Buikwe District Uganda Vanilla Project
From asylum to ownership: Buji Vanilla began in a California garage and now brings premium Ugandan vanilla to the world, sourced from Ignitius’s home community and built to share value back with farmers. Spun out from Wovoka into a US LLC for retail scale, with Ugandan ownership at the core.
Buikwe District, Uganda
Rural Agency for Sustainable Development
Agroforestry supply chain investment
Project start: 2024
4
Retail Products
3
Markets Reached
20%
Ugandan Ownership
2024
Project Start
Connecting Ugandan vanilla farmers to global markets
After being violently persecuted by the Museveni regime in Uganda, Ignitius Bwoogi came to the United States seeking asylum. Wovoka worked with a local community group in California to raise donor support that helped him secure legal status, get a work permit, find employment, find housing, get a car, and begin building an agroforestry venture connected to his work in Uganda.
From 2024 to 2025, Ignitius stayed with Lee, Wovoka’s CEO, and the two began making vanilla products in Lee’s garage. That early experimentation grew into Buji Vanilla LLC, a Wovoka spin-out commercializing premium Ugandan vanilla products sourced from Ignitius’s home community.
Today, Ignitius is a 20% owner of Buji Vanilla. The company has expanded production to a licensed food facility in Los Angeles, hired CEO Armand Dowlati, and now retails four vanilla products across the United States, Canada, and Singapore.
.webp)
.webp)
Ways To Participate
Shop Buji Vanilla
Buy premium Ugandan vanilla products sourced from Ignitius’s home community and built to support farmer-linked value creation.
Support Community Programs
Contribute directly to local livelihoods, nursery development, and forest protection initiatives.
Have Questions or want to invest $100k+ in equity Opportunities?
Ecological Impact
Building A Vanilla Supply Chain Rooted In Livelihood And Forest Protection
Agroforestry Supply Chain
The project supports an agroforestry-linked vanilla supply chain sourced from farmer communities in Buikwe District, Uganda.
Vanilla can create income from land stewardship rather than extraction, helping rural producers connect to higher-value markets. Through Buji Vanilla, community-grown vanilla is being transformed into premium retail products for international customers.
This is not a carbon credit project. It is a supply chain investment designed to connect agroforestry, livelihoods, product development, and long-term market access.
.webp)
Farmer Livelihoods
Vanilla farmers in Buikwe District often work on small farms between 1 and 7 acres, growing vanilla alongside cacao, matoke, coffee, jackfruit, sweet potato, yam, soursop, banana varieties, vegetables, and other crops.
The challenge is not that farmers lack skill. It is that vanilla takes careful planting, harvesting, curing, transport, and market access. Farmers described the process as “painful,” especially when rigorous work results in low prices through traders or processors.
Buji Vanilla creates a pathway to change that relationship by turning community-grown vanilla into branded retail products with stronger storytelling, clearer sourcing, and more value connected to the growers behind the product.
Product Commercialization
What started in a garage has grown into a retail-ready vanilla company.
Buji Vanilla has moved production into a licensed food facility in Los Angeles and now sells four vanilla products across the United States, Canada, and Singapore. The brand gives the project a practical route to impact: better products, stronger demand, and more value moving through a farmer-linked supply chain.
The finished product is not separate from the project. It is the mechanism that helps the project grow.
.webp)
Project Journey
The Buikwe District Uganda Vanilla Project grew step by step, from personal support and early product experiments into a commercial vanilla company connected to farmer communities in Uganda.
2024-2025
•
Support Ignitius & Start Buji Vanilla
Wovoka and a California community group helped Ignitius secure legal status, work authorization, housing, transport, and employment. During this same period, Ignitius stayed with Lee in Scotts Valley, where they began experimenting with vanilla products and building the first version of Buji Vanilla.
2025
•
Engage Farmers In Nkokonjeru
Field work brought growers together around vanilla sourcing, farmer recognition, product storytelling, and practical supply chain needs.
2025–2026
•
Engage Farmers In Nkokonjeru
Buji Vanilla expanded into a licensed food facility in Los Angeles, hired CEO Armand Dowlati, and developed retail-ready products.
2026 Onward
•
Grow The Market
The company now sells four vanilla products across three international markets, with a pathway to increase farmer-linked value over time.
Built with the people and organizations behind the vanilla
The Buikwe District Uganda Vanilla Project connects founder ownership, farmer participation, local development work, and international retail.
At the center is Ignitius Bwoogi, whose story links the United States and Uganda through resilience, enterprise, and community sourcing. The project also works alongside Rural Agency for Sustainable Development, farmer communities in Buikwe District, Buji Vanilla LLC, and the support network that helped turn the first garage-made products into a commercial brand.C
Ignitius Bwoogi
Founder and 20% owner
.webp)
Rasd
5 program areas
.webp)
Vanilla Farmers
1 to 7 acre farms
.webp)
Buji Vanilla LLC
4 retail products
.webp)
Vanilla that shares value
The Buikwe District Uganda Vanilla Project shows a different side of nature-based development: not carbon credits, but market-building.
By helping launch Buji Vanilla, Wovoka helped turn donor support, asylum support, product experimentation, farmer engagement, and community-linked sourcing into a commercial supply chain. The project has raised $50,000, moved into implementation, and created a retail pathway for Ugandan vanilla products across three international markets.
The impact is practical and human. Farmers gain a stronger route to income. Ignitius gains ownership in a company connected to his home community. Customers gain access to premium vanilla with a story of resilience, livelihood, and shared value behind it.
Try the vanilla. Support the farmers behind it.
Every purchase helps strengthen a supply chain built around ownership, livelihood, and value flowing back to the people who grow the product.
