The Presidential Advisory Committee on Exports and Industrial Development (PACEID) has partnered with Arise Kollections to promote cocoa growing for export.
Uganda’s cocoa bean exports hit a record high in February 2025, earning $68.7 million (Shs254 billion), a significant boost to the country’s economy. According to the latest Bank of Uganda report, this represents a 42 percent increase in cumulative revenue compared to the 2024-2025 period.
This remarkable performance marks a milestone for Uganda’s cocoa industry, which has been steadily growing in recent years. The upward trend began in December 2024, when Uganda exported cocoa beans worth $44.2 million, followed by $67.8 million in January 2025.
Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony of the Arise Kollections Leadership and Skilling Centre in Kigogola Village, Kasawo Sub-county, Nakifuma-Mukono District, PACEID Chairman Mr. Odrek Rwabwogo said the partnership will expand market opportunities in countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States of America.
‘We can do aggregation and finance that aggregation as primary production before we can go to secondary production, which is processing, which is what the country requires,’ Mr Rwabwogo said.
He noted that in Uganda, women-headed businesses constitute about 90 percent of the job market, with 64 percent of those businesses owned and run by men. ‘I am happy to see that you are reducing those numbers progressively, and you are doing it in Nakifuma,’ he added.
Prof Gudula Naiga Basaza, a board member of Arise Kollections, said the launch of the 30-acre centre is aimed at promoting agro-industrialisation and facilitating export-ready production.
‘We should stop giving other people the power to control our destiny. A number of times we rely on aid and donations to achieve our goals, but the message here is let us focus on trade,’ she said.
Prof Basaza added that Uganda has about 42.6 percent of youth who are unemployed, with Nakifuma Sub-county recording about 47 percent youth unemployment.
The founder of Arise Kollections and Cocoa Farms, Ms Agnes Kitumba, said the new hub is part of a dream that began 14 years ago in Namugongo, where she ran a smaller half-acre facility.
‘My dream was born to go out there and take the services to our local communities. After 14 years of running a business in town, where we always had to recruit girls from less advantaged societies, we realised the cost of living in town is high,’ she said.
Ms Kitumba added: ‘Our dream is that we can take the opportunity to the rural community and build the community so that we reduce rural-urban migration, where youth think they can only make it when they move to urban areas.’
She also appealed to Ugandan entrepreneurs to embrace partnerships as a key to linking manufacturers and producers with buyers.
Head of Program Development, Quality, and Management at Uganda Agribusiness Alliance (UAA), Ms Mariam Akiror, said their role is to ensure agribusiness entrepreneurs comply with national and international standards along the value chain to remain competitive globally.
‘We were able to bring them together to meet the United Arab Emirates investors, who are interested in different agriculture value chains such as cocoa and ginger,’ she said.
Ms. Akiror added: ‘We are interested in agriculture careers, profiling, and promotion, ensuring that our young Ugandans fall in love with agriculture and begin to look at it as both a career and a hobby, because agriculture is the oxygen of our country.’
Agronomist at UAA, Ms Medias Kukunda, noted that the new centre will support farmers with market linkages for their products.
Currently, major cocoa-growing districts in Uganda include Bundibugyo, Buikwe, Mukono, Jinja, and Masindi. Other significant producers are Hoima, Mubende, Mayuge, Mpigi, Luweero, Masaka, and Kasese. Districts across eastern, western, and central Uganda are also known for cocoa cultivation.