Andrew Rugasira is a Ugandan businessman and author. He is the author of a book, A good African story: how a small company built a global coffee brand. He is a consummate senior executive, change agent and social entrepreneur. Acknowledged nationally and internationally for groundbreaking efforts in driving large scale change through the development of coffee, tea and chocolate value-chains that generate revenue growth and community transformation.
In 2003, he founded Good African Coffee, the first African-owned coffee brand to be stocked in UK supermarkets and US retailers. In 2007, he was nominated as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. He has won several awards, including the Legatum Pioneers for Prosperity award, and in 2010 was nominated for a Financial Times/ArcelorMittal Boldness in Business award. He was Uganda Coffee Development Authority's, Ugandan Entrepreneur of the Year 2007. He was Uganda's chairman of the Eastern African Fine Coffees Association (EAFCA), a member of Uganda's Presidential Investor Roundtable (PIRT) and sits on the board of Maisha Film Lab. Andrew lives in Kampala.
Good African Coffee has helped thousands of farmers earn a decent living, send their children to school and escape a spiral of debt and dependence. Africa has received over $1 trillion in aid over the last fifty years and yet despite these huge inflows, the continent remains mired in poverty, disease and systemic corruption. In A Good African Story, Andrew Rugasira argues that trade has achieved what years of aid failed to deliver, and has provided a tantalising glimpse of what Africa could be.