The JBNU-established Korea Agri-business Innovation Center (K-ABIC) in Uganda will partner with Uganda Martyrs University to strengthen youth agribusiness entrepreneurship capacity and foster a sustainable business ecosystem.

The Korea Agri-business Innovation Center and Uganda Martyrs University announced on the 15th that they recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding at Uganda Martyrs University to support youth entrepreneurship and agribusiness innovation.

The agreement was designed to systematically support the growth of Ugandan youth entrepreneurs by combining JBNU’s expertise in agriculture, food, economics, and international development cooperation, K-ABIC’s experience in start-up incubation and project support, and Uganda Martyrs University’s education and research capabilities.

Under the agreement, the two institutions will jointly implement entrepreneurship capacity-building training for youth and prospective entrepreneurs, collaborative research and program operations in the agribusiness sector, incubation and business acceleration for start-ups, and support for linking technology, management, and market access.

They will in particular cooperate to expand youth entrepreneurs’ resource-mobilization capacity and access to finance by utilizing the Korean-style Village Savings and Loan Association (VSLA).

The institutions plan to establish practical support systems so that young people can develop agriculture beyond primary production into agribusinesses encompassing processing, distribution, and services. They will operate staged programs — including entrepreneurship education and mentoring, product development, market research, financial management, and finance-linkage programs — to support the independence and growth of youth agribusiness enterprises.

This collaboration will be carried out in connection with the "Strengthening Capacity for Youth Agribusiness Development in Uganda (SCADU)" project, which JBNU has been implementing since 2023 with support from the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA).

K-ABIC, established as part of the SCADU project, has provided education and incubation, business consulting, technical support, and financial linkage services to young entrepreneurs, contributing to the establishment of an agribusiness start-up support system in Uganda.

Professor Choi Jong-san, project leader of the SCADU project (Department of Food Distribution, JBNU), said, "This agreement is significant because it represents cooperation between a Ugandan university and K-ABIC, which was established with Korean ODA support, to connect Ugandan youth potential to agribusiness start-ups and job creation. We will create a foundation that allows youth agribusiness enterprises to grow sustainably by organically linking education, research, incubation, and finance."

He added, "We will actively support Ugandan youth so they can solve local agricultural problems on their own and create new business opportunities in the process."