Moise Kisembo

Escaping the Unimaginable

Moise Kisembo was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo — a country of extraordinary natural beauty, yet one long scarred by conflict. His early life was upended by the violence that has displaced millions of Congolese families. After losing his parents to the conflict, Moise fled his homeland with nothing but his life and a fierce determination to survive.

He crossed into Uganda and arrived at the Kyangwali Refugee Settlement in Kikuube District — a community of tens of thousands of refugees, all trying to make sense of a life restarted from zero. He was a young man in a foreign land, without family, without resources, and without a clear path forward. What he had was resilience, and the kind of quiet hunger that only those who have lost everything truly know.

Farming Was the Only Door — But It Was Broken

Like most refugees in Kyangwali, Moise turned to farming as his primary livelihood. Land was accessible. The climate was favourable. And agriculture, at its core, promised independence. But the reality was far more complicated.

The nearest agro-input shops were in Hoima — nearly 100 kilometres away. Every trip to buy fertiliser, seeds, or crop protection chemicals meant days of travel and money spent on transport that many farmers simply did not have. And those who could not make the journey were left vulnerable to a more dangerous alternative: a black market of counterfeit agricultural inputs sold by opportunistic traders at exorbitant prices.

Farmers were buying fake seeds that never germinated. Counterfeit pesticides that burned their crops. Fertilisers that were nothing more than sawdust in branded bags. With every failed harvest, more families abandoned farming altogether. Hope was slowly being replaced by hunger.

Moise watched this happen around him. He saw his fellow refugees — hardworking, dignified people — being systematically failed by a broken system. And he refused to accept it as permanent.

Turning Pain into Purpose

Moise made a decision that would change the trajectory of his life and the lives of thousands around him: he would educate himself out of the problem. He pursued and obtained a Diploma in Agriculture, equipping himself with the technical knowledge to understand crop science, soil health, and sustainable farming practices.

He further undertook a certified course in the safe use and handling of agricultural inputs and chemicals — understanding not just what to sell, but how to use it correctly, safely, and effectively. In a landscape riddled with dangerous misinformation about agro-chemicals, this knowledge was not just valuable — it was lifesaving.

His education secured him an internship at one of the most prominent agro-input shops in Hoima. Working there, he gained hands-on experience in the agricultural supply chain — how products moved, how farmers made decisions, and what genuine quality looked like compared to the counterfeit goods flooding the refugee settlement back home.

But even while building a career in Hoima, Moise couldn't stop thinking about the people he'd left behind. The calls and messages kept coming — friends, neighbours, community members asking if he could bring agro-inputs back with him. The need was real. The demand was undeniable.

The Decision That Changed Everything

In 2019, Moise made the boldest decision of his life. He walked away from the security of employment and returned to Kyangwali — not as a refugee waiting for solutions, but as an entrepreneur ready to create them.

He established the first certified agro-input shop inside Kyangwali Refugee Settlement. It was a single point of access the entire community had never had before — a place where farmers could buy genuine, certified seeds, quality fertilisers, and safe agrochemicals without a 100-kilometre journey, without counterfeit risk, and without being exploited.

But the early days were far from easy. Business was slow. Most farmers in the settlement had never heard of the service. Getting traction in a community that had learned, through bitter experience, not to trust promises — that took more than just opening a door. There were weeks when Moise wondered whether the dream would survive long enough to matter.

He held on. And then, in late 2023, something shifted.

A Partnership That Changed the Trajectory

In late 2023, Moise was approached to participate in the AVSI-Market Systems Development project under SMILES — an initiative designed to strengthen agricultural market systems serving refugee and host community farmers in Uganda. He said yes. That decision would prove to be a turning point not just for Be Blessed, but for thousands of farmers across Kyangwali.

From early 2024, engagements began in earnest. Through the project, Be Blessed was connected to a network of market actors who became genuine partners in building something bigger than any single organisation could do alone. With East West Seeds, they established learning demonstration gardens showcasing a range of high-performing vegetable varieties. With Grainpulse, they set up maize demonstration gardens using maize blend fertilisers that showed farmers — in real soil, in real conditions — what quality inputs could actually do. With Okeba, they demonstrated the potential of beans and soya beans, generating new demand not just for seeds, but for the fertilisers and crop protection chemicals that unlocked their full potential.

The demonstrations worked. Farmers came, watched, compared, and trusted. Trust built demand. Be Blessed formalised these relationships by signing Memoranda of Understanding with key market actors including Green Firm Africa, East West Seeds, and NASECO — ensuring a constant, reliable supply of quality inputs that could reach the last-mile smallholder farmer.

Beyond products, the partnership drove active community sensitisation — working with farmers' groups to build awareness about the real value of improved, quality and hybrid seed; about why genuine inputs are worth the investment; and about what climate-smart agriculture actually looks like in practice. In a community where counterfeit products had bred scepticism, this kind of evidence-based trust-building was irreplaceable.

Demand grew. And so did Be Blessed.

From One Shop to Six — and Beyond

The increased demand generated by the growing awareness and the proven quality of Be Blessed's inputs prompted Moise to act. In late 2024, he opened the second Be Blessed outlet. Then another. Then another. Each new branch was a response to real demand — farmers in communities further afield asking for the service to come closer to them.

By the time the network had grown to six active service points — four within the refugee settlement and two in the host community — Moise realised that fixed outlets alone were not enough. There were still communities too remote to reach by foot, and farmers too far from any branch to benefit. That realisation gave birth to the Mobile Distribution Unit — a specially equipped tricycle that travels directly to remote farming communities on a scheduled rotation, bringing seeds, fertilisers, veterinary medicines, and feeds to the farmers' doorstep.

In early 2026, Be Blessed added a dedicated veterinary shop to its network — a long-planned expansion that now means livestock and poultry farmers have access to qualified animal health support and certified veterinary supplies without leaving Kyangwali.

Building Beyond Borders

Today, Be Blessed Farm Supply operates 6 service points and a mobile distribution unit, with a growing team of 23 staff members and a network of community agents and village paravets who carry the company's mission to the last mile. The organisation has directly served over 57,840 farmers — 4,312 from the refugee community and 53,528 from the surrounding host communities — impacting an estimated 34,704 women and 23,136 men.

But Moise's ambitions have not stopped at agro-inputs. Recognising that refugees needed more than products — they needed a voice, a platform, and structural advocacy — he founded the Be Blessed Refugee Consortium, a Community Based Organisation (CBO) dedicated to empowering refugees to achieve financial self-reliance through agriculture, skills development, and market linkages.

He is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering — a pursuit driven not by personal ambition alone, but by a vision to integrate modern technology into smallholder farming. Moise believes that the future of agriculture in refugee and host communities must be digital: from smart irrigation and remote sensing to mobile market platforms and data-driven extension advisory. He intends to build that future himself.

A Refugee Who Refused to Be Defined by His Circumstances

What makes Moise Kisembo's story remarkable is not simply what he built — it is the why behind it. He did not start a business to make money. He started one because he was tired of watching people suffer from a problem that had a solution. He had been on the receiving end of exploitation, hardship, and systemic neglect. And rather than carry that pain as a burden, he transformed it into a blueprint.

He is proof that a refugee settlement is not the end of the road — it can be the beginning of one. That the most powerful solutions to a community's problems often come from within that community. That knowledge, determination, and genuine care for others are enough to build something that changes thousands of lives.

Be Blessed Livelihood Ventures is more than a company. It is a living testament to what one person, with nothing but resilience and a desire to serve, can create when they refuse to give up.