Introducing The African Popcorn Company

If you have followed Rising Star for any amount of time, you will probably recognize Wasswa. He was one of the original Rising Stars, living next to Matt and Brecka when they originally lived in Uganda from 2008-2010. At that time, he was just starting secondary school. Him and his four brothers have always been very active in football and other activities.

Wasswa is now in his second year of college where he is studying business accounting and finance. He wants to be an entrepreneur. He is also one of the first to receive a Rising Star scholarship because of his participation in Rising Star and excellence in the classroom. He now volunteers as a soccer coach and mentors many of the students at Rising Star.

Last year we began encouraging our college aged students and volunteers to think about ways they could start a business and earn a living working for themselves. Uganda has the highest entrepreneurship percentage in the world. Wasswa told us he had an interest in snack foods, so we began researching what would be a great snack food to sell and then in popped into our heads…popcorn.

Popcorn is loved the world over, Uganda is no different. However, there is a lack of quality and flavored popcorn in Uganda. Wasswa is ready to change that and he needs your help. To get the business going, he needs an investment of $6,000. The good news is we have secured a matching grant of up to $3,000. Through the matching grant, your donation is doubled!!! That means $100 becomes $200. So let’s knock out the rest so Wasswa can get poppin.

The funds will be given to Wasswa to start his business as a no interest loan. Once it is paid back, we will be able to help other businesses get started as well. This one time gift, will go a long way in helping for many years.