Graduate Enterprise Clusters

Producing together, region by region.

A cluster is a group of 20 to 50 graduates in one value chain and area who share equipment, buy inputs together, process jointly and sell under contract. Alone a graduate is small. Together they compete.

Cluster types

Six ways graduates cluster

Production

30 graduates each running 500 to 1,000 layer birds around a shared feed store and egg marketing unit

Value addition

A coffee hulling, grading and roasting unit owned by 25 graduates sourcing from 500 farmers

Service

A fabrication, solar installation and equipment repair hub

Knowledge and digital

A digital services hub serving SMEs and local governments

Tourism

Eco-lodges, guiding, crafts and transport near a national park

Professional

A shared medical diagnostic centre or law chambers

Where

Priority value chains by region

Kampala MetropolitanFood processing and packaging, ICT, fabrication, urban horticulture, poultry, creative industries, logistics
Central (Masaka, Buganda)Coffee, dairy, poultry, piggery, fish farming, fruit processing, horticulture
BusogaSugarcane value addition, maize and animal feeds, fish farming, rice, poultry
Bugisu and SebeiArabica coffee, Irish potatoes, dairy, bananas, Mount Elgon tourism
Bukedi and TesoCitrus and fruit processing, rice, groundnuts, cassava, cattle and leather
KaramojaLivestock and meat, hides and skins, gum arabic, aloe vera, minerals, sorghum
Acholi and LangoSunflower and soybean oil milling, sesame, shea butter, honey, cattle, rice
West Nile and MadiTobacco alternatives such as coffee, fish, honey, cassava, sesame, cross-border trade services
Ankole and KigeziDairy and milk processing, beef, bananas, potatoes, tea, tourism
Tooro, Bunyoro and RwenzoriTea, dairy, cocoa, coffee, fish, oil and gas local content, tourism

What it takes

Model enterprises

Capital, monthly net income and jobs for model enterprises
Enterprise	Capital	Net a month	Jobs
Layer poultry, 1,000 birds	UGX 32m	UGX 1.6m	3
Piggery, 10-sow breeding unit	UGX 25m	UGX 1.8m	2
Tilapia cage farming, 4 cages	UGX 40m	UGX 2.5m	4
Greenhouse horticulture, 240 m²	UGX 18m	UGX 2m	2
Dairy collection and cooling centre (cluster)	UGX 120m	UGX 7.5m	8
Coffee hulling, grading and roasting (cluster)	UGX 250m	UGX 12m	15
Animal feed mill (cluster)	UGX 180m	UGX 10m	12
Fruit juice processing (cluster)	UGX 80m	UGX 5m	10
Sunflower and soybean oil mill (cluster)	UGX 150m	UGX 9m	12
Fabrication and agro-machinery workshop	UGX 45m	UGX 3m	6
Solar installation and maintenance	UGX 15m	UGX 2m	4
ICT and digital services hub	UGX 20m	UGX 2.5m	5
Tour operation and eco-tourism	UGX 60m	UGX 4m	4
Professional clinic or diagnostic unit	UGX 70m	UGX 4.5m	6

Illustrative estimates, not promises of income. Every loan is appraised on its own business plan. Source: UG-SACCO Comprehensive Proposal, October 2026.

Cluster finance runs through the Agro Value Chain Loan and the Asset and Equipment Finance. Read the story of a model layer poultry enterprise.

Where we aim to be by Year 5

Targets, not results. Source: UG-SACCO Comprehensive Proposal, October 2026.

graduate members: 250,000
graduate-led enterprises supported: 40,000
direct and indirect jobs: ~100,000
Graduate Enterprise Clusters: 300
member savings and shares mobilised: UGX 185bn
campus chapters: 60

Registration in progress. Registration number: Published once issued