When Ugandan mechanical engineer Joel Guma launched a food manufacturing and packaging business nearly a decade ago, he wasn’t targeting malnourished children or refugees. His first customers were bakeries, restaurants, hotels, and confectioners in Uganda and the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo.
They wanted Pristine Foods Limited’s products — high-quality pasteurized, homogenized, and filtered liquid eggs, which were first developed in 2020 — mainly because eggs in parts of East Africa were scarce. The company, which today employs between 40 and 50 people and had an annual turnover of $1.6 million in 2024, says it is the only egg processor in East and Central Africa offering pasteurized liquid and dried powder eggs. It was only later, when Guma read about the nutritional challenges for children in Uganda and the potential of eggs, that he realized he could provide a solution.
What concerned Guma was that even though there was progress around reducing child stunting, targets were still far off. He could see that while food was available, it wasn’t reaching those who needed it. Interventions such as super cereal, maize flour with soya, were mainly focused on energy, so nutrients were low. There were not many alternatives for kids from 6 to 23 months old, says Guma. There were only grains and cereal.