Opportunity Mannya Transformation Services
also trading as Mannya Coffee
www.mannyacoffee.org
Background
• Located at Mannya Parish, Kifamba sub-county, Rakai District
• Opened in 2019
• The area largely comprises of lowlands with fertile loam soils, except hilly areas of Nabbunga village
• Area was badly affected by HIV/AIDS. Poverty and illiteracy levels still high in the community
• Factory donated by St. Bernard’s Parish Belmont Vic. Australia to transform and empower Mannya community through coffee growing and value addition
Vision of the company
• The company was formed to improve the social –economic status of Mannya community
• The company aims to increase holding of coffee, target is at least one acre (1000 coffee trees) per household by 2026
• Improve sustainability in families, institutions e.g. St. Bernard's Mannya Health Centre, and schools
• Encourage the youth to participate in the cultivation of coffee
• Create more employment opportunities at the factory.
• Reduce the number of school drop-outs
• Promote sustainable coffee cultivation
What we do
• Nursery bed. We provide quality coffee seedlings at affordable terms
• Hulling Robusta coffee into Fair Average Quality (FAQ)
• Coffee value addition (Roasted and ground Coffee). We produce very good blend of roasted and ground coffee
• Provision of extension services to farmers. We currently have 14 registered farmer groups with 347 active members
• Input financing. We extend advances to farmers to finance inputs (this is still at a very limited scale due to financing and recovery challenges)
Company Structure
• Ownership: St. Luke Mannya Parish 90%, Masaka Diocese 10%
• 3 business lines; Nursery bed, Coffee Hulling, Roasted and ground coffee
• Company is led by the Parish Priest as the MD and a Board comprising of five members
• Capital structure: Original financing was through donations
• Power. Company uses a generator to run its machines
• Customers. Mainly small-scale coffee farmers in Mannya village
• Competition. Main competitors are the exporters (Kasaali farmer’s co-operative society and Kyagalanyi Coffee limited)
1. Coffee Hulling
• Contributes over 90% of turnover.
• One main season (May-August) and a fly season (October – December)
• The main season contributes over 70% of annual turnover and requires
about 200M in working capital
Picture: generator house & factory
• Dry FAQ processing
• Use of Brazilian made Pinhalense machine
• Production capacity is 1000 to 1500 Kg /hour
• Runs on a generator (which is costly)
• Competition is very high. Company has to offer competitive prices and
prompt payment
• This requires reasonable amounts of working capital
• Customer royalty is key (advances to farmers in form of seedlings and inputs)
• Recent customers include exporters like NUCAFE, Kyagalanyi Coffee and LDC plus local middlemen
• Requires storage facilities for stocking up during peak season (target is to have more stores by 2026)
Transportation of FAQ (Fair Average Quality)
• Transportation of FAQ in big volumes is a big challenge
• Company lacks in-house transport means
• Outsources from competitors and private operators which is risky and costly
• This limits us from access to the good buyers in Kampala
• Reliability on competitor trucks especially during peak seasons untenable
• Our no.3 priority is to have our own transport means by the end of 2025
Working Capital
• The company lacks working capital.
• Required working capital for purchase of FAQ should be at least 200M
• Current working capital is around 60M Uganda Shillings
• About 20M of this working capital is held in advances to farmers
• With this level of funding, it is hard to provide competitive prices
• Stocking up of coffee during peak seasons also becomes impossible.
• Reliance on short-term borrowing from informal sources (traders and middlemen) which attract huge costs and terms
2. Nursery bed
• Was mainly formed to provide a linkage to the community and sustain FAQ supply
• Constituted 5% (about Ugx. 49Million) of company revenue in 2021/2022
• Community purchases quality seedlings at affordable costs
• Farmers can buy on credit and pay later (maximum 2 years)
• This ties up more capital and requires mores funding to sustain
• Current stock is about 30,000 seedlings for the September planting
and another 70,000 prepared for the 2024 September planting
Nursery Bed
• Current structure is old and an urgent needs for new one
• Current capacity is 100,000 seedlings
• New structure to hold at least 130,000 seedlings
• Requires about 15M to construct
3. Roasted and ground Coffee
• Value addition arm of the company
• Contributed less than 1% of company revenue in 2021/2022
• Area is still struggling and still requires substantial investment in marketing,
branding and distribution
• Hampered by the lack of coffee laboratory
• Packaging machinery still required
The Coffee Roasting Machine
Key priority areas in to address (2023-2026)
• Construction of Nursery bed (2023)
• Construction of coffee laboratory and offices (2023)
• Investment in marketing and distribution of roasted coffee, including purchase of distribution van (2024)
• Obtain export license (2024)
• Connection to hydroelectricity power grid; generator is very expensive and unsustainable (2024)
• Purchase of delivery truck (12 – 15 tons); 2025
• Construction of extra store (2026)
Conclusion
Every journey begins with a single step!
We are looking forward to sustain Mannya Parish through this coffee project.
Thank you, St. Bernard’s Parish Belmont, for your continuous support.
May God bless you.
Fr Emmanuel
