In the misty highlands of eastern Uganda, where arabica coffee thrives on rich volcanic soil, a quiet revolution is brewing—led by women. At the heart of this movement is Meridah Nandudu, a social scientist-turned-entrepreneur who is changing the lives of hundreds of women through her company, Bayaaya Specialty Coffee.
Nandudu, 33, had a vision: empower women in Uganda’s conservative, male-dominated coffee sector. Her strategy was as simple as it was powerful—offer a slightly higher price per kilogram to any woman who personally delivered coffee to her collection points. That 200 Ugandan shilling incentive—roughly 5 cents—sparked a transformation.
“We realized that women were doing all the heavy lifting in the coffee value chain—planting, weeding, harvesting, pulping, fermenting, washing,” Nandudu explains. “But when the coffee was ready for sale, it was the men who took control—and the money. We had to change that.”
From Dozens to Hundreds: Building a Coffee Sisterhood
In 2022, Bayaaya Specialty Coffee had only a few dozen women on its books. Today, that number has grown to more than 600—about 75% of its registered farmers. The company’s name, Bayaaya, comes from the Lumasaba language and means “brotherhood or sisterhood”—a nod to its mission of community and solidarity.
In Uganda, the second-largest coffee producer in Africa after Ethiopia, women have long labored in the shadows. According to the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA), the country exported over 6 million bags of coffee between September 2023 and August 2024, generating an estimated $1.3 billion in revenue. As global production faces climate-related disruptions—especially in Brazil—Uganda’s coffee sector has become increasingly vital.
Yet, until recently, the women behind much of this production reaped little benefit.
“Traditionally, women were discouraged,” says Nandudu. “In the harvest season, domestic violence cases would spike—fights over how much money was brought home and how much wasn’t.”
So Nandudu offered an alternative: when women delivered the coffee, they earned a 200 shilling bonus per kilo. That small difference helped build trust at home—and financial independence for the women.
“Now, when the women sell the coffee, they know how much was earned,” she says. “Couples are talking. We’ve seen reduced levels of gender-based violence and real empowerment.”
A Childhood Rooted in Coffee
Nandudu grew up in Sironko District, near the Kenyan border, where coffee is a lifeline for most households. As a child, she spent her days helping her mother tend to coffee plants, learning each step of the value chain—from weeding to washing beans—long before she went on to study social sciences at Uganda’s prestigious Makerere University.
“My father paid my tuition with money from coffee,” she recalls. “I always knew I had to give back.”
She founded Bayaaya in 2018 with the goal of changing the coffee business from the ground up. The company operates like a typical buyer, collecting beans directly from farmers and processing them for export. But Bayaaya goes further, offering unique programs like cooperative saving societies where women can borrow and save together.
Small Incentives, Big Impact
For rural Ugandan farmers, small price differences mean everything. A decade ago, a kilogram of coffee fetched around 8,000 shillings (just over $2 today). Now it sells for about $5. By adding just 200 shillings per kilo for women, Bayaaya has made the crop more lucrative and more equitable.
“That small incentive has changed the dynamic,” says Nandudu. “It’s motivating men to let their wives sell, and that’s giving women more control over household decisions.”
The company also gives out off-season bonuses between February and August, helping families stay afloat during low-production months.
Women on the Move
In rural areas, women now trek to Bayaaya’s collection centers twice a week to deliver their beans. Men are welcome too—but the shift in who controls the process is unmistakable.
Juliet Kwaga, a farmer from Sironko, is one of the many women whose life has changed thanks to Bayaaya.
“When I was growing up, my mother stayed home while my father did everything with coffee,” she says. “Now, I’m involved, and my husband is okay with that.”
With her earnings, she’s paying for her children’s school fees and household needs without relying entirely on her husband.
“I can buy food, take my children to school, even cover small medical bills,” Kwaga says. “I no longer have to ask my husband for everything. It gives me dignity.”
Changing the Culture of Coffee
In Sironko, where over 200,000 people live among the hills, most families work on small farms of one or two acres. Coffee is their primary source of income, yet many farmers have never tasted the drink. That’s slowly changing as younger women in the coffee trade begin roasting and drinking their product—particularly in towns like Mbale, where Bayaaya is based.
At Bayaaya’s roasting facility, most of the staff are women—another rarity in Uganda’s coffee sector. Nandudu believes this is only the beginning.
“There are now more women in coffee as a business,” she says. “Not just growing it, but understanding the full value chain. That’s what excites me.”
She hopes to begin exporting beans soon, targeting markets that value transparency, sustainability, and women’s empowerment.
Looking Ahead: A Model for Empowerment
Bayaaya’s model is gaining attention as a scalable solution for gender inequality in agriculture. By valuing women’s labor fairly and offering them financial control, Nandudu is rewriting the narrative for rural Ugandan women.
“We’re caretakers, managers of our homes,” she says. “It makes sense for us to also manage the business we’re so involved in.”
Her dream is to see women fully integrated at every level of the coffee trade—from farm to export—and to inspire similar models across Africa.
Conclusion
In a sector where women have long been invisible despite doing most of the work, Meridah Nandudu’s initiative is bringing long-overdue recognition and empowerment. Through Bayaaya Specialty Coffee, she is not only helping families earn more—she’s rebuilding trust, reducing violence, and cultivating a new generation of women who see themselves not just as workers, but as business leaders.
