Ugandan group Ambience has leapt into the timber treatment market with zeal and a thorough commitment to quality.
After buying a plantation late last year, the company sought our advice in early 2020 on how to set up and run a timber treatment plant.
Dolphin Bay has now signed a sole CCA-supply agreement with Ambience, and the company’s first plant, built in India in accordance with a Dolphin Bay design, is being shipped to Uganda, as is the first consignment of CCA timber preservative.
Ambience is a family-run business based in Kampala and operating in several towns in Uganda. It runs entertainment centres, hotels, motels, a distillery – and now a plantation and treatment centre.
Mature trees from the new timber division, Ambience Tree Farming, which is in the Kalunga district of Uganda, have been harvested and are in the drying yard awaiting treatment. Dolphin Bay will install the plant, commission it and train the operators in the coming weeks.
Ambience aims to supply electrification projects, the construction market and others that arise. The company already has an order for CCA-treated poles from a neighbouring country.
Starting small in 1992 but fuelled by the entrepreneurial spirit of Joseph Kiyimba and his family, Ambience has grown over the years to the extent that the company now plans to grow internationally, starting in nearby East African countries.
Matthew Stanley Kinyanjui, project manager for the treatment plant, contacted Dolphin Bay and set up our meeting with Ambience in February.
“I was impressed by the company’s professionalism and efficiency,” said Dolphin Bay’s Darren Marillier. “Ambience is moving very fast and is setting itself up as a reputable and highly professional timber treatment operation. Owning a plantation puts them in a strong position and was one of many reasons we have confidence in the project’s sustainability.
“When you spend lots time working with someone on a project in-depth and for some time, as we have, it’s a brilliant opportunity to build a strong and constructive working relationship.”
Said Charles Sserwadda, one of the Ambience directors: “Our company is diverse and thus complex, but every part of the group is professionally run as we believe in following all the right procedures.
“We chose Dolphin Bay because of the extra support it offers. We are new to this business, but Darren guided us through the set-up and treatment process, making things very easy. It would have taken two to three years of research but, with Dolphin Bay’s help, it was more like six months.
“We believe Dolphin Bay offers the best support. It is more than just a CCA and chemical supplier – it is a business partner.”
Source: Dolphin Bay Chemicals
