Her journey started in 2015,when she got fed up of using charcoal because it was expensive, smoky and had increased her expenditure. I heard about charcoal made from soil but had not seen anyone make it in Uganda.
Grace Nalugwa is a student of Entreprenuership and Small Business Management at MUBS and is the founder and CEO of Gracela Ventures SMC Limited, a renewable energy business providing carbonized briquettes made from organic waste to households, schools and hotels in Wakiso and Kampala districts as an alternative cooking fuel for charcoal and firewood.
She makes high-quality briquettes made from renewable and sustainable materials such as sawdust, wood chips, and agricultural waste. These briquettes can be used as a fuel source for heating, cooking, and industrial applications and she sells them at an affordable price.
In Today’s fuel reservation and consumption pattern, every country wants to preserve their fossil fuel such as oil, natural gas, coal and wood. Tons of agricultural wastes are generated every year, which are neither destroyed nor burnt efficiently in loose form causing air pollution. These are wastes that Nalugwa recycles to make fuel briquettes.
She explains that Briquette is not only good fuel but is also good for nature, as it only emits that mush of CO2 which is required by the environment for Plants and trees.
Her journey started in 2015,when she got fed up of using charcoal because it was expensive, smoky and had increased her expenditure as she shares her story.
I heard about charcoal made from soil but had not seen anyone make it. Fortunately, I won the 2016 PAKASA Award as the best rural female awardee and one of the benefits was an entrepreneurship training in South Korea. While in Korea, I ate food at a restaurants that used briquettes to prepare and serve food on the table, I was impressed for i hadn’t heard or seen of it before.
On return, I googled and learnt how to make them and in 2019, I registered my business with URSB.
I am addressing access to clean affordable and durable cooking fuel which is affecting over 90% of Uganda’s population. I have got partners who have supported the business to grow.
I participated in the 2020 Waste to Value Accelerator Program for East Africa as one of the five selected startups and got technical support from Intellecap Africa-Nairobi and Bestseller Foundation Denmark who are still moving the journey with me.
Renewable Energy Business Incubator Limited enrolled us in their accelerator program and also provided technical support in terms of business development, quality production and all partners funded the business.
I participated in the 2022 Mandela Washington Fellowship in USA where I got partners with whom we are developing new ideas like production
of own packaging material from banana fiber. We hope to grow and serve farmers by providing them with 100% organic seed packages to reduce on the use of plastic material which degrades the environment.
Through her briquettes business Nalugwa has provided employment to people in her community
I was selected for the 2023 Jim Leech Mastercard Fellowship which has developed my skills to the same. I have been selected also to participate in the 2024 One Young World Summit in Montreal, Canada where I hope to get more knowledge to grow the business, get potential investors to scale and
partnerships. I hope to employ more youth and promote SDGs 1,2,3,5,7 and 13.
In February 2024, I got a grant from Australian Aid to conduct a project of promoting Cassava Value Chain as an adaption to climate change. Cassava
is a binder for briquettes and I want to promote its farming on a large scale. I am working with ISO Farmers from Nakaseke, Luwero and Nakasongola.
I am privileged to have participated in the MUBS Mentorship program and being the President for the MUBS Entrepreneurship Students Association (MUESA) gave me a platform to practice my leadership skills.
Working with the Entrepreneurship Lecturers to train a group of 10 students who have all come up with business ideas, and one of them was able to participate in the Climate Launch Pad – a green business idea competition where I am a beneficiary.
Special thanks to the MUBS fraternity; Prof. Ernest Abaho, Dr. Christopher Kusemererwa, Dr. Edith Basalirwa, the Dean, Faculty of Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management. Mentorship & Consultancy (M&C) Coordinator, Ms. Maureen Mukhoda for the tireless efforts and all the Department team and Lecturers.
I appreciate the Ag. Principal, Prof. Moses Muhwezi in a special way for accepting M&C program and rolling it out as a MUBS program because it will reduce the rate of unemployment among MUBS graduates, and promoting creativity and innovation among the youth.