The Mehta's

In his autobiography, Dreams Half Expressed, Nanji Kalidas Mehta said:

“The way to success is a hard road to travel. Disappointments and failures dishearten us in the midst of struggle but a man of enterprise has to pass through the period with patience and cheerfulness till he gets his well deserved returns.”

Nanji Kalidas Mehta had a simple family background but patience and cheerfulness enabled to pioneer into the sugar industry in Uganda. He came as a young Indian merchant who sailed to East Africa in a country craft nearly a century ago.

In 1912 at the age of 12, he landed at Port Tanga in Tanzania after a long journey from India. He proceeded with his journey on foot to Uganda where he entered through Eastern Uganda. As a youth, he wondered into thick forests in Uganda, including Mabira, up to the grasslands where he established a chain of 29 ginneries and plantations. His son Mehendra, the current Chairman of the Mehta Group, has similar capabilities.

Mehta settled in Lugazi because the weather was conducive for sugarcane growing. He reportedly established the first sugar factory in 1924 under the name Uganda Sugar Factory and by 1971 the factory produced 60,000 metric tonnes of sugar per annum.

Mehta was one of the first exporters of Uganda’s cotton to Japan and other places which greatly helped in the establishment of the cotton industry in Uganda. It was cotton, coffee and copper that formed the foundation of Uganda’s pre-independence economy.

The Community Centre in Mukono where district council meetings are held was a gift from the Mehta Group. The magnificent library at Gayaza High School was donated by the Mehtas. They also donated the land in front of Sheraton Hotel to Kampala City Council. They have maintained the roads throughout the sugarcane grown areas to all-weather standards. In the coming few years the company will work on improving water supply and rural electrification in areas that will be producing sugarcane on outgrower basis.

Schools and dispensaries will be established in new areas for the benefit of workers and their families.