Our Investment in People

Nguvu Dairy, a business created by The Market Project, cares for its workers and ensures they are paid properly. In fact, we strive to invest in our employees on many levels.

The Market Project’s yogurt business in Uganda now has a workforce that is about 50/50 men and women. We are committed to pay our personnel decent wages. World Bank statistics show that the average Ugandan income (GNI per capita, 2016) is only $630 per year. We are proud to report that even our entry-level workers at Nguvu Dairy are making more than 1.5 times the national average.

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A decent job means that each worker can then support his or her family. Moms and dads are now able to pay school fees and have access to timely health care. In fact, Nguvu Dairy’s personnel and sales contractors regularly earn twice the typical earnings of store clerks in Gulu, Uganda.

Nguvu also provides generous benefits. Employees and sales contractors receive time off to care for sick family members and attend funerals. Staff are paid Ugandan holidays, maternity & paternity leave and other benefits commensurate with Ugandan law.

Personnel may purchase Nguvu yogurt at cost, increasing their nutritional intake particularly of dairy. Consumption of only two packets of yogurt per week raises a Ugandan’s annual dairy consumption approximately 83% (the Ugandan average annual dairy consumption is about 23 liters a year, less than 13% of the level recommended by the World Health Organization).

Nguvu’s workplace is designed to encourage the development of strong bodies and improved physical fitness. Morning tea, breakfast and lunch, prepared by the staff cook, are offered to each worker. Virtually all Nguvu employees walk to work. The sales reps then ride bicycles to sell the yogurt. Production personnel move about as part of their duties – we have no “desk jobs”.

The business strives to positively impact the community. Each worker who walks through the door as a trauma survivor is encouraged to cross-train, learn the business, and become a mentor for future employees. We anticipate our employees will become active members of their communities. Ongoing training and investment in each staff person is an integral part of developing and retaining our workforce. In the long term, we anticipate Nguvu Dairy will be earned out by its employees.

In September, Nguvu Dairy expanded its production capacity with a new milk cooling and fermenting tank. Once we bring more bicycles with coolers into the fleet, we will be able to offer more jobs! Every $262 invested in the distribution fleet creates a life-changing job. Will you help? 

Our vision at The Market Project is to see men and women flourish through safe, dignity-affirming and healing work. If we do not properly care for the employees of the businesses we launch, we have failed in our mission.

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