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| Dear Friends, | |||
We have finally released our very first newsletter; it has been a long time in the works, and my sincere thanks go to the huge number of subscribers who registered on our website and have waited patiently for this dayThis inaugural newsletter is a celebration of our most important milestone in the Good African journey to date. On the 17th of July 2009, we launched our very own roasting and packing factory in Kampala, Uganda. |
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The significance of this milestone cannot be understated. For centuries, African economies have been exporting unprocessed raw materials and allowing importing countries in the developed world to do the processing and so keep the lions’ share of the added value from processing. This practice has left the great majority of African countries producers of raw materials that they do not consume, and consumers of finished goods that they did not produce.Our roasting plant in Uganda not only addresses our commitment to capturing the full value addition of our coffee exports locally, but also enables us to employ local staff, and empower our farmers and their communities in a meaningful and sustainable way. |
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 Advocacy for Trade led development in Africa is a key issue for us at Good African because there are many well intentioned but misguided friends of Africa who argue that more aid is the solution to Africa’s problems. We could not disagree more. What Africa needs is trade and not handouts.Trade enables people to develop a sense of ownership and pride in the fruits of their labour, innovation and hard work. Aid, on the other hand, stifles creativity and leads to chronic dependency. Worst of all, handouts undermine the dignity of those who receive them. When I talk of aid I am not referring to the humanitarian assistance that goes to disasters and other tragedies but the aid that goes to government treasuries and the plethora of development NGOs. |
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I appreciate the realities of Africa's challenges, and I have no intention of obscuring them; however, a cursory review of global economic history will show that no nation has ever developed through handouts. Only the harnessing of the entrepreneurial spirit of their people by opening up trade opportunities will Africa develop. So buying African goods and especially those produced in Africa is surely the most sustainable way of impacting the livelihood of its people.For the last five years, your support in buying our coffee and encouraging us through your letters and emails has been crucial to helping us reach this milestone. Thank you for standing with us. We count on you to continue supporting us and telling your family, friends and workmates about our coffees and to also challenge the supermarkets that do not stock our products to do so. |
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| As consumers, your voice counts the most. Please use it and let us show the world that a small African company that started out with very little money could grow on the back of consumer support and bring quality products to the global market and use trade as a vehicle for transforming their farmers and communities. If you enjoy our products please let us know, also if for some reason you are not satisfied, please write to me at ceo@goodafrican.com, and tell me where we are going wrong and how you think we can improve. To those of you who have taken the time to write to me, I really appreciate hearing from you, and have been deeply touched by your encouragement. Some of you have written to say that our products are not available in certain supermarkets or even countries. Please write to your local supermarkets and encourage them to list our products. We are currently in discussions with distributors in the United States of America and Australia to have our products available in those markets. I will be writing to you regularly to keep you updated with events and developments in the Company. |
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I look forward to hearing from you.Kind regards Andrew Rugasira Founder/CEO PS: Please visit our redesigned website at www.goodafrican.com |
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