As the world becomes more connected and global it is offering more opportunities to those who are swift enough to take up the opportunities there are.
TMS Ruge is one of the people who have in the past decade poured out their body and soul into investing in an international brand.
Ugandan made products are fast penetrating the global market; the lastest being TMS Ruge’s Qwezi Beauty Products.
“@QweziBeauty, is now available for delivery in North America. If you love all natural products and the power of moringa oil, head on over to http://qwezibeauty.com for order and delivery,” TMS Ruge says in a tweet.
The story goes back to 2010 when TMS Ruge established Raintree Farms in Masindi selling the moringa seedcake and moringa leaf powder at the time. Thae idea of a beauty product came up later and n 2016, he began experimenting with Qwezi soap whose demand grew with time.
In 2021, while appearing on the 360 Mentor Twitter spaces, TMS Ruge said, “We have to join global production if we want to develop. We have to learn to say that it was made in Uganda with a sense of pride, not “made in Uganda” with a product sold in a Rwenzori (mineral water) bottle. That’s the beginning.”
That is when he started the journey of Qwezi Beauty oil. In 2020, he had the product ready. A clear bottle which allowed the golden colour of the oil to reveal itself to the users, designed with a log of a moringa flower.
Breaking Barriers: Charles Mudiwa on Intergenerational Leadership at Makerere Qwezi Beauty products now include five soap varieties and the beauty oil which are available for purchase online. At the beginning of this year, TMS set out to have the products available on the American market through a depot in Arizona.
About TMS ruge
TMS Ruge is the founder and CEO of Raintree Farms, an agriculture export business and cofounder of Hive Colab, Uganda’s first technology hub, founded more than a decade ago in Kampala, Uganda. He is the brains behind Roll Kla, a fast food restaurant that stepped up to upscale the Ugandan rolex a face lift away from the dusty street identity it was known for. Ruge, a recipient of a 2012 Champion of Change Award from the Obama White House, writes about Africa’s technology and entrepreneurial development. His articles have appeared in major media outlets including the Guardian, New York Times, CNN, Medium, and Globe and Mail. He currently serves on Andela’s Global Advisory Board.
Early career stints include time spent as a track and field athlete (he holds Uganda’s pole vault, high jump, and decathlon national records), spent a few years as a creative professional doing corporate photography and graphic design. He then spent 3 years at the World Bank as a climate communications consultant. Then he somehow managed to be a contributing founder of JadedAid as the Educated Angry (token) African on the team. Don’t come for him.
He was born in Uganda and grew up in East Africa and the United States.
