With striking golden sunglasses, blue shirt with the Pascual Milk and Pale Green Lagotype Impolutas, Paula da Costa enters a canteen (a grocery store) at the foot of the road in Viana, a municipality in the province of Luanda (Angola). It is early, but it was the thermometer already heads at 30 degrees. «I am responsible for a team of 11 people,» he reviews, placing products on the shelves. «Last year we broke all sales records, Pascual milk is the best,» he smiles. A quarter of a century ago that the Spanish group on the first time, which then lived in the last years of a devastating civil war. That conflict left a bloody inheritance of almost one million dead and a ruins, governed by the family oligarchy of Eduardo Dos Santos, which remained in power until 2017. With everything against, the Spanish dairy company, then chaired by Tomás Pascual Sanz, saw many possibilities in Africa. Not only in Angola: Santo Tomé and Príncipe, Cabo Verde, Equatorial Guinea, Chad, Mozambique or Guinea-Conakry became commercial objectives. Ya with Pascual Gómez-Cuétara, its current president and son of the founder, the company's fixation for growing in the international market, in which they have suffered certain swings, continues to focus the brand's plans. But now it is different. The company has been working on a more solid international structure for a time at a low cost, taking advantage of strong local partners and, from now on, manufacturing in the South African country. A place where there are barely cows, but there is milk. His commercial work has not fallen into a broken bag. Pascual Milk is one of the few brands that come to the Angoleños heads when asked about a yogurt, a product highly valued due to its high content of sugar, fat and proteins in a country with a lot of oil but very little agricultural or livestock industry. In supermarkets, each unit is sold for about 450 kwanzas, which to change is about 80 euro cents. Dairy desserts are expensive in a territory where half of the population has an income of less than two dollars daily. But they are also highly valued for their high nutritional value, says Pedro Bouza, Director of International Business Development of the group. «Here is great importance to food security, brand confidence, and yogurts and milk are very Tigra, one of the most important beers in the country), Pascual has begun to pack milk from the food powder that import from other countries and reconvera in Luanda, in the modern facilities of their partner. Diogo Caldas, CEO of the Luandesa company that has been linked to Pascual, has great confidence in the future after his business link: “We have the industrial and distribution part, and they the Know-Mow of their dairy products and brands. Like us, they are a family business, our values are very aligned”. skimmed and will soon launch 14 powdered milk references. Then the condensed milk or butter will come. «We started where there were more opportunities. Angola is a country with good growth prospects, and now there is stability to get it self -sufficient,» abounds the manager. With this agreement, production costs fall halfway with respect to the same product imported by boat.
Upward sales
In Luanda, where the country was invited with other media by Pascual to know its commercial development, most distribution chains have a space reserved for the products of the Spanish. Tomás Meléndez, international director of the company, estimates that, after entering 46 million euros with global exports in 2022, this year they will rise to about 70 million euros, of which in Angola 23 will be entered. Country can become the strut of the international division, which in 2025 could contribute to the group accounts the unreasonable quantity of 130 million. It will not be a simple path. «In places like these it is, but there is the challenge. Here the population will grow, the quality of life advances, and we want to move forward with them,» Meléndez moves. There are no temporary goals: «Two years ago we joined forces with refraction thinking about the long term,» he adds. «In the end everything is based on trust. 50 years ago in Spain we started developing the market with farmers, with cows, and now we lead it with presence in 50 countries.» In parallel they have plans in Central America and Southeast Asia reproducing the same model as in Angola: 50% capital joint ventures with companies that ensure the distribution, have a commercial network and factories. Only in Angola, the planned investment adds 20 million.
Changes in direction and new products
The last year has been moved in the Pascual Milk Group. In September, he announced the purchase of Café Jurado, a referent coffee company in the Levante region, and integrated all its workforce of 113 workers. The movement seeks to consolidate its position as a coffee supplier for the hospitality, where it already has a presence with its Mocay brand. In addition, the operation will also boost sales of the retail sector, since 30% of jury sales come from this channel.
Shortly after, the company announced changes in the dome with the entrance of César Vargas (Burgos, 1971), as the new general business director of the company. Economic and business graduate from the University of Deusto and with various postgraduate courses in centers such as Harvard, IESE, or the London Business School, comes from the large consumption sector. He worked in companies such as Unilever, Bacardi or González Byass, although his most recent position was in summer (Schweppes). The Executive will have to develop sales, somewhat flat in recent years, and maintain actions for sustainability that differentiate the brand. Follow all economy and business information on Facebook and Twitteror in our weekly newsletter