PACEID applauds Ugandan wine manufacturer in S. Africa

Matthew Bagonza, the head of the secretariat at Presidential Advisory Committee on Exports and Industrial Development (PACEID), has lauded Ugandan business personalities in South Africa for being innovative.

Bagonza expressed gratitude during a thanksgiving ceremony organised by Ugandans for Moses Badiru Kibombo, the president of the Confederation of Ugandans in Southern Africa (COUSA), held at the Distong cultural museum in Pretoria.

“I am very happy to find that there are Ugandans who are involved in manufacturing and other business ventures in South Africa. I want to thank you,” he said.

Bagonza, among others, singled out youthful entrepreneur, the proprietor of East Wine in Cape Town, Michael Nyanzi, for being an outstanding manufacturer in South Africa.

‘When I reached here, I saw these bottles of East Wine. But what made me so happy is the fact that it is being manufactured by a Ugandan, Michael Nyanzi. This energises us,” Bagonza said.

He added, “When we go back home, we feel proud of Ugandans like Nyanzi for representing Uganda well abroad. Therefore, I need to thank him and other Ugandans out there who are doing a lot of work.”

Bagonza said that during the South Africa-Uganda Business Forum in Pretoria in March 2023, on the sidelines, President Yoweri Museveni met members of Ugandan community and encouraged them to take advantage of warm bilateral relations with South Africa to engage in business and investment opportunities.

“I am happy today, I have witnessed many Ugandans engaging in different productive businesses, including establishing schools, manufacturing, and these are the entrepreneurs who need to be supported,” he said. 

Nyanzi, who has spent 17 years in South Africa and was born in Kawempe in Kampala, expressed gratitude for the recognition of his efforts.

“I started East Wine three years ago, and it is now my job in S. Africa,” he said.

Matthew Bagonza (R), the head of the secretariat at Presidential Advisory Committee on Exports and Industrial Development (PACEID) applauds Michael Nyanzi (L), the proprietor of East Wine for being innovative. This was during a thanksgiving event at Distong cultural museum in Pretoria, South Africa.

He disclosed that East Wine is already a big brand in South Africa and that he started it with the mentality that it is prestigious to take wine the way it is in Uganda, which makes it expensive.

“I made this wine with the intention of making wine affordable to all classes, lower or upper class,” he said.

He added that on top of wine manufacturing, he is into real estate, where he employs both Ugandans and South Africans.

According to the laws of South Africa, you can not only employ Ugandans. I employ about 50, both South Africans and Ugandans.

“Given that it is a business mostly for the whites, as a black person, I encounter many challenges. But I want to thank God for his blessings, things are a bit easier for me,” he said.

He pledged that soon he will extend his business to Uganda with the support, especially from the Ugandan Embassy in South Africa.

“My target is that in the next five years, East Wine is able to cover the whole of African market,” Nyanzi said.

Nyanzi used the occasion to urge government to support his bid to expand to cover the entire market of Africa and beyond.

The Ugandan High Commissioner to South Africa, Paul Amoru, who was the chief guest, disclosed that the Embassy was ready to support all Ugandans in the country and urged them to use it to their benefit.

“The Embassy is your home. If you have not come to your home for many years, think about it. Don’t be discouraged by people who tell you not to visit your Embassy,” he said to the gathering.