
Nakate Vanilla is a Ugandan vanilla company founded by Mukasa William in 2016, named after his grandmother Nakate who first planted vanilla vines in the 1970s. Operating in the Mukono district, the company works with 80 smallholder farmers who hand-pollinate each vanilla orchid flower (which blooms for only 6 hours per year). Nakate Vanilla was the first Ugandan brand to achieve direct trade status with US specialty food retailers and was profiled by Bloomberg Africa in 2022 for pioneering transparent vanilla supply chains.