Geoffrey Mulwana honoured as Most Influential Dairy Person at the Africa Dairy Industry Awards 2026

KENYA – Geoffrey Mulwana, Chief Executive Officer of Jesa Farm Dairy Limited in Uganda, has been recognised as the Most Influential Dairy Person in the Africa Dairy Industry Awards 2026.

The recognition of Geoffrey Mulwana as the Most Influential Dairy Person at the Africa Dairy Industry Awards 2026 highlights his personal leadership in driving the growth of Jesa Farm Dairy Limited and contributing to the development of Uganda’s dairy sector.

Mulwana has served as CEO (Executive Director) of Jesa Farm Dairy, steering the company since taking over from its founding era.

The business was established in the late 1980s (with formal dairy processing activities noted from the early 1990s) by his late father, Dr. James Mulwana, and mother, Sarah, initially focused on raw milk production on a modest family farm.

Under his direction, Jesa has scaled into one of Uganda’s prominent indigenous dairy processors with an installed capacity of 200,000 litres of milk per day.

Key achievements during his tenure include the commissioning of a new state-of-the-art processing plant in Busunju.

This expansion project received the New Project of the Year Award at the Africa Food Awards in 2023. The company has introduced product innovations such as JESA Bonga, Uganda’s first ambient shelf-stable drinking yoghurt, developed over three years and offering a six-month shelf life without refrigeration.

Jesa also produces pasteurised fresh milk (with reported strong market presence in the fresh milk segment), UHT milk, yoghurts, butter, and cream.

Geoffrey Mulwana has overseen Jesa’s adoption of international food safety standards, including ISO 22000:2018 and HACCP compliance.

The company sources raw milk from networks of local smallholder farmers and cooperatives, providing stable markets and consistent payment terms.

Jesa has entered long-term agreements with farmer groups and supported them with training on animal health and production practices. These linkages have helped channel milk from thousands of farmers into formal processing channels.

Jesa exports dairy products to regional markets, including Kenya and South Sudan, with documented shipments recorded in trade data.

The company previously received a Silver Award from the Uganda Export Promotion Board for outstanding performance in the Dairy and Dairy Products category. Its operations contribute to employment, tax revenues, and foreign exchange earnings.

Uganda’s dairy sector context includes national raw milk production of approximately 3.85 billion litres annually (rising to 5.4 billion litres in recent reports), with only about 38% processed (around 1.46 billion litres).

The country has 145 dairy processing facilities with a total installed capacity of 3.4 million litres per day, operating at roughly 2.3 million litres per day (68.7% utilisation).

In this landscape, which features both multinational and local players, Jesa has established itself as a homegrown processor focused on quality, value addition, and integrated operations, from farm-level supply to branded products.

Mulwana’s leadership has emphasised building processing capacity, product innovation, quality systems, and farmer linkages.

This approach has supported the formalisation and value addition in Uganda’s dairy industry, where a significant portion of milk remains in informal channels.

His role in scaling an indigenous enterprise has contributed to demonstrating viable local models for technology adoption, market development, and regional trade in the sector.

This award, therefore, acknowledges Mulwana’s individual contributions to leadership, operational scaling, and industry advancement within Uganda’s dairy value chain.

About the Africa Dairy Industry Awards

The Africa Dairy Industry Awards, held annually alongside the Africa Dairy Innovation Summit, celebrate excellence, leadership, innovation, and sustainability across the continent’s dairy value chain, from production and processing to technology, food safety, value addition, and market development.

Categories include Dairy Industry Persons of the Year (such as Chief Executive Officer of the Year), Dairy Product Innovations of the Year, Dairy Processor of the Year, and others for cooperatives, investments, and commercial farms.

The awards recognise outstanding contributions by individuals, organisations, and projects, bringing together farmers, processors, cooperatives, researchers, policymakers, and investors to promote best practices and greater competitiveness in the sector.

Full details are available on the website.

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