Kisseka Samson

Kisseka grew up engaging in peri-urban farming in Uganda and developed a love for agriculture early on.

After earning a diploma in Agriculture, Kisseka started exploring business opportunities, and discovered mushroom farming was a lucrative yet underserved area of farming. Kisseka therefore went on to create a farming co-operative called Hello Mushrooms. The co-operative collaborates with farmers to grow and sell mushrooms. They supply inputs to growers, offer free training and provide buy-back facilities in exchange for a commission.

The company currently has 15 farmers enlisted as suppliers. The farmers’ produce is sold to about 20 commercial wholesalers, retailers and individual consumers.

Kisseka’s vision is to become the leading mushroom producing company in Africa and grow his client base to 100 commercial buyers in the next 5 years. He also hopes to expand into value addition processes like manufacturing powdered mushroom soup and mushroom chips.

Anzisha PrizeVery Young EntrepreneurAnzisha Prize Fellow