Around 1970 the company's Rwandan founder, Tribert Rujugiro Ayabatwa (c. 1941 – 2024), started to import wheat, flour, salt and cigarettes into Burundi from Tanzania.
[5] In 1987 President Pierre Buyoya ovethrew Colonel Jean-Baptiste Bagaza and Ayabatwa was imprisoned in Bujumbura.
[2] A 2013 World Health Organization report noted that the company had in the past given subsidies to tobacco farmers in Burundi for production and selling, but it was no longer doing so.
Only 1,500–1,700 hectares (3,700–4,200 acres) of land was being used for cultivation of tobacco, and this was being used by farmers to make hand-rolled cigarettes for personal use.
The Ugandan commercial court ordered Mastermind to halt production of Supermatch cigarettes until the trademark infringement case had been resolved.
Tanzania Cigarette Company applied to register "Supermatch" as its trademark, but was refused by the Registrar.