Entrepreneur rice magnate, Moni Varma, today boasts the enviable position of leading the Veetee Group of rice companies, which includes the fastest growing rice company in the UK.

 Having run a successful steel business in Malawi, Moni moved to the UK in the latter part of 1982 and, in 1985, having spotted a gap in the market, he seized the opportunity to set up a rice milling and packing business in the UK and established a mill in West London, rapidly making a name for the Veetee brand in the supply of high quality basmati rice.  In 1993, Veetee Rice relocated to a purpose-built riverside site in Kent and this, coupled with a multi million dollar investment in plant and facilities, equipped the company to become one of the major rice suppliers in Europe.  A continuing programme of investment has led to the establishment of milling facilities in India and Pakistan, Veetee being unique in this respect. 

 With over one third of all rice bought by UK supermarket shoppers produced by Veetee – i.e. nearly 360 million servings a year, Veetee is currently the largest rice supplier to the UK retail trade, supplying both the Veetee brand and supermarket own-brands.  The Group currently exports rice to about 50 countries from its 5 factories around the world. 

Building on this success, Moni Varma embarked upon a prestigious rice project in Nigeria to mirror what the Group was already doing in India.  This project encompasses all stages of the process, from paddy to plate and includes seed multiplication and schemes to encourage local farmers to cultivate rice with a buy-back arrangement to parboil and pack the locally grown paddy, and sell the finished rice in the local Nigerian market.  This, in a small way, would encourage the farmers to get back to agriculture and for the country to reduce its dependence on imported rice, as well as save valuable foreign exchange.  It is hoped that this will be seen to encourage many other businesses to follow the same path, resulting in a positive future for rice agriculture in Nigeria.

Now, he wants to make the Group truly global, and his next target is to turn it into a billion dollar operation.

In 2005, recognising that the way forward was in the field of value added products, a new 30 million dollar factory is being built near to the original rice mill