In August, 2009, one of UMPGL’s biggest and earliest supporters, Marsha Wulff, managing director of Africeuticals—a US-based high growth business that strengthens Africa’s private health sector with certified human and veterinary products and services. These are developed, sourced, manufactured, branded, and/or distributed in Africa—took a step forward by being one of the first independent investors to back UMPG operations.
During her inaugural visit with the UMPG board of directors in Masindi, Uganda, Miss Wulff announced that she would purchase a motorcycle, or “boda boda,” to help the board mobilize things faster, more efficiently and eliminate the expensive reliance on public transportation for company work.
During her meeting with the board, Miss Wulff also announced an initial injection of cash to the organization that would kickstart moringa collection activities. UMPG has so far bought almost 10 metric tons of moringa seeds from directly from farmers in the Masindi, Pacwatch, and Nebi districts in Northern Uganda. UMPG hopes to scale the collection activities to at least 25 metric tons per month over the next 18 months.
“The more farmers we have participating in the program, the more product we collect. The more we collect, the easier it is for us to meet delivery capacity that UMPG’s customers demand,” said TMS Ruge, senior project manager at Project Diaspora, “Miss Wulff’s investment means we can quickly scale our operations over the next few months and into next year.”
UMPG buys directly from the farmers and does not use any middle-men to perform it’s collection duties. This maximizes the income paid to each participating farmer.
Africeuticals will also take an active role—in partnership with Project Diaspora—in business development, brand building, large-scale customer acquisition and retention, and, product development.
UMPG is a project managed under Project Diaspora.
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