MUBENDE, Uganda — Stanbic Bank Uganda and the Buganda Kingdom have launched a new agricultural business center designed to provide structured credit and formalize coffee value chains for local farmers.
The initiative, named Ssemaduuka, was unveiled Monday at the Mayors Gardens in Mubende Municipality. The program aims to link farmer cooperatives to financing, high-quality seeds, digital payments and export markets through the Buganda Cultural and Development Foundation.
For farmers like Frank Nyanzi, 57, the center represents a potential solution to a decade of declining coffee yields caused by climate change and pests. Nyanzi said limited access to long-term financing has prevented him from investing in irrigation systems or quality fertilizers.
Tunde Thorpe, head of business and commercial banking at Stanbic Bank, described the project as a shift from fragmented support to a structured economic partnership. Thorpe said the model allows the bank to finance the entire agricultural value chain, from initial planting to final export.
Robert Waggwa Nsibirwa, the Buganda Kingdom second deputy premier and minister for finance, said the initiative aligns with the kingdom’s vision of transitioning households from subsistence farming to sustainable agribusiness.
Wealth will not find you in your house; it finds you in the garden, Nsibirwa told residents, adding that the project is intended to make every household self-reliant.
The program specifically targets members of the PEWOSA SACCO, a cooperative where more than 70 percent of members are women. Emmanuel Naigombe, head of agribusiness at Stanbic Bank, said the foundation will recommend qualifying cooperatives for banking support before the bank extends credit.
Under the new model, farmers will access inputs through dedicated stores, and their produce will be collected at aggregation centers for organized buyers. Transactions will be digitized through the bank’s One Farm platform to facilitate trade finance for exports.
The launch comes as Stanbic Bank marks nearly 35 years of operation in Uganda. Bank officials said the project is part of a broader agenda to support climate resilience and financial inclusion for youth and women in the rural economy.
