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LIFE AFTER AGOA BAN⎮Agnes Netunze, Uganda’s top leather products exporter speaks out on her next move Mrs Agnes Netunze Kitumba is the proprietor of Arise Kollections, one of Uganda's most successful stories of the African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA). The company exported leather products to the United States of America under the AGOA duty free initiative for the last one decade until the end of 2023 when Uganda was scrapped off the list of African beneficiaries by the U.S President, Joe Biden. Her company is a social enterprise based in Butto, Bweyogerere on the outskirts of Kampala City.

Arise Kollections manufactures and distributes high-end leather and textile fashion accessories such as handbags, footwear, jewellery, and hand-woven items to several foreign and local markets. Mrs. Kitumba’s luck came in 2012 when she met Ms Susan Muhwezi, former Uganda AGOA Country Head. She admits that her success under AGOA was born out of a merger that involved two companies; Sseko Designs LLC (USA) with Noonday Collection- the former being American, and the latter being Ugandan.  This merger enabled it to become a majority Ugandan female-owned independent company.   However, after the exit of  Sseko Designs as a majority shareholder in 2022; Netunze rebranded…

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About the Author

Paul Murungi is a Ugandan Business Journalist with extensive financial journalism training from institutions in South Africa, London (UK), Ghana, Tanzania, and Uganda. His coverage focuses on groundbreaking stories across the East African region with a focus on ICT, Energy, Oil and Gas, Mining, Companies, Capital and Financial markets, and the General Economy.

His body of work has contributed to policy change in private and public companies.

Paul has so far won five continental awards at the Sanlam Group Awards for Excellence in Financial Journalism in Johannesburg, South Africa, and several Uganda national journalism awards for his articles on business and technology at the ACME Awards.