Zadock Amanyisa | Tayari News
NTUNGAMO – The President of Uganda, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, has called on societies to render more support for entrepreneurs, arguing that entrepreneurs are the wheels upon which societies can achieve successful social-economic transformation.
President Museveni was speaking at his third inspection visit of the Africa Coffee Park located in Rwashamaire, Ntungamo district, where he officiated the first Mustard Seed Awards on Saturday, 24th January.
Africa Coffee Park is a 150-acre state-of-the-art industrial hub positioned to become the largest coffee processing and value-addition centre in Central and Eastern Africa. The project’s key features include advanced freeze-dry technology for premium instant coffee, the production of coffee-based beauty and cosmetic products, the development of coffee-based energy drinks, an integrated model combining manufacturing and tourism, and a fertiliser production plant.
During his third inspection visit to the Coffee Park owned by Dr Nelson Tugume under Inspire Africa Group, the president toured the Fertiliser Production Plant located on the shores of Lake Nyabihoko, addressed the “Unstoppable Victory” rally, organised to celebrate his recent victory.
While addressing guests at the event, President Museveni emphasised that entrepreneurs are social scientists who coordinate the factors of production in society, and they ought to be supported.
“Back to my economics of 1965 at Ntare, they would teach you what the four factors of production- land, labour, capital and entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship is recognised in all economies. An entrepreneur is a coordinator of the factors of production,” he said
He reiterated that for the economy to grow, there must be people who add value to the available products and science, being the fulcrum of growth, must be upheld so dearly.
“If you don’t have people who know how to make shirts, who know how to roast coffee, who know how to remove oxygen from iron ore and make steel, what will you coordinate? Social science has a role, but the base of any progressive society is science, and then you add the superstructure.” The President-elect told the congregation at the coffee park.
“Therefore, people like Tugume are very useful, and I want to thank Tugume for being provoked because he had ignored my messages. I was talking, and he was not adhering until he went to the US, saw the price of coffee and then he was provoked. I’m glad many people are waking up. That’s why I thank Tugume and his colleagues. We have given them support, and we shall continue to give them more support.” He added
President Museveni also used the platform and took a swipe at “sleeping Africans” whose labour and production have for a long time benefited the global north nations who buy products from Africa, add value, and earn more money.
He explained that Africans are earning less from what they are producing and selling back what they are earning.
“It is a big problem in Africa. Where you sell a kilo of husked coffee, and you get 2.5 dollars, and somebody takes it, roasts and grinds it, and he gets 40 dollars from the same. This is the haemorrhage! It is not only for coffee; it is for textiles. You would get one dollar from a kilogram of cotton, but when they make a shirt out of a kilogram, someone gets 15-20 dollars.”
“That’s why the GDP of Africa is laughable. Africa is twelve times the size of India. You can put the USA four times into Africa, and now our population is 1.5billion people. But our GDP is only 3 trillion dollars. The GDP of the USA is around 32 trillion dollars, when there are only 300 million people. 300 million people in a land that is one quarter of Africa are earning 30 times more. They are 30 times richer than we are. This is a very big shame for all the leaders, including the political and the religious. All the leaders should wake up.” He added
The Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation Information, Dr Monica Musenero Masanza, highlighted that the Ministry of STI has put more effort into creating new areas of the economy, especially in areas that had not been part of the economy, like the automotive industry and value addition.
Africa Coffee Park proprietor, Dr Tugume, expressed his vision of ensuring that coffee farmers in Uganda and Africa fetch more money from coffee.
“Those who call me a crazy man, I am crazy because my Mum and other women must get a better price for their coffee. Why Africa has not progressed much higher is because we have been donating and selling our coffee at two and a half dollars, and other people get 20-30 dollars. That’s a war before us. It is a war that we must fight, it is a war for all the politicians, for all the young people, that we join our hands and fight this war.” Tugume called out
At the event, 15 outstanding entrepreneurs and industrialists in Uganda were awarded for their contribution to Uganda’s economic transformation, job creation, and industrial growth. They included Amosi Nzeyi, Sudhir Ruparelia, Barbara Mulwana, Gaster Lule, Paul Zhang, Omar Mandela, Aisha Monpara, Hao Zhang, Sikander Lalani, Barak Orland, Emmanuel Katongole, Joseph Yiga, Idro Taban, Jennifer Mwijukye, and Florence – Landy Industries Limited.
Dr Tugume said that the Mustard Seed Awards is going to be an annual event held before the National Resistance Movement (NRM) liberation day celebrations to celebrate President Museveni’s role in the transformation of Uganda.
“We have called this the Mustard Seed Awards to transplant your legacy and your ideology to many of us young people, so that even two thousand years from today, the Mustard Seed legacy shall be known to Uganda and Africa. It is going to be a yearly event,” Tugume told President Museveni.
Dr Robert Limlim, the Inspire Group Board Chairperson, while thanking the President for giving entrepreneurs a chance to liberate Uganda through using the economic opportunities, said the group is ready to use the next five years to the maximum and make Uganda’s products present and dominant in the coffee market.
“We have stepped into the allowed territory. We have stepped into a territory that has been closed to Uganda and the developing countries by the global north. We have been in a war against the economic disenfranchisement of our people.” He remarked