Meet Aloysious Ssendegeya, a Makerere University Business School (MUBS) graduate who started his own coffee business dubbed Roy Coffee. Roy Coffee Processors & Exporters Co Ltd is a youth-led company that deals in selling coffee and roasted beans whose product is in the final stages of being certified by Uganda National Bureau of Standards – UNBS.
Ssendegeya, who graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce from MUBS in 2019 told Campus Bee that he has never wanted to be employed, something that forced him to dive into the coffee industry. The fresh MUBS graduate further revealed that being a born again Christian, he received a prophetic insight from Prophet Elvis Mbonye regarding what he was supposed to do.
“I am a born again Christian and I fellowship with Prophet Elvis Mbonye. In April 2019 I received a Prophetic word from Prophet Elvis Mbonye, he told me of what I will do and I’ve seen most of the things he has told me in that regard become very fruitful,” Ssendegeya said.
According to Ssendegeya, the long term ambition of his company is to be the top exporter of high quality coffee for both primary produced coffee and secondary processed coffee. The company is currently selling roast and crowned coffee as well as roasted beans.
Roy Coffee Processors & Exporters Co Ltd is also looking at using coffee to transform youth livelihoods and the nation as large.
“The major composition of the county’s population is the youth, there is a very strong point to work around with to transform the livelihoods of these youths. So the company is majorly youth-led because it started with three people but we are currently about seven other people in the company. All I do is reach out to people, sell my vision to them and eventually as time goes on people buy into it.” Ssendegeya explained.
The former MUBS student also revealed that he has further gone ahead to empower the youth with knowledge on coffee through a community club dubbed ‘The Circle Club’. Ssendegeya, who is also planning to have his own coffee processing plant in future is optimistic that his business will change more lives.
As they await certification from UNBS, Roy Coffee is currently being sold via social media and other digital avenues both in the Uganda and abroad.
In his advice to students who want to start their own businesses, Ssendegeya urged them to work in groups in a bid to secure funding.
“I think from experience I’ve also learnt that it is very good to organise yourselves and work in groups because you then have a higher bargaining power when you reach out to government institutions or private funding institutions,” he advised.
To learn more about Roy Coffee and Ssendegeya’s relationship status watch the video below;
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