The promoter: Madhvani International SA.
The Madhvani family is Uganda's top-employer, with a team of over 8 000 people in 5 core sectors: Agriculture, Industry, Energy, Infrastructure and Tourism.
The history of the Madhvani family in Uganda can be accessed here. Madhvani International SA, (MISA) has the following business activities.
MISA's associated firm, the Singara Nilgiri Plantations Company, owns and operates a two-hundred acre tea plantation in the south of India. The plantation has belonged to the Madhvani family since 1930 and continues to grow, harvest and produce highland teas for commercial export.
The Madhvani family operates two tea estates in Uganda, accounting for nearly 15% of Uganda's tea exports.
MISA established Lake Products and Services Ltd (LPS) in 2001 as part of a High-Value Agriculture "HVA" initiative. LPS is working to develop a modern, scientifically based, plant extracts industry in Uganda. The company was one of the first private enterprises in East Africa to commercially produce and process locally grown, high-value botanicals.
LPS also exports sustainably grown natural products. More information on LPS is available here.
The roots of the Madhvani family businesses stem from the sugar industry. Established by 1930, under the aegis of Vithaldas Haridas and Co, the family plantation at Kakira, Uganda, has been at the forefront of East Africa's agro-industrial sector, employing and supporting well over 20 000 people within its bounds.
The family's sugar mill was nationalised in 1971 under the regime of Idi Amin and subsequently fell into decline until 1979 when production ceased altogether. In 1980, MISA was invited to return to Uganda, and pioneered arrangements for the restitution of the family's properties, to rehabilitate and re-open the Madhvani assets, including the Kakira sugar estate.
Today, Kakira annually produces 150 000 tonnes of sugar and co-generates 22 MW of electricity. This is set to expand to 170 000 tonnes, producing 28 MW of electricity connected to the national grid.
The Madhvani family also owns and operates sugar mills in Rwanda and is developing sugar projects in Northern Uganda, Sudan, DRC and Angola.
More information, is available here .
For several years, MISA has invested in the Sukulu phosphate project and has gained valuable experience in the production of phosphoric acid and technical grade phosphate derivatives in Europe, including soluble fertilisers, tri poly phosphates and di-calcum phosphates.
Between 2005 and 2009 MISA operated a sulfuric acid production and regeneration plant in Europe which was sold in 2010 to Orrion Chimie
In 1992, working closely with the Government of Uganda, MISA secured the mandate to build, own and operate a hydro-electric power station on the River Nile. After an international search, MISA selected US AES Corporation as its partner to develop the country's second source of hydro-electric energy. Situated nine kilometres from the source of the River Nile, the Bujagali Power Station is one of the largest single private investments in Africa. With a capacity of 220 MW, the project would provide electricity to Uganda and its neighbouring countries.
However, the project was not without its challenges. As the first and only major hydro IPP, MISA actively assisted in developing Uganda's energy policy to accommodate the generation and distribution of private electricity. MISA was instrumental in shaping the new energy sector, advising and discussing the needs of all the countries in the region. MISA played a key role, jointly with AES, in arranging an innovative financial structure, involving participation of the WB and the ADB for this type of project.
Although AES withdrew from the project, due to the turmoil following the collapse of Enron, the Bujagali project is being completed as a public-private partnership, retaining the basic elements of the project that was originally conceived and developed by MISA and AES. MISA is continuing to develop power and cogeneration projects in Uganda, Belgium and Spain.
Details on the state of advance of the Bujagali project as of 2009 are available here.
Currently, MISA is in advanced negociations for the establishment of peat power generation plants in Uganda and Rwanda.
Infrastructure projects under active consideration by MISA for development include:
put on line on 26/02/2009 by Pierre Ratcliffe Consultant to MISA/Nilefos Contact through Nilefos: (npk@madhvani-misa.com)