Agriculture placed me where I am today - Katusabe

In 2001, when her parents made the painful decision to pull Justine Nayiga Katusabe out of school, after she completed her Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) examinations, her dream of becoming a medical doctor or a nurse was shattered. Life seemed to be over. Or so she thought.

Today, though, the resident of Kyerima Cell in East Division, Mubende Municipality, in Mubende district, is a farmer, teacher, and entrepreneur. The CEO of Katusabe Investments Limited, is a headteacher at St Jude Primary School and the director of her own school, Top Cream Junior School in Mubende Municipality.Katusabe, who owns a produce store, a farm supplies shop, and four inputs stores, says her interest in farming was sparked by necessity.

“My parents were small-scale farmers. It was the only means of survival we had. However, I have obtained certificates in agriculture and the safe use of agrochemicals. I have since adopted mechanised agriculture to add value to my produce,” she explains.

Katusabe employs 46 agents working in different districts. She has also given jobs to several youths, who work as planters, weeders, and sprayers. They earn up to Shs30,000 a day.As a model farmer, she trains farmers on financial literacy, planting for the export market, and how to fight pests and diseases. In collaboration with non-governmental organisations, she has held training sessions countrywide.

“My first training was under Feed the Future Uganda, which had a Commercial Production and Marketing project. (CPM). I used the skills I acquired from that training to train other farmers. Later, village agents started following me because they realised that we are doing a lot in the agricultural sector," she says.

Last year, Sasakawa Africa Association, an organisation that works with smallholder farmers in different parts of the country, contracted her to train commercial community-based facilitators in various types of farming.“The commercial community-based facilitators model intends to enhance the sustainability and profitability of agricultural extension services,” she explains.

The Prime Minister of Uganda, Robinah Nabbanja also offered Katusabe free airtime on her Kakumiro-based radio station to sensitise farmers on agricultural issues every week.“We have challenges with the land tenure system in my area, which specifically locks out youths and women. That is why I have machines in my produce store to add value to the little we are producing. I want to stop the habit of selling maize grain. A kilo of maize grain costs at Shs700 yet a kilo of maize flour goes for Shs3,000,” she says.

Besides the flour, the farmer also gets feed for domestic animals as a by-product of milling the maize grain. Katusabe plans to add value to the coffee that she purchases from farmers.

“We have a maize dryer which dries maize to a 13.5 moisture content in four hours, a coffee pulper, and a maize sheller. The produce store can hold 200 metric tonnes of produce. I have bought land to expand the business because, with time, I will build a factory for processing and value addition,” she says.

The genesis

Born in 1985, the entrepreneur is the firstborn in a peasant family of 12 children. Their only source of income was what they earned from selling the vegetables they grew, such as tomatoes and cabbage.

“At first, the money to educate me was available, but when my siblings began studying, the expenses became too high for my parents to afford. But, they persisted and took me through secondary school,” she recalls.

Although Katusabe wanted to become a doctor or a nurse, the school she attended, Mubende Citizens Secondary School, did not have a science laboratory. In 2001, after Senior Four, her parents compelled her to drop out of school to give her siblings a chance at education.

“I felt sad. My mother comforted me with promises that if we ever got money, I would resume my education. My father gave me an acre of land, part of the land he was renting, and I planted maize and beans. I did not think of getting married because my parents counseled me against it,” she says.

During the harvest season, Katusabe earned Shs200,000 from two trucks of maize grain. From the sale of her produce, she helped her parents to educate her siblings.

“I began mobilising other farmers to create a collective market for the traders who bought produce from us. One trader paid me a commission to collect produce for him. He enrolled me in several trainings, and I became his quality assurance manager,” she recalls.

The trader had several agents like Katusabe, but what made her stand out was that she expanded her scope of work to source produce in other villages as well.

“I started demonstration gardens on his behalf and trained other agents to work for him. That is when I began noticing the unemployment of the youths and women. This compelled me to establish my own company and hire these people,” she says.

Using her savings, Katusabe rented a room in a budding trading centre in Mijunwa Ward, Western Division, along Kakumiro Road. This serves as her produce store. She also established four agro-input shops in Mubende and Kakumiro districts to save farmers from buying fake inputs.

