The Consortium for Enhancing University Responsiveness to Agribusiness Development (CURAD Incubator) is a public-private partnership initiative promoted by Makerere University, the National Union of Coffee Agribusinesses and Farm Enterprises (NUCAFE), and the National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO).
The consortium aims to create opportunities for talented, innovative and entrepreneurial young people to commercialise innovations and technologies generated by the agricultural research institutes and universities. It focuses on boosting jobs and income creation within the agricultural sector in Uganda, with a special focus on empowering youth. CURAD supports students, graduates, both skilled and unskilled, start-ups and SMEs to grow and develop their business ideas along specified value chains.
Since its inception, the business support organization (BSO) has supported 420 youth-led start-ups and SMEs, of which 155 are female-led enterprises and 45 are student enterprises. This has resulted in the creation of over 6,340 jobs, 291 internships and benefiting 21,303 households. The start-ups have also generated UGX. 2.04 billion of revenue. Moreover, CURAD Incubator has commercialised over five innovations, in coffee and other agriculture products, from Makerere University and NARO.
Due to its successes, CURAD was voted best incubator in the African Agribusiness Incubators Networks (AAIN) in 2015.
TDC support
The support provided by the Trade for Development Centre (TDC) enabled CURAD to significantly enhance its business support services for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) through the incubation model under the “Enhancing Business Support Services and Marketing at CURAD (E-BSSM)” project, implemented from November 15, 2021, to December 31, 2022.
The project achieved full success in its first three objectives:
- The development of five professional business training modules—covering financial management, marketing, business planning, taxation, and governance—that are deliverable both in person and online;
- The training of six CURAD staff members to deliver these modules through physical and e-based formats.
- The acquisition and installation of a server and related ICT infrastructure to host CURAD’s and its incubated MSMEs’ websites and e-trading platforms.
A total of 105 MSMEs were trained through multiple sessions held at universities and districts across Uganda, exceeding the initial target. Additionally, the project supported the development of e-commerce platforms for incubated entrepreneurs and facilitated physical market access through participation in four national expos (including the National Agricultural Show and National Science Week), where five MSMEs were supported to exhibit. An international market linkage visit to Ireland was also conducted to explore export opportunities and best practices in agri-food innovation.
Notably, the project surpassed its targets for increasing trade volumes and incomes among supported MSMEs, achieving a 75% increase against a 50% target. Gender-responsive strategies were integrated, particularly promoting women’s participation in male-dominated value chains such as dairy and coffee.
