Leading Distillers: An Overview of the Alcoholic Beverages Sector in Uganda and East Africa

Moses Mugisha, Director of Leading Distillers, shares his assessment of the alcoholic beverages sector in Uganda and the region and explains how the company stands out from the competition.

“The alcoholic beverages sector has a few challenges. But there is no business that does not have challenges. In this sector there are a lot of taxes. We pay 80% excise duty, VAT of 18%, income tax, etc. It becomes difficult to sustain a business. The tax policies on alcohol in all of East Africa are similar. The VAT in Kenya is a bit lower at 16%. There are more than 20 players. Compared to the population of Uganda, the market share is very tight. There are a lot of areas you must do well to make sure that you overcome the competition such as the quality of the product, marketing strategies, etc. We are exporting directly in the region in Tanzania, Kenya, and other neighboring countries. We are quality producers of gin and whisky. We make sure that the quality of the product that we produce is far different from our competitors. The quality of the raw ingredients we use is at a very high standard which gives us a great taste. We produce whisky as our top product although it has the lowest consumption. It is the best in terms of taste and maturity. Both our gin and whisky are premium brands. There is a certain class that consumes this kind of whisky. We distribute in supermarkets, bars, wholesalers, distribution vans, everywhere within our market coverage”, says Moses Mugisha.

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