In 2020, 3 students met at Makerere University through the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program and started asking a question that most people in their position had already given up on. What do you do for the young people who never make it this far?

1 of the 3 founders, Onapa Ambrose, came from Akokoro in Apac, Northern Uganda, where he had watched farmers grow sweet potatoes on nearly every piece of available land and still walk away with almost nothing. The crop spoils in 3 days. Buyers know it. They price accordingly. Families in the region were losing around $60 every year because of that simple fact, on incomes that barely crossed $1 a day.

So he, Sylvia Akurut, and Ocaye Opio did what made sense to them. They started making doughnuts using sweet potatoes.

That was the beginning of TAL Youth Uganda. What looked like a small bakery was actually a proof of concept: take a crop nobody was valuing, process it, extend its shelf life from 3 days to 18 months, and use the proceeds to train and employ the young people the system had already moved on from.

It worked. Since then, TAL Youth Uganda has raised startup funding, reached more than 1,000 youth, worked directly with over 500 farmers, and employed over 4 youth from their plant in Akokoro. The organisation has been recognised and supported by the UNDP Youth Ideathon, The Resolution Project, StartHub Africa, the Africa Europe Foundation, and the Mastercard Foundation. 

The work now covers sweet potato flour, handcraft skills training, climate-resilient agriculture, and youth-led climate dialogues across Northern Uganda. The 3 founders graduated from university. They came back. That is not a small thing where they are from, and it is not a small thing for the young people watching them now.

TAL Youth Uganda

Org chart

Teams

Offices

TAL Youth Uganda

Org chart

Teams

Offices

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