Tugume Says Coffee City Will Turn Uganda into a Global Coffee Destination

Inspire Africa Group CEO Nelson Tugume says Uganda is positioning itself to become a global coffee destination through the development of the Smart Coffee City, building on the progress already made at the Africa Coffee Park in Ntungamo District.

Speaking on NBS Morning Breeze, Tugume said the project is aimed at shifting Uganda from exporting raw coffee to producing branded, standardised and finished coffee products for international markets.

“Coffee is our heritage. It’s no longer just a cash crop. Coffee is now gold,” Tugume said.

The Africa Coffee Park in Ntungamo was established as a modern processing and value addition centre to support farmers and improve the quality of Ugandan coffee. Tugume said the facility was delivered within two years, highlighting the role of private sector investment in accelerating industrial projects.

“It has taken us about two years to pull off what you have seen at the coffee park. To me, that’s the power of the private sector,” he said.

The planned Coffee City will integrate coffee processing, agro-value addition, tourism, trade and technology within a single ecosystem. The development will include a world-class coffee processing plant, an agro-value addition centre, an IT park, exhibition and convention centres, sports and recreational facilities, a coffee tourism park and a dedicated international coffee airport, which has already broken ground.

Tugume said coffee tourism will be a major pillar of the project, allowing visitors to experience coffee production from the farm to the cup.

“People need to appreciate where coffee is grown. They could go into the shambas and see how coffee is made,” he said.

He added that Uganda has the potential to earn significant revenue by attracting international coffee tourists.

“If we are able to bring even one million coffee tourists into our country, each spending 2,000 dollars, you can easily get two billion dollars,” Tugume said.

Tugume also stressed the need for improved branding and packaging of Ugandan coffee, noting that value addition remains critical to competing on the global market.

“Branding and packaging of coffee is one of the value additions we must do as a country,” he said.

He further encouraged Ugandans to embrace local consumption as part of building a sustainable coffee economy.

“My call to Ugandans is to start consuming our own coffee,” Tugume said.

According to Inspire Africa Group, the Coffee City will be developed on approximately 15,000 acres with an estimated total value of $6.3 billion. The project is expected to generate up to $5.3 billion in annual revenue within five years, positioning Uganda as a regional hub for coffee processing, tourism and trade.

The Africa Coffee Park in Ntungamo remains the first major milestone of the Coffee City vision, serving as a practical example of how technology, value addition and private sector investment can transform Uganda’s coffee industry.