Young innovators are increasingly taking advantage of the government’s Science, Technology, and Innovation (STI) policies to tackle poverty and create job opportunities.
Joshua Nsubuga, who is currently pursuing a master’s degree in ICT at ISBAT University, serves as the marketing manager for Eriestero Investments Ltd, a subsidiary of the AGT Group.
This emerging company specializes in the cultivation of fragrant and medicinal crops, enhancing them to produce essential oils, perfumes, and herbal teas, among other products.
In a recent conversation at their headquarters in Buloba, Wakiso district, Nsubuga shared how he partnered with his father, Erostus W.N. Nsubuga, the chairman and CEO of AGT Group, to establish a mini factory utilizing locally developed technologies and innovations. He believes this initiative will significantly contribute to the nation’s economy.
Nsubuga explained that they embraced the government’s STI policy by launching a mini facility that produces a variety of locally made goods, including perfumes, scented candles, blended herbal teas, and leisure shoes. This venture has led to the creation of new job opportunities for the community.
He praised Dr. Monica Musenero Masanza, the Minister of Science, Technology, and Innovation, for her insightful guidance to young graduates, encouraging them to develop their own locally sourced technologies and innovations to enhance their skills and generate income through the available scientific resources.
In terms of job creation, AGT, which includes AGT Foods, AGT Estates, and Eriestero Investments Ltd, employs over 45 young individuals across its plant farms and mini factory.
Notably, Nsubuga highlighted that 60% of these positions are filled by single mothers, addressing the significant economic challenges they face.
The unemployment rate in Uganda held steady at 2.90 percent in 2023, the same as in 2022. Over the years, from 1991 to 2023, the average rate was 3.16 percent. Notably, it peaked at 3.80 percent in 2020 and hit a low of 1.90 percent in 2005, as reported by the World Bank.
Nsubuga noted that AGT is a pioneer among privately owned companies in utilizing biotechnology through tissue culture techniques for micro propagation of different crops on a commercial basis in Uganda.
Since it began operations in 2002, AGT has developed the capability to produce as many as 10 million tissue culture plants each year, depending on the crop variety.
Today, it stands as the largest tissue culture laboratory in the East and Central African region.
“We are currently producing tissue culture plants for banana, coffee, pineapple, Irish potatoes, trees, fragrant and medicine plants of which we are using to process our products at the mini factory,” he noted.
