From rot to profit: The impact of the Nilezilla Yumbe Fruit Factory

For generations, Kagogwa mango trees have carpeted homesteads and hillsides across West Nile, dropping fruit in golden heaps that often ended up as animal feed or rotting on the ground. During peak season, the loss was so normalised that few spoke of it. Yet behind every spoiled mango was a silent ledger of missed income, wasted nutrition, and unrealised opportunity. Mr. Aniku Saidi and Hon. Oleru. That is the waste Nilezilla set out to confront. From “unprocessible” fruit to a breakthrough The story did not begin in a factory, but in a laboratory at Makerere University. There, Prof William Kyamuhangire…