well.

Can you provide an overview of the type of Ugandan products that DET Imports is currently seeking to import for its warehouse in Detroit?

We are going to be starting with coffee, not just your green and roasted coffees but some different types of products from coffee that we don’t want to get into right now. Also macadamia nuts, dried fruits, vanilla, banana flour, textiles, and moringa oils. Those are the ones we are focusing on right now. We are going to support the creatives as much as possible too. The basket-weaving women we visited at Nkore Designs by Masheda, Discreet, and others.

What specific unique features did you observe in the products from the exporting companies and farms you visited in Uganda?

The quality of the products, from the farm, they are natural, and the taste of their organic and sustainable farming practices. Training the community, training different farmers, you see the love that goes into it into the quality of the products.

Having some of the larger suppliers that we toured coming up with training programs and actually teaching farmers what to do, and the biggest part is buying their products. Knowing that the product is already sold takes away the worry to provide for their families and eases the process of going into the next season.

What are some of the challenges/obstacles you might have encountered during your visit to the different farms and suppliers in terms of sourcing products?

Some of the suppliers are smaller and they are not currently exporting up to speed on different requirements, from potentially large orders, there might be a bit little bit more time to get them up to speed. But there are good plans in place for those suppliers, a lot of them have a future vision of where they can go. You know Uganda is still new, they are not China or Mexico and we don’t want them to be. So, they are not up to those volumes yet but we see the potential and see that they can handle the capacity. But it also comes down to operational capital for whoever is doing the production and we think that could be a problem because they go and buy a new machine because their interest rates are 23-33 percent in the bank and this takes away all their profits. It is harder for them to borrow money, so I think PACEID is working well with them, helping them to obtain their goal through invoice financing from UG EXIM if they have an order so they can supply it properly and on time.  

What strategies do you have in place to handle potential challenges related to logistics, regulations, or quality control when importing products from Uganda?

Education. So, working with their suppliers upfront to make sure that the understanding is there. The travel that we do by coming here, reaching out to our resources to make sure that they can go and work with the suppliers. So we train them to make sure that they are equipped. Logistics-wise, we work together, we use brokers who can help with their transactions, for ourselves and suppliers, and also provide knowledge.

Every aspect of the shipping is important too, to ensure everything is on time and actually gets there without being spoiled or damaged. So, right from the farm, the product has to be refrigerated to make sure the temperatures are there, implement GPS systems and temperature controls that can be monitored from our offices and our cellphones, and just get up to speed on technology which we are in process of doing and we are working with everybody to get this accomplished.

What specific factors or qualities are you looking for in Ugandan products to ensure they meet the standards for importing and stocking in your warehouse in Detroit? 

We kind of live in the US and have worked in the retail business for fifteen years, we just kind of feel we know the needs of the American market. We can bring in better products from Uganda that the Americans will consume. So, we know we can recognize the trends and what is missing from our American market, not just fresh foods because a lot of these we already have there but different products we don’t have access to like the Moringas, real natural products that provide benefits, the Matooke (banana) flour. There are a lot of gluten allergies or digestive issues that we are facing in the US, so that is one product to add to the market and fill a void of gluten-free products.

So we are really looking at a lot of those products and in addition to others and what Americans are missing and what we can take there. One thing we have done is teach the Americans and show them what they need and put in their face. That is why we created a green room in our warehouse where we are going to be shooting content and showing people what banana flour can do, bringing local cooks and chefs and cook with Ugandan products, and doing presentations in different restaurants. Lanre, our business partner is in the fashion industry, he does a segment on TV every month regarding what’s new in Detroit, and what’s new in the US. So we want to take the products to the US and show them what it can do for them. This right here will create a need in the US market for banana flour.

Could you elaborate on the potential economic and social impact of importing Ugandan products to your warehouse in Detroit?

Long-term, if Uganda’s exports go up, there is obviously a higher demand, and with that comes the need to automate their facilities and have machinery that can handle large volumes. This reduces the manual labor and bumps up the skill level of the employees to now have to know how to operate and fix machines. That is one area that could be impacted.

How has your collaboration with the Presidential Advisory Committee on Exports and Industrial Development impacted your visit to Uganda and the selection of Ugandan products for import?

We probably wouldn’t be here in Uganda if it wasn’t for PACEID. They have been very instrumental, not only in coordinating meetings with suppliers and government agencies but helping us understand Uganda and how things work and getting us to the right people. This would have taken us ten times as long to get to where we are right now, so expediting our business development tremendously would be a good way to summarize it in a few words.

PACEID has helped us widen our outreach by streamlining the process to help us get to where we need to be.

Lastly, a lot has been said about Uganda out there, what is your assessment of Uganda compared to before you visited?

Uganda is a beautiful country, people are happy, and we feel well-received here. We enjoy Uganda and are looking forward to more productive trips. Due to time, we did not get the chance to visit some of the amazing tourist destinations, but next time we shall make sure to do so.

By Emmanuel Kironde

In an exciting development, Rev. Prof. Florence Muranga, Director General of the Presidential Initiative on Banana Industrial Development (PIBID), has secured a strategic collaboration with DET Imports, a U.S.-based import company. This partnership aims to bring the unique qualities of TOOKE Flour to households and commercial markets across the United States.

A team from DET Imports comprised of Tambouridis Angela Elaine, Karboske Joel Nathan, Alebiosu Lanre, and Oluwole Johnson Oluwaseto were in Uganda from July 28, 2024, to August 2, 2024 and visited over ten producers and exporters dealing in dried fruits, vanilla, Moringa, macadamia nuts and Banana flour among others to ascertain their capacity to supply the US market.

Some of the companies visited include; Amstus Farm, Discovery Group, Zahra Foods Industry, PIBID- BIRDC-makers of Tooke flour, Miecca (U) Limited, Masheda Mixed Farm, Amafh Farms, Fine Spinners and JAHL Production (U) Ltd among others.

TOOKE Flour, known for its exceptional quality and diverse applications, is on the brink of making its debut in the competitive U.S. market. DET Imports, with its extensive experience and established distribution channels, is set to play a critical role in introducing this innovative product to American consumers and businesses.

Rev. Prof. Florence Muranga emphasized the significance of this partnership which will pave the way for a flourishing relationship while introducing a product that embodies quality and versatility.

The discussions and arrangements leading to this collaboration have been fruitful, with the teams from PACEID and DET Imports working diligently to ensure a seamless integration of TOOKE Flour into the existing marketplace. The final stages of negotiation focus on distribution logistics, marketing strategies, and the introduction plan that aligns effectively with consumer trends.

With its unique nutritional profile and adaptability in various culinary applications, TOOKE Flour is poised to meet the growing demand for quality food products in the U.S. market. From baking to cooking, this flour is designed to cater to both home cooks and professional chefs, offering a superior alternative to conventional flour products.

Tambouridis Angela Elaine, the DET Imports Chief Supply Chain Officer is optimistic that TOOKE Flour will not only enhance the culinary options available to consumers but also contribute to the diversification of food imports in the U.S.