Lato Milk is one of the most popular dairy brands in East Africa, known for its high-quality dairy products.
Based in Uganda, the company has majored on the production of pure and nutritious high-quality milk products.
However, the company’s ownership is unknown to many, especial because it is originally from a different country.
Here is what WoK has managed to gather about the same.
Lato Milk
The company produces among other products milk powder, liquid milk, yoghurt, flavored milk, butter, butter oil and ghee.
The company was established in 2009 in Mbarara, Uganda, some four years before they started the production of whole milk powder and skimmed milk powder.
In 2014, the company launched Lato Instant full cream milk powder which retails in 900gm, 400gm Tins and 15gm sachets.
The launch came a year before they went International and had their products sold in Egypt, Kenya, Tanzania and DRC Congo.
In 2016, they opened the the liquid milk processing unit and had the liquid milk introduced to the market the following year.
Later in 2018, the company launched Lato Butter which was availed in 250gm and 500gm packs; both salted and unsalted.
In 2018 they also introduced Lato Help Pack in Uganda to finance corrective surgeries for children living with disability and signed an official agreement with Warner Brothers to obtain the rights of their famous Tom and Jerry franchise.
Furthermore, they introduced Lato Flavored Milk in Strawberry, Vanilla and Chocolate variants and stared operations in Burundi.
The latest is their return to Kenya after the government gave them a go ahead to invest in local dairy factories.
Trade and Investments CS Moses Kuria held bilateral talks with Uganda’s Treasury Permanent Secretary Ramadan Ggoobi and agreed to work together to boost their respective dairy sectors.
Lato entered a deal with the State-owned financier Kenya Development Corporation (KDC) to invest jointly in dairy ventures.
Lato Milk ownership
Lato milk is a product of Pearl Dairy Farms whose parent company is Midland Group.
Founded in 2016, Pearl Diary Farms Limited is a privately held company in Uganda with subsidiaries in Kenya and Dubai.
The factory is built on 15 acres and has capacity to process 500,000 litres of milk daily. The milk is purchased from dairy farmers in Mbarara district and neighboring communities.
A disclosure by International Finance Corporation (IFC) showed that Midland Group is owned by the families of tycoons Bhasker Kotecha and Anand Kapoor.
Kotecha owns 50.5 percent stake in the company while Kapoor commands 49.5 percent stake.
