Uganda — next, from the Burundi base.

1Instruments in place

1. Country program memorandum of understanding with Excel Hort Consult Agribusiness Incubator, signed at Bujumbura, August 2026
2. Ninety-day work plan: country knowledge pack, government and program map, candidate sites, country plan of action — due November 2026
3. Alignment with the Generate Growth Opportunities and Productivity for Women Enterprises (GROW) program and the Parish Development Model for youth and women in agribusiness

2Network lead member

Excel Hort Consult Agribusiness Incubator

A Ugandan agribusiness incubation and enterprise-development organization based in Mbarara, working across East Africa with government institutions, development partners, universities, research organizations, farmer organizations and the private sector. It brings the incubation and acceleration methodology, trainer certification, quality standards and the relationships with the ministries of Agriculture, Water and Environment, Trade, Education and the Office of the Prime Minister.

3Agriculture and value chains

Matooke, cassava, maize, coffee, sweet potato, beans and millet. Uganda has become Africa's leading coffee exporter, with a record US$1.14 billion of coffee exports in 2023/24. Maize losses after harvest run at 17.6% — 2.8 million tonnes a year — the largest single tonnage lost in any of the program's countries; matooke is highly perishable with little formal processing. Milling, drying, cold rooms and coffee-washing capacity are the first services.

4Energy compact and regulation

Uganda's National Energy Compact targets 85% electricity access by 2030 (rural 75%), some 2,700 mini-grid sites, six million solar home systems and half the population on modern cooking solutions. Solar mini-grids under 2 MWp are exempt from full licensing under the Electricity (Isolated Grid Systems) Regulations, 2020, with a certificate of exemption from the regulator; the public distribution utility took over distribution operations on 1 April 2025.

5Counterpart institutions

Energy

Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development; Electricity Regulatory Authority; Uganda Electricity Distribution Company; Uganda Energy Credit Capitalisation Company

Agriculture

Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries; Ministry of Water and Environment

Finance

Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development

6Programs the hubs can attach to

• Electricity Access Scale-up Project (World Bank)
• Agriculture Cluster Development Project
• Energising Development (multi-donor) productive-use and clean-cooking components
• Uganda Energy Credit Capitalisation Company results-based financing windows
• GROW program and the Parish Development Model

7What is different here

1. East African Community: one customs union with the Burundi base — equipment, spares and trainers move overland without a second import regime.
2. A denser, more reliable road network than the region's average eases hub-to-hub logistics; a mature mobile-money market shortens the path to hub-based credit.
3. Security considerations are localized — the far-western border and Karamoja — not national.

8How deployment runs

Wave 1 is a pilot cluster in the Mbarara region around the member's own premises and partner farms; Waves 2 and 3 extend to adjacent districts and the national layout, each a multiple of the last. Trainers certified at the Rusi academy staff the Ugandan hubs from the start.

9Next step

Engagement runs through Excel Hort Consult Agribusiness Incubator in Mbarara and the Bujumbura headquarters.

A country launch-phase package — site assessment, equipment configuration against local crops and volumes, the partner and program map, and a funding roadmap built on programs already financed in the country — is prepared jointly with the country member for an interested government or funder.

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