“It has been my dream since 1996, to make fresh juice from fresh fruits. I remember I used to use a kettle to boil the juice, process it and used a wheelbarrow to transport it to Kikuubo for marketing.”
Hers is a story of grit and single-minded focus at its deepest core and an attestation to the age-old adage ‘Do not despise small beginnings. Great things come out of small starts!’
Dr Julian Omalla Adyeeri started Delight Limited Uganda with $100, a kettle and a wheelbarrow. Today, her company whose flagship product is ‘Cheers’ juice is valued at over $4billion and employs over 1,000 Ugandans. She owns the first fruit manufacturing plant in the country, a fruits farm in Nwoya District sitting on 1,700 acres of land and a Farm Institute with a housing capacity of 400 occupants per day.
Julian has been the recipient of several prestigious awards such as the 2020 UN Inclusive Business award, and the 2018 Commonwealth Entrepreneur of the Year award, among others. She also sits on several company boards, including the Private-Sector Foundation
Dr Adyeeri talked to us about her entrepreneurial and scale-up journey. Be inspired!
Inspiration
I used to enter the supermarket and find a lot of imported juice brands and I would say to myself, as a woman and a Ugandan, why can’t I set up a juice processing business, where we can work together. I did my feasibility study in Nakasero and once saw twenty lorries of fresh fruits coming from Nairobi. One day, I found eight lorries of Quencher entering Kikuubo. I thought to myself, I can do things better, I can give people employment and empower my fellow women. I was motivated by multi-national companies doing business here.
Formula for success
I have been consistent with my business. I have dedicated my life and full-time concentration to the core of the business, that is, from raising the seedlings at the nursery to processing the juice on the table, basically the entire value chain of the fruit. Also, continued learning and improving the way I do business. These have helped me so much, otherwise, I wouldn’t be where I am today.
Growth strategy
I started my business in 1996, with a dream of processing fresh juice from fresh fruits, locally grown by the community. But because there was no organized farming structure, and I did not have the money to start the factory, I had to start raising the money. I built a hostel in Wandegeya and a housing estate, I did poultry farming and even went to South Sudan to work in a bakery. I had to sell off each and everything to raise money and start this farm. I thank God, it was the best decision I made. Right now, 50% of the fruits are flowering so we have the raw materials.
I also realized that the only way to succeed is to move together. We established a hands-on farm institute, where we bring the community, we skill them in what we do, and then send them back to the community to duplicate this in their homes. I have 4,000 women I work with, with support from the UN women. I also work with 6,000 youth in Nwoya with support from the Private Sector Foundation.
Innovation
I have developed a model called ‘Adyeri’s Model’ that aims to transform the community from subsistence to industrial farming. Initially, most people were used to growing short term crops like cereals and had not looked at industrial farming. So with this model, they will plant on contract, know who they are supplying post harvest, and then we shall do value addition and supply to both the local and international market.
Empowerment
I am a woman who has been empowered by my family and my humble beginning. I believe in investing in communities and working with others. When I set up the farm, I realized had to set up a big nursery to raise seedlings to support women. I can say 8,800 women have planted each, an acre of fruits, that is guava, mangoes, and citrus. I bring them to our Institute where they work in groups of 25. We then identify 4 out of the 25, who we skill and lead through our curriculum. When they go back, we follow them and show them how to implement what they learnt. I do that because it is very fulfilling to support a woman who has no hope to have hope, a woman who can not educate her children, to educate her children and have money in her wallet. It is my joy. I always say, ‘you bless others, you will be blessed’.
Future plans
We are currently working on the farm institute, we have already built 60% of it but are looking at having partnerships with different institutes where we shall have well-experienced professors come to our Institute and skill both the informal and the formal sector so that we can transform the people academically and technologically. We are also inviting partners to come and we do value addition in juice making, drying fruits, oilseeds and cereals. We believe in partnerships because it is the only way that can help us to reach far.
