NUTRITIOUS DRINK TAKES
OVER UGANDAN MARKET
AEN Uganda Ltd is a company which
started in 2014 involved in agroprocessing of cereal malt beverages
known as “Bushera”. The drinks are
packaged in plastic bottles of 300ml
and 500ml bottles ready to drink.
A fermented malt of sorghum and
millet is flavored with honey to make
the beverage. Current production
operations are carried out at Food
Technology Business Incubation Centre, Makerere University in Kampala.
THE BEVERAGE INDUSTRY
The beverage industry is growing at a
fast rate giving customers an opportunity to choose from a variety of drinks.
A lot of these drinks contain caffeine and chemicals which can cause
health related complications such as
obesity and high blood pressure in
the long-term. Bushera - a cereal malt
beverage - is a nutritious, preservative
and sugar free drink which is mainly
used for breakfast. The product builds
upon the tradition of taking sorghumbased meals as breakfast, which is now
produced on a larger scale and sold
ready-to-drink. Bushera contains nu-
trients such as iron, calcium, protein,
fibers and energy which are vital for
the body. It is processed with good
manufacturing practices, pasteurized
to eliminate any contamination and
packaged in pet bottles, making the
product unique.
TOGETHER WITH AGRIBUSINESS BOOSTER,
AEN TARGETS:
• Increase production capacity from 6,000 liters to 20,000 liters
per week.
• Translate to about 60% increment in sales and prof it.
• Expand distribution system to all regions of the country.
• Increase women farmers from 200 to 400 by 2018.
OWNERS OF THE COMPANY
The owners of AEN are Ms. Esther Gloria Arinaitwe and Mr. Edgar Akampulira
who started the business from scratch.
They both have a Bachelor of Science
in Technology, specialized in Chemistry. AEN won the ICCO Agribusiness
Innovation Challenge award in October
2015 and since then, it has used the
investments to expand its operations.
INVOLVING WOMEN FARMERS
AEN puts special emphasis on women
empowerment in order to uplift their
standards of living. The company has
organized 10 women farmer groups
• Pilot financing and co-investment
possibilities
• Sustainable source of products (raw,
semi-processed, finished).
growing sorghum and millet in the
southcOnTRiBUTiOn
west of Uganda. Each farmer
yOUR
We
are looking
for businesses,
institutional
group
consists
of 20 smallholder
farmdonors
and international
organizaers. The
farmers are non-profit
trained on
modern
tions
to participate
and invest
in our
activities.
methods
of farming
and are
given
This
could
be
through
a
grant,
a
loan
improved varieties of sorghumwith
and milmatching interest rate or shares. Your particilet that grow fast. They are also given
pation depends on the needs of the producers
post-harvest materials like tarpaulins
and SME’s in the value chain. For instance:
for drying the cereals. The farmers
• Financial resources.
assured
of market
access
for or
their
• are
Expertise
to develop
new
products
production.
services.
• Knowledge of entrepreneurship.
• SOCIAL
Network.IMPACT
The social impact created by AEN
is three-fold: 1) providing over 300
Photo: CEDAC
smallholder farmers and casual laborers
 PROFILE OF ESTHER GLORIA ARINAITWE
RETURn On invEsTMEnT
Investing together in small producers and
SME’s requires a commitment for several
years. There are no quick wins, only longterm results. Our return on investment is:
• Financial returns.
• Shared benefits and risks along the value
chain development of producers and
SME’s.
• Strong value chains with fair products
and prices.
• Strong business and business service
providers for small producers and SME’s.
• Strong producer organizations, giving
power and voice to male and female
producers.
• Strong micro-finance institutions and
rural banks providing a range of financial
services.
gET invOlvED
Before starting the business, Gloria had
a one
yearEast
contract
Uganda
ICCO
South
Asia &with
Pacific
wants to
National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) which
was
not
renewed.
Efforts
to of
combine its understanding and needs
secure another job did not yield any result.
Gloria
was
thinking
of
starting
up
small producers and SME’s with the expera new business herself. One day while watching
TV,
she
saw
a
Professor
at
tise of companies, non-profit organizations
Makerere University talking about the and
Business
Incubation
Centre.
The chalother actors.
Our role
is to coordinate
the development
value
chain
and to
lenge was to identify a viable business idea
which filledofa the
need
in the
market.
guarantee
a sustainable
impact known
for pooras
Back then, there was no packaged cereal
malt beverage
commonly
people.
Your knowledge,
commitment,
Bushera. Most of the drink was sold in the
informal
sector using
old and used
capacity
and
funding
can
make
a difference
PET bottles, picked from trash along the roads. Gloria applied to the
Business
in the region. Get involved in ICCO’s Fair
Incubation Centre with only 120 dollars incubation fee and 30 dollars for raw
Economic Development program and
materials. She received training for a month in value adding. In November
contact us today.
2014, her first product hit the market.
JUMBO, DSM, ING,
RABOBANK, TNO,
EUROPEAN
CHAMBER
employed
in processing
with income to
sustain their livelihood; 2) food security
OF COMMERCE,
is enhanced since the 200 women smallACCENTURE,
DUTCH
holder
farmers use part
of the produce
for their household food requirements;
MINISTRY OF
and 3) AEN provides healthy and nutritious
drinks to the low-middle
class in
ECONOMIC
AFFAIRS
the market.
ARE SOME OF OUR
THE
MARKET
PARTNERS.
Being a local product which is underWill
nExT?Bushera
stood
by yOU
the localBE
population,
is among the fast selling beverages
in the category of nutritious ‘ready
to drink’ products. The population of
UgandaFAiR
growsEcOnOMic
by over one million peoiccO’s
ple
annually
which
a huge
DEvElOPMEnT represent
sTRATEgy
market potential. At the moment, over
80% of the sales take place in Kampala.
DiREcT
POvERTy
AllEviATiOn
AEN
has
identified
distributers in the
Working with the private sector to create
south-west
of
the
country.
When the
access to markets and employment and
production
increases
in the future, the
promote pro-poor
business investments
company will be able to sell Bushera
in this region. Also, AEN anticipates
exploring other untapped markets in
POlicy inFlUEncing
Eastern
Uganda.
Supporting networks to lobby internationally
and locally for an enabling (inter)national
environment for pro-poor value chain
The
company just secured a standard
development and financial services
mark from the Uganda National Bureau
of Standards (UNBS). This will enable
the company to penetrate up-market
stores
and retail
outlet chains.
civil sOciETy
DEvElOPMEnT
Supporting the proliferation of business
development services, micro-finance
institutions and producer organizations
b MEET
TEAM
MOREOUR
INFORMATION
We
work with
a dedicated
team at our
Director
Agribusiness
Booster
Regional
and
Country
offices
in South East
Jaap Jan Verboom
Asia
&
Pacific.
Through
innovative
partnerT: +31 (0)30 6927811
ships in Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar,
[email protected]
Papua New Guinea, Philippines and Vietnam
we empower people to fulfill their economic,
DIRECT CONTACT
social and civil rights.
G
MA
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ICC
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ICC
Jl.
Pa
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FB
Business Development Manager
Central, Eastern & Southern Africa
David Kamukama
T: +256 (0) 772 404 144
Photo: TMF
[email protected]
ICCO C
toward
exclusio
Edukan