The Consortium for Enhancing University Responsiveness to Agribusiness Development (CURAD Incubator) is a public-private partnership initiative promoted by Makerere University, the National Union of Coffee Agribusinesses and Farm Enterprises (NUCAFE), and the National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO).
The consortium aims to create opportunities for talented, innovative and entrepreneurial young people to commercialise innovations and technologies generated by the agricultural research institutes and universities. It focuses on boosting jobs and income creation within the agricultural sector in Uganda, with a special focus on empowering youth. CURAD supports students, graduates, both skilled and unskilled, start-ups and SMEs to grow and develop their business ideas along specified value chains.
Since its inception, the business support organization (BSO) has supported 420 youth-led start-ups and SMEs, of which 155 are female-led enterprises and 45 are student enterprises. This has resulted in the creation of over 6,340 jobs, 291 internships and benefiting 21,303 households. The start-ups have also generated UGX. 2.04 billion of revenue. Moreover, CURAD Incubator has commercialised over five innovations, in coffee and other agriculture products, from Makerere University and NARO.
Due to its successes, CURAD was voted best incubator in the African Agribusiness Incubators Networks (AAIN) in 2015.
