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BY RICHARD DRASIMAKU
ARUA: Monday, July 31, 2023
Augustine Guma was only 15 years old when tragedy befell Ombaci on Wednesday June 24, 1981.
He survived the massacre and after the war he went back to school while at the same time doing petty business to pay his fees.
In 1987, he migrated to the United States of America just as Ugandan exiles were returning home. With $700 in his pocket he landed in Cape May, New Jersey, where he didn’t know anyone.
He got a job as a dishwasher at a restaurant-The Shire in Cape May, New Jersey City. While working at the restaurant, he went to school for accounting and began providing tax and technology service as well.
Guma was quickly promoted to a chef where he developed a new passion for food. This is when the idea of Sumbusas he calls “Guma Spicy Pies” came to fruition.
Sumbusas are popular dishes in West Nile and Uganda, quick to make, tasty and their small sizes mean they are affordable to customers of all income levels.
But this is United States of America and Guma had to make them to international standards. He did this by mincing and cooking some of the most popular foods in the world such as crabs, lobsters, chicken, beef and of course vegetarian menu.
It was an idea driven by passion to spread the good news of love and peace through delicious food products while at the same time earning money.
“After experiencing how evil hate to mankind was and how everything my hard working dad had achieved gone and so many innocent lives lost, I wanted to make a difference in the world,” he says.
A glossy product description on their Website subtitled love is spicy reads as follows: “These pies are delicately spiced, mouth-watering, flaky appetizers that are perfect for any occasion. You will start by eating 1 [one] and end up eating 3 [three], because they are so delicious and habit forming.”
But it is not just food that Guma, now president and chief executive officer of Gumax international ltd and Guma CPA and consults is involved in.
After working his way through various training and schools, Guma, a professional mathematician, accountant, and mechanical and software engineer is also into business accounting and corporate support among other trade.
His companies employ 40 people in the different sectors from the restaurant factory to the mobile truck kiosks.
Looking back to his country, he says his goal is to unite businesses in Arua and Uganda with those in the US. For instance he intends to use Ugandan (East African grains to make a gluten free chapati wrap for the Guma Spicy and sweet Pies for wholesale in large America retail stores and their chain of restaurants.
Open possibilities for accounting, IT and agriculture jobs that can support the East African region.
“The advantage is as we are sleeping in US, Ugandan workers can be fulfilling orders and accounting. All they will need is reliable internet and integrity and they can work from anywhere with proper training,” he told the westniletodaynewsug.com
This resonates with Guma’s view that connecting Africans in the diaspora to grow strong businesses and partner with Africans in the continent is the best way to change economic development of the continent- not Chinese or Europeans.
“Money is powerful but Knowledge is more powerful and Love is the most powerful. Combine the three and add the power of network, then you are a superpower. I am not a politician. I was just a young Kid who saw much atrocity and decided to change the status quo,” he said.
Now coming online is the East African Grains, a gluten free flour for the chapatti to wrap the pies. It is a mixture of millet, banana flour and cassava extracts made in Kampala.
The Guma spicy Pies are now in Costco system with the only challenge being not finding a bank or fair share holders to fund all across the 500 stores.
There is also a plan to sell the East African Coffee through the different cafes while cross marketing the pie with the coffee suppliers.
