ANDREW RUGASIRA AND THE GOOD AFRICAN STORY THAT ENDED TOO SOON

How many people remember The Good African Story? Andrew Rugasira and his unbelievable surmounting of odds to build, in Good African Coffee, a brand that was recognizable in Africa and beyond; to being the first African company to have its products listed in supermarkets in the United Kingdom. More importantly, he built a socially-conscious enterprise that was so economically ethical that his coffee farmers prospered with him. He took advantage of no one. He helped a struggling sector that had been looted by middlemen and returned it to decency. Every single profit that came out of his company was a testament to the desperation that the sector was dying to be saved from- and he did. The profit he made from his venture was hardly a thing he had to make, but it naturally flowed over to him; it was a mutual exchange of value between him and the coffee industry. Everything was so right. How could anything go wrong? And yet it did.

In Uganda, and indeed in Africa, to maintain one’s success, one has got to put in extra work to remain at the top. It has nothing at all to do with the environment in its plain sense, but the mental environment of people. If ever you get to the top in Africa, you have got a lot more to watch out for, you have got to do everything alone, because the fact of the matter is, no one thinks like you do. It is hard to have anybody to confide in. In Africa, it really is not just lonely at the top; you’re the only one there. It is a nightmare.

I had followed the story of Andrew Rugasira for a while. I did not know much about business or companies but I was inspired by the man and how he had successfully prospered in this land. Life then happened and one day, I just realized that I was not hearing about Good African Coffee anymore so I went and made a Google search about Andrew Rugasira.

It turns out that the company had had a couple of problems which had forced it to eventually shut down. Now like I earlier said, I do not know much about companies but I sure do know about myself and, being empathic and a little something about being humane. I could not believe that Good African Coffee had gone down without a fight; that as a matter of fact, we had rained blows on the company and Mr. Rugasira while he was already down. We all actually just looked on when Good African Coffee was falling apart and nobody lifted a finger to get it standing.

Individuals did not, companies did not and government did not. No one thought for a minute the impact of the Good African Story. No one thought for a second the life-transformation that had been caused by the existence of Good African Coffee. No one thought about the farmers that had chosen to trust Mr. Andrew Rugasira. They must have been confused by the turn of events and the unfamiliar realization that their lives would now return to how it had always been as quickly as it had changed for the better.

I am confident that these farmers would have loved to help, but what help could they probably hand to their own savior? I am confident that if they understood the dynamics of business and company law and all such formalities that bind business they would have laid down everything to ensure that Good African Coffee and the Good African Story lives. But they did not know anything. They were only humble farmers who chose to trust this gentleman who kept his word and bought their coffee ton after ton, day after day at a price that no one ever believed would even be possible. Ethical business is actually a thing but how could a man who had got everything nearly right just vanish from right in front of our eyes? How could one man’s legacy rise and fall so fast?

Now, let me divert a bit from Mr. Andrew Rugasira and share my number one pain in Uganda: Media. At the time when I was making a Google search on Mr. Andrew Rugasira, I was in the separation phase of my relationship with Ugandan media. I could not stand their shitty reporting, lack of depth and terrible, pretentious expression. (Ugandan media, there is an intense contempt of your readership and viewership to think that you can just serve up anything and feed it to your loyal readers and viewers. This is disgusting. Even in veterinary medicine, we know to treat and feed animals right so that we get the best of the products that we need from them). Can you imagine the legacy of Rugasira, a man like him -one Google search and I land on a shittily written news article reporting about the company’s failure, almost celebrating it? This article, after reporting un-empathetically and in salacious tabloid style concludes that Mr. Rugarisa’s business had “failed” because he was having “psychological torture” as a result of his divorce from his wife. Just pause and think about that. Imagine an investor somewhere in the world looking to research about this company to invest in it, and this is what he reads?

It is sad to say, but this is actually how many people I encounter in my daily life think. Their minds and way of thinking is just so small that I often find being by myself more preferable. Even without ever meeting the man, I actually understand Mr. Rugasira and his troubles instinctively. I honestly did try to read about him, but I did not find much and neither did our media offer it. All I read were mostly his troubles and it was so heartbreaking to see that these were written about more gleefully and more frequently than his accomplishments, exploits, business disruption, methods and systems were ever written about. It seemed that whoever was writing lacked the emotional and mental capacity; the perception to process the vastness and complexity of Mr. Rugasira’s being and his initiative. More morbidly, it seemed they derived a certain enjoyment from seeing the man fail.

And this is where I worry for young people trying to get anything done in our time. I feel that Mr. Andrew Rugasira erred in thinking that just because he had developed a business model in which both the businessman and the community prospers, he would be embraced, supported and heralded. He erred in thinking that just because through his initiative he had unlocked the vault to a near infallible system that could be replicated anywhere in any sector in Uganda’s economy and society, he would be celebrated and he would find support. The fact of the matter is, young people, if you are going to do anything of significance in this country ever, you need to understand that you are alone. Pack that and take it home with you. You want support, forget it. You will not get the support that you need and that is okay because your business or initiative will still prosper without it.

The good news is, business is not written in black and white. It is not a static concept but one that is broad and malleable, in which new systems can be developed to beat the challenge of the environment. If you look at the business model of Uber, and the rise of Apps like Tiktok that are new but come up to take up their place besides existing giants like facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and other such apps, you will see that for every challenge that exists in business, there is a business model that exists to bypass it and as history has shown over and over again, it pays highly to solve a problem. So as you grow your business, develop systems around it that shield it from over-reliance on external support.

Please understand that if you are going to create a business that is disruptive in its sector, you will not find support for your business or entrepreneurial venture. You will probably be fighting for the entire life of your business. Accept that and move, because badly as you may need this support, you have got to learn to function without it and you will. That will entail many things including, (which I highly recommend) not getting into media too soon or at all, thereby giving them power to lift you on a pedestal and expose you, and later, when it is convenient for them, tearing you down because in doing both, they bag money to run with to the bank. You never were their interest; only their pockets ever were.

And that, children, is how the Good African Story ended too soon.

Yours truly,

Anna Grace.