Kijani Forestry

About us

The three cofounders, Paul, Quinn and Beau, met in Uganda in 2013 and our friendship grew while working together through years blood, sweat, tears, and some serious bushwacking. Throughout that time, the deforestation became alarmingly visible and was paired with sharp increases in charcoal prices in the region. After seeing how intricately linked these problems were with the changing weather patterns, decreasing crop yields, and ongoing cycle of poverty, we knew we had to do something.

The vision to plant trees that are indigenous, fast-growing, and could be coppiced to replace old growth forest from being cut down was well received. We were utilizing various, proven techniques and technologies to design a new business model – sustainable charcoal grown in an agroforestry ecosystem. We purchased 400 acres (160 ha) and got to work. We learned a lot through this process, both through successes and equally as much through our failures, and continue to iterate the process, test out new species, and do everything we could to grow trees better, and faster, and regenerate ecosystems in the process. In this journey, we found that nature is amazing, and complex, and is always asking us to learn and explore more.