"I realised that wherever there is a challenge, there is an opportunity of making money. I provide services from pre-production to consumption of maize, beans, and coffee. Today, I serve more than 24,000 farmers and 46 agents," she notes.

Katusabe’s agents deliver agricultural inputs and services such as seeds and fertilisers to farmers. They also plant and spray the farmers’ crops at a fee. She charges between Shs80,000 and Shs100,000 per acre of land.

From the proceeds of her work, she helped her father purchase the 25 acres of land he was renting from an absentee landlord. She has also acquired seven additional acres of land on which she has planted maize and coffee plantations.

Venturing Out
As Katusabe started her company, she also decided to resume her education. In 2007, she studied a Grade Three teacher’s course at Busubizi Primary Teachers College in Mityana District. She studied part-time while juggling her businesses.

She later enrolled in Mutesa I Royal University, where she pursued a diploma and degree in Education, majoring in Agriculture. She also obtained a certificate in Agriculture and Safe Use of Agro-chemicals.

“I plan to go back for a Master’s degree and a PhD because I want to be called a ‘doctor.’ I am committed, hardworking, and have a sound mind. I can adapt to everything capable of positively impacting my life, that of my family, and the community,” she says.

In 2018, Katusabe set up Top Cream Junior School, a primary school, to provide an opportunity for children of needy parents to access education and contribute to efforts intended to improve literacy levels in her community. About 150 pupils are currently enrolled in this school.

“Some farmers I deal with have money but do not want to pay school fees for their children. So, when buying their produce, I deduct the school fees from their payment. But I am not after money because I am educating some orphans as well. Our literacy levels are still low, yet we need our people to access education,” she observes.

The school employs eight teachers and three support staff. The entrepreneur advises Ugandans to engage in commercial farming since agriculture is the backbone of the economy.

“I call on the government to support people engaged in commercial agriculture, especially those adding value to the produce,” she says.

Katusabe also owns a beautiful home in an upscale neighbourhood of Mubende Municipality, where she lives with her five biological children and five orphans she is taking care of.

Her eldest daughter, following in her mother's footsteps, is pursuing a diploma in Agriculture at Bukalasa Agricultural College in Wobulenzi Town Council, Luweero District.

To expand her produce business, she recently constructed a warehouse worth Shs75 million, with a capacity of more than 200 metric tonnes. She also purchased four more acres of land where she plans to grow coffee and Irish potatoes.

Unlocking the Potential of Women Entrepreneurs
Across the globe, many countries are seeking to accelerate economic growth by leveraging their dynamic and large youth populations to achieve a demographic dividend. Yet one challenge these countries often face is that wage employment opportunities are not expanding fast enough to provide sufficient high-quality jobs for these youths.

In such contexts, entrepreneurship can help countries better leverage the productive potential of the youth bulge, support job creation, and maintain social stability. On average, women-owned micro-enterprises in Uganda generate 30 percent lower profits than their male counterparts.

Evidence from across Sub-Saharan Africa demonstrates that the following interventions can help empower women entrepreneurs:

Psychology-based training focused on developing a growth-oriented mindset, which can boost innovation and the profits of enterprises, and has proven to be more effective than standard business training.

Larger volumes of financing, which have a more transformational impact on enterprise growth than the micro-financing that women typically access.

Loan products less reliant on collateral, enabling women with few assets to borrow more to invest in their businesses.

Secure savings mechanisms, including mobile banking, which give women greater control and allow them to separate business from household finances.

Support for women to cross over into more profitable male-dominated sectors, as women-owned Ugandan enterprises that do so earn, on average, twice the profits of those that do not.

Source: Unlocking the Potential of Women Entrepreneurs in Uganda, World Bank Document.
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Editorial Team
General Manager Editorial: Daniel Kalinaki
Acting Managing Editor: Allan Chekwech
Editor, Sustainability Hub: Gillian Nantume
Features Editor: Caesar Karuhanga Abangirah
Contributor: Jane Nafula