Community Development SME enhances market access and revenue through IIA’s upscaling program

The Kyamaganda Community Development Organization (KCDO) was founded to drive community empowerment through enterprise growth. The company focuses on agribusiness, value addition, and marketing of natural products, with a special emphasis on engaging women and youth in these sectors. Despite its noble goals, KCDO faced several challenges that limited its impact and revenue generation. These challenges included poor quality, non-compliance with business regulations, and inadequate raw materials

To address these challenges, KCDO joined the Invest in Africa SME upscaling program, which aimed to upscale manufacturing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in natural products clusters in Kenya and Uganda. The program enrolled 40 SMEs, including KCDO, and provided capacity building and technical support within five modules: good manufacturing practices, new product development, transparency and traceability, access to finance, and market access.

George Willy Bukenya, the Program Director of KCDO, joined the program to develop quality improvement strategies for his company, understand the Ugandan business regulation and certification process, and enhance the company's market base. According to George, one of the main lessons from the program was to revamp the company's stakeholder engagement strategy. He says that the new strategy has been instrumental in enlisting more suppliers to overcome the raw material shortage challenge. By applying the principles of transparency and traceability as recommended in the program, KCDO has ensured quality raw materials and quality products that align with market expectations and needs and regulatory standards.

Through the 'good manufacturing practices and 'market access' modules, KCDO understood the market and regulatory requirements and began the process of obtaining the prerequisite certificates and documents for attaining business compliance. In addition to the new stakeholder engagement strategy, compliance with market regulations has enabled the company to expand its market access and consequently increase revenue and profit margins.

"With the expanded production operations and the enhanced market access, we have employed five more staff into the production and management wings," said George. The company's impact has increased significantly, with more women and youth participating in its programs, more revenue generated, and a greater contribution to community development.

The Invest in Africa SME upscaling program has been instrumental in transforming KCDO's operations and impact. The program provided the necessary skills, knowledge, and resources to help KCDO overcome its challenges and scale its operations. The program's impact goes beyond KCDO, as it has also helped other SMEs in the natural products clusters in Kenya and Uganda to upscale and contribute to economic growth and community development.