Africa is the most naturally endowed continent on the
planet, but it is also the home of the most down trodden of the earth.
Why the contradiction?
In a nut shell, we sell our natural resources, be they cash
crops, minerals or even labour for a pittance. These are then processed abroad
and onsold at multiples of their original cost.
The logic is simple, to raise the continent out of poverty
we need to capture more of this value for ourselves. But just because what is
needed is simple to grasp does not mean it is easy to execute.
This thesis is at the center of businessman Andrew
Rugasira’s book “A Good African Story: How a small company built a global
coffee brand” that has only just hit the bookshops.
The book is an autobiographical account of the company, Good
African Coffee, which has pooled farmers in the Kasese region, improved their
coffee husbandry practices, processed the coffee for the pallets of western consumers
and in the process not only won Uganda pride of place in South Africa, UK and
the US but also raised incomes in the coffee growing hills of Kasese.
What you see is the finished product or at least a very far
cry from the early days of trudging up hills in Bugisu and Kasese to win over skeptical
farmers. Farmers who had seen many city types come talk a good game and once
they got what they want either not live up to the bargain or leave them high
and dry altogether.
The UK educated Rugasira is an unlikely champion of the
rural farmer, born into privilege in Uganda’s post-independence middle class,
he probably never spent a day with hoe and panga, but his studies in political
economy and his father’s entrepreneurial experience, raised questions that
demanded answers.
In a nutshell, why is Africa poor?
He took over his father’s chalk factory, made forays into
the world of event management and media buying, but the question continued to
nudge at his soul.
It is a tale of how, he gets his eureka moment, bets
everything including his reputation, tries to sell coffee to the queen, hobnobs
with the masters of the universe, battles his own self-doubt and fights to win
the most cynical over to his cause.
It is an inspiring account
of what it means to dream big and pay the price.
And the price has been steep, from outright derision at his
efforts, confidence sapping rejection, nauseating patronizing by the potential
buyers of his coffee and the many days and nights when all the company had to
keep it going was a hope and a prayer.
Thankfully there were also instances of divine providence,
touching support and tear jerking saved-from-the-cliff moments when the vision
almost died before it got started.
But all these things are embedded in a context.
Rugasira explores the Uganda’s colonial legacy to explain
why things are the way they, describes the bureaucratic impediments to development,
the sabotage of well-meaning actors and even has some thoughts on what has to
be done to redress the situation so the continent can live up to its full
potential.
Rugasira says the story is not nearly over, the ten-year old
company still has many more mountains to surmount before it can be a true celebration
of African resilience. The story needed to be told up to this point he says, if
only to inspire others to make the journey.
The major shortcoming of the book is that it is a book about
a company with little detail about what drives the man and sets him apart.
A potential academic yawner has been turned into an engaging
read, the heavy theory peppered with jaw dropping, often times hilarious but
always thought provoking, accounts of Rugasira’s struggle to get onto the
supermarket shelves of the western world.
Written as a story it is a must read for anyone who wants to
understand why Africa is the way it is, what it is going to take to pull us out
of the morass, but it is also a simple book to inspire the soul and strengthen
the spirit.
*The book is available in all major bookshops around Kampala
