Having run a successful steel business in Malawi, Moni moved to the UK in 1982. In 1985 spotted a gap in the market and seized the opportunity to set up a rice milling and packing business. Using an initial investment of just £200,000 he established a mill in west London, rapidly making a name for Veetee in the supply of high-quality basmati rice.
Today, Veetee is the largest rice supplier to the UK retail trade, with over one-third of all rice now bought by UK supermarket shoppers produced by Veetee. The Group currently exports rice to about 50 countries from its seven factories around the world.
Although the main rice operation is now centred at Medway, Kent, Varma still supports African economies. A Veetee project in Nigeria encourages local farmers to cultivate rice with a buy-back arrangement to parboil and pack the locally grown rice, which is then sold on the local Nigerian market.
In 2005, recognising that the way forward was in the field of value added products, a new £20m factory was built near to the existing rice mill in Medway, Kent. Up and running from June 2007, this has allowed Veetee to launch Dine In, the first ever restaurant quality convenience rice available inside Europe. Thanks to cutting edge processes, the Dine In range is made from natural white rice –rather than the parboiled variety used by other manufactures – resulting in an exceptional quality end product. Dine In is already available at the major supermarkets and sales have been impressive.