Jet Fresh Cargo, an Entebbe-based cargo sales and service agent, has been shortlisted for the General Sales and Service Agent (GSSA) of the Year award at the 2026 Air Cargo News Awards in London, placing a Ugandan company in direct competition with some of the industry's established international names.
Jet Fresh is one of six finalists in the category, alongside 4RCargo, ECS Group, FlyUs Aviation Group, Network Airline Services and Wexco Airfreight (UK). Winners will be announced on 21 October at the Royal Lancaster London hotel, as part of the 42nd edition of the awards.
The category carries some history. FlyUs Aviation Group won GSSA of the Year in 2025, with Network Airline Services highly commended; both are back on this year's shortlist, underlining the level of competition Jet Fresh is up against as one of the smaller, and only African, entrants in the field.
Jet Fresh Cargo CEO Wail Dagash said the shortlisting reflected the backing of the company's airline partners, customers, agents, the Uganda Civil Aviation Authority (UCAA) and ground-handling partners at Entebbe. He singled out Flynas Cargo and WCS for entrusting Jet Fresh with the Uganda GSSA role, UCAA for its continued support of the aviation sector, and Menzies Cargo Entebbe for its handling partnership.
"This nomination is not only a recognition of our company and our team; we believe it is also a recognition of Uganda, and the role Uganda continues to play in the growth of the African air cargo industry," Dagash said. "Every shipment handled, every partnership established and every challenge overcome has contributed to this journey."
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Jet Fresh has operated in Uganda since 2023, building on more than 15 years of cargo experience in other markets. The company now moves Ugandan produce, including flowers, chilled meat, fish, fruit and vegetables to more than 90 destinations across the Middle East, Europe, Asia, and North America.
The company's reputation among its own customers offers some insight into the case it will be making in London. One long-standing client, Fresh Perch, a Ugandan seafood exporter shipping chilled and frozen fish to the Middle East, Europe, and North America, has worked with Jet Fresh for close to two years.
"Our product is both time- and temperature-sensitive," said Sachin Chavan, Director Opn of Operations at Fresh Perch. "That's why we chose Jet Fresh as our partner. They are highly specialised in handling sensitive cargo, and in all our years working together we have had no hiccups and no quality issues."
The client said fish typically moves from the factory to Entebbe Airport in around ten minutes, before flying on to Jeddah, Muscat, Dubai or Riyadh routes of roughly four hours. "We'd encourage other exporters in the fish processing business to use Jet Fresh Cargo too," Mr Sachin Chavin added. "This nomination is a proud moment, both for us as a partner and for Uganda as a country."
For Uganda's air cargo sector, Dagash argued the shortlisting matters beyond the ceremony itself, offering an international reference point for an industry segment that operates largely out of view but is increasingly central to the country's push to export higher perishable traffic ex Uganda.
Dagash also used the nomination to issue a call to Uganda's producers: "Our call to action to Ugandan farmers, packhouses and exporters is to reach out to your buyers in different markets and finalise your contracts in full confidence that Ugandan produce will reach those markets in the condition it should, and compete with the best in the world."
Jet Fresh Cargo is an Entebbe-based GSSA specialising in air cargo for temperature-sensitive Ugandan exports, including fish, meat, flowers, fruit and vegetables. Operating in Uganda since 2023, the company connects Ugandan producers to more than 90 destinations worldwide, with a digital communication signature of ‘From Uganda's Soil, Powered by Ugandan Exporters.’
