Acumen backs Uganda specialty coffee push as exports hit record highs

Acumen has backed Mountain Harvest in a move that puts fresh capital behind Uganda’s push to win more value from specialty coffee, not just bigger export volumes. The investment, announced on April 7, 2026, comes as Uganda’s coffee story has accelerated from a production milestone into a market-positioning test: can origin-country brands, processing and traceability translate record output into stronger shelf and cafe visibility overseas?

The timing matters. Uganda overtook Ethiopia to become Africa’s largest coffee producer and exporter in May 2025, and the numbers have been climbing fast. In May 2025 alone, the country exported 793,445 60-kilo bags worth US$243.95 million, up 43.59% year on year. For the June 2024 to May 2025 coffee year, exports reached 7.43 million bags and generated about US$2.09 billion, according to the Uganda Coffee Development Authority and the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries.

Mountain Harvest began work on the slopes of Mount Elgon in 2017 and has built its model around high-altitude Arabica, direct sourcing and premium international markets. Acumen said the company works with more than 1,000 smallholder farmers and pays 13% to 37% above market rates. It also said Mountain Harvest provides agronomic training, inputs, microfinance and digital traceability, a package that matters in a country where smallholders carry most of the production risk but often capture only a sliver of the final retail price.

The company’s operating data shows both progress and pressure. Acumen said 59% of Mountain Harvest farmers still live below the living-income benchmark, even as yields have risen from 0.4 to 0.75 kilograms of green coffee per tree. Women account for nearly half of the company’s microfinance recipients, and the business aims to reach 2,600 farmers by 2028 before moving toward sustainable EBITDA profitability by 2029. Acumen said its money will help fund a temperature-controlled warehouse, a dry mill, a color sorter and land acquisition to expand processing capacity.

Kenneth Barigye, Mountain Harvest’s managing director, said the company believes coffee that tastes best in the cup should also provide a living income for farmers. Millycent Aoko, an Acumen investment manager, called the backing “catalytic” for farmer impact, financial sustainability and gender and youth inclusion in Uganda’s coffee sector.

The broader stakes are not limited to one company. Uganda’s coffee sector is under mounting pressure to comply with European Union deforestation-free-product rules, and government and civil-society reporting has said the country has been racing to register up to 1.8 million coffee-farming households for traceability and export access. That makes investments in processing, data systems and farm-level organization more than a private-sector bet. They are the infrastructure of whether Uganda’s specialty coffee can move from origin momentum to lasting market power.