As more innovations continue to come from Makerere University’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, there is need for students to produce high quality innovations. According to Prof. William Kyamuhangire, the manager, Food Technology Business Incubation Center (FTBIC) students must ensure consistency and quality if what they produce is going to be marketed in Uganda as well as be exported to foreign markets.

Speaking at the Makerere University Food Science Technology Students’ Association annual dinner at the Food Science Technology Conference Hall on Friday, May 30th, Prof. Kyamuhangire said; “One of the challenges facing innovations is measurements and consistency. The product must taste the same today, it must taste the same tomorrow. The ingredients must be well measured and consistent for the same product.”

The dinner, which saw the swearing-in of a committee that will head the 25-year old association for a year, also featured exhibitions of innovations with three of them, Sparkles (the banana cookie), the Omulondo cookie and the cocoa drinking powder beating other innovations. These will be taken on and their mass production funded by the Consortium for Enhancing University Responsiveness to Agribusiness Development (CURAD).

Prof. Kyamuhangire also revealed that the first cohort of incubatees at the FTBIC, 12 in number will graduate this year. Established in 2009 with a 4.5 billion government grant, the center admits graduates of Food Science Technology and other related programs from Makerere University and other institutions.

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