NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

A compassionate Ugandan coffee farmer, Joseph Nkandu was born and grew up on a coffee farm. He founded and serves as executive director of the National Union of Coffee Agribusinesses and Farm Enterprises (NUCAFE). The coffee value chain organization includes 200 coffee farmer enterprises as cooperatives, associations and hubs with 200,521 coffee farming families. Nkandu is widely known for his compassionate innovation of the farmer ownership model and strong advocacy for inclusive coffee policies. He has nurtured NUCAFE as a farmer organization and exporter of specialty coffee currently enabling farmers to directly export coffee and participate in global markets.

Nkandu is also well known for promoting agribusiness entrepreneurship and innovations in higher education institutions through building university, industry and research consortia that have led to the establishment of Uganda’s largest agribusiness incubator that empowers students and graduates to acquire appropriate skill sets along agricultural value chains. He founded the agribusiness incubator (CURAD) with two factory spinoffs and 50 startups that have created over 3,000 jobs for young people.

Nkandu holds a bachelor of science degree in agriculture from the Ugandan Makerere University and a master of business administration (MBA) in social entrepreneurship from the Italian Catholic University of Milan.