Stanbic Bank and Buganda Kingdom launch Ssemaduuka to transform coffee farming
On Monday, February 23, 2026, a solution began to take shape. Stanbic Bank Uganda, in partnership with the Buganda Kingdom, officially launched Ssemaduuka, a one-stop agricultural business centre designed to expand access to structured credit, strengthen SACCOs, and formalise coffee value chains across the Kingdom.
For Frank Nyanzi, a 57-year-old coffee farmer from Madudu Sub-county, Mubende District, the past decade has been marked by frustration and dwindling harvests. Prolonged dry spells, rising temperatures, and persistent pests like coffee wilt disease and coffee berry borer beetles have steadily reduced yields, squeezing household incomes and undermining a once-reliable livelihood.
“We have been trying our best to manage our farms, but we have been limited by a lack of long-term, reliable financing. We struggle to invest in irrigation and often buy substandard inputs,” Nyanzi said.
On Monday, February 23, 2026, a solution began to take shape. Stanbic Bank Uganda, in partnership with the Buganda Kingdom, officially launched Ssemaduuka, a one-stop agricultural business centre designed to expand access to structured credit, strengthen SACCOs, and formalise coffee value chains across the Kingdom.
The initiative, implemented through the Buganda Cultural and Development Foundation (BUCADEF), links farmer SACCOs to financing, farm inputs, aggregation centres, digital payments, and export markets, creating a fully integrated agricultural ecosystem.
Speaking at the launch in Mayors Gardens, Mubende Municipality, Tunde Thorpe, Head of Business and Commercial Banking at Stanbic Bank, described Ssemaduuka as a shift from fragmented agricultural support to a structured economic partnership.
“Ssemaduuka allows us to finance the entire value chain—from inputs to export. It strengthens SACCO governance, improves farmer productivity, formalises payments, and expands access to markets. This is ecosystem banking designed to deliver measurable impact,” Thorpe said.
Robert Waggwa Nsibirwa, Second Deputy Premier (Katikkiro) and Minister for Finance, Investments, Planning, and Economic Development in the Buganda Kingdom, described Ssemaduuka as transformative for household incomes and agricultural modernization.
“Wealth will not find you in your house; it finds you in the garden. Agriculture is the backbone of our people’s prosperity. Initiatives like this are planting a future where every household is self-reliant,” Nsibirwa said, urging residents to embrace the program.
Ssemaduuka aligns with Stanbic’s Positive Impact Agenda, which promotes financial inclusion, enterprise-led job creation, infrastructure strengthening, climate resilience, and corporate philanthropy, with a focus on women, youth, and farmers. Research indicates that over 70% of PEWOSA SACCO members are women, reinforcing the program’s role in supporting inclusive growth and women-led enterprises.
For farmers like Nyanzi, the initiative offers renewed optimism. “With better access to quality inputs, organised markets, and financing, I believe we can recover and grow again,” he said.
The model operates through BUCADEF recommending qualifying SACCOs for banking support, after which Stanbic assesses and extends structured credit facilities. Farmers will access inputs via Masaza stores, while produce will be aggregated and linked to organised buyers. All transactions will be digitized through Stanbic’s One Farm platform, supporting trade finance solutions and export flows.
As Stanbic Bank Uganda approaches 35 years of operations in 2026, this partnership underscores the bank’s purpose: “Uganda is our home, we drive her growth.” By integrating financing, technology, and market access, Ssemaduuka aims to transform coffee farming from a vulnerable subsistence activity into a resilient, commercially viable enterprise, offering farmers like Nyanzi a more secure and profitable future.
