{UAH} Selling Gonja Chips in America

Trade and Investment Forum

Friday August 29, 2014 – 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM

26^th Annual Convention of the Ugandan North American Association

Hyatt Regency Hotel, La Jolla (San Diego), CA

Selling Gonja Chips in America

Sometimes, the secret to bringing a good idea to market is a will and determination to take the first step and just plain try.

In 2002, a couple in Minneapolis, MN, wanted to make some extra cash to start saving for their kids' college funds. Angie and Dan Bastian set up a kettle corn stand and concocted a few delicious variations on the popular snack. The rest is history -- Angie's Popcorn is now worth $50 million, and the Bastians aren't worrying about their kids' college expenses anymore!

Please allow me to introduce you to what I consider to be a truly outstanding and wholly Ugandan snack product – processed sweet gonja chips.  Now let me acknowledge that processed banana chips can be found in literally every neighborhood supermarket these days.  So what makes Ugandan gonja chips different?  Simply put, gonja is a variety of plantains that is unique to Uganda.  Its very taste and texture are different from the plantains and bananas typically found in South America and Asia where most processed banana chips that one finds here in the US come from.

Now every time I go to Uganda, I buy about 30 or so bags of processed gonga chips from the nearby supermarkets and bring them back to enjoy in the subsequent few weeks of my return.  However, I have always thought that surely if I liked them so much, others here in the US would also.  So a couple of years ago I sent a few of my precious packets to the nearby Trader Joes offices and sure enough, got a call back asking if they were available as a steady supply.  When I reached out to the company referenced on the label in Uganda, I quickly discovered that the chips have been literally produced in someone's kitchen in very small quantities.  So I dropped the idea.

Fast forward two years.

This time, I found gonja chips made by several different companies and bought samples from each.  I tasted them all in turn and found differences in appearance, quality and taste.  But one of them had a product that I felt was head and shoulders above all the others.  So I reached out to this company.

Let me introduce you to Psalms Confectionery and Bakery.  This is a small company that makes a variety of snack products available in many local supermarkets, but none I found particularly outstanding – except for their gonja chips.  In comparison to all the others, the gonja chips made by this company were relatively consistent in proportion, texture, taste and overall quality.  My enquiries elicited the information that this company had an actual commercial processing facility somewhere on the outskirts of Kampala although I never actually visited it.  But I did communicate with the Managing Director who informed me that they had tried to enter international markets in the past and failed.  For the United States, I am going to guess challenges with FDA regulations and finding a local representative.

I believe this is a unique product that could attract a US market.  The challenge is for some enterprising and truly dedicated person to work with this company to overcome the various regulatory hurdles and develop a market for this product here in the US.

This product will be featured in the Trade and Investments Forum at the upcoming 26^th Annual Convention of the Ugandan North American Association in San Diego.

Registration:      UNAA Member                -              Actual Forum is Free - Lunch is $30.00

                                Non-Member    -              $50.00 (includes hosted lunch)

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