Manuelita
Encyclopedia
Inversiones Manuelita S.A. (IMSA) is a Colombia
n agribusiness
corporation, headquartered in Palmira, Valle del Cauca, whose main products are refined sugar, ethanol
, palm oil
, mussels and shrimp
. IMSA is more commonly known as Grupo Manuelita or simply Manuelita.
Manuelita was founded in 1864 when James Martin Eder, better known in Colombia as don Santiago Eder
, an American citizen born in Mitau, Courland, bought the hacienda "La Manuelita", located near Palmira, from the father of famed Colombian novelist Jorge Isaacs
at a public auction
. The farm's namesake was Manuela Ferrer Scarpetta, Isaacs' mother.
Eder planted various crops, including coffee in the farm, but eventually centered on sugar, and "on the first day of the first year of the twentieth century" he inaugurated Colombia's a new sugar mill which had Colombia's first steam engine
, and replaced the former ox powered mill.
After don Santiago's retirement in 1903, Manuelita continued to grow under the leadership of his sons Charles "Carlos" Eder, and Henry "Enrique" Eder, his grandson Harold Henry Eder Caicedo, and his great-grandson Henry James Eder Caicedo, who is still Chairman of the Board. As of April 1, 2008, don Santaigo's great-great-grandson Harold Enrique Eder Garcés is President of IMSA. In 1980, the size of the company was cut in half, after barely surviving a hostile takeover attempt by the Carlos Ardila Lülle
's business group. This unfortunate incident resulted in the split of the Ingenio Manuelita and Ingenio del Cauca sugar mills. This latter mill had been founded by Harold Henry Eder while he was at the head of the Eder Family enterprise and was hence a great loss to the family both economically and sentimentally.
Under Henry J. Eder's stewardship (1965 - 2008), Manuelita's standing in Colombia's sugar sector in terms of production was fully recovered and even surpassed when compared to Manuelita and Ingenio del Cauca's combined production levels in 1980. During this period of time, Manuelita also expanded its sugar production to ventures in Peru
and Brasil, including a project named Arena Dulce, or Sweet Sand, in which nearly 2000 hectares of Peruvian desert were planted in sugarcane
using vanguard drip irrigation technology adapted by Manuelita technicians to the specificities of cane cultivation and harvesting and which are producing record levels of tons of cane per hectare and percentage of sucrose
in cane. Additionally, Henry Eder diversified Manuelita into other products and countries in order to diversify risk, namely shrimp
(Colombia), mussels (Chile), palm oil
(Colombia), ethanol
(Colombia, Brazil
, Peru), asparagus
(Peru), and table grapes (Peru).
Many details of Manuelita's business affairs from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries are preserved at the Phanor James Eder Collection at the University of Miami
, which includes a great deal of don Santiago
's business correspondence.
as possible (2 liters of vinasse per liter of ethanol vs. 12-20 liters of vinasse per liter of ethanol in standard plants).
2. C.I. Oceanos S.A. - C.I. Oceanos S.A. is a 100% owned subsidiary of IMSA and the world's largest contiguous shrimp farm
with 148 production pools covering a total area of 1,052 hectares. Oceanos produces over 10,000 tons of shrimp per year and exports 90% of its production primarily to Europe, Japan and the United States.
3. Aceites Manuelita S.A. - Aceites Manuelita S.A. (Aceites Manuelita) is an African palm oil processing company based in Bogota, Colombia, but with operations in the Meta
and Casanare
departments of Colombia. The Meta plant, known as Yaguarito, was a greenfield project
started in 1986 in the cattle lands of Colombia's Eastern Plains. The Company owns approximately 15,000 hectares of palm and is served by an additional 10,000 hectares of palm owned by independent farmers. Each year the Yaguarito operation processes nearly 150,000 tons of fruit and produces refined palm oil, bio diesel and other sub-products. In 2009, IMSA purchased a 25,000 hectare property in Casanare province to set up a second palm oil processing operation which will also look to primarily produce refined palm oil and bio diesel. This new operation is also a greenfield project to be laid out in cattle lands. Special attention is being given to environmental concerns, however, so as to ensure that the native flora and fauna of this Colombian frontier region are not adversely affected by Manuelita's arrival.
which Manuelita technicians were able to successfully plant with cane using drip irrigation technology and taking full advantage of the Chavimochic irrigation canal.
farm located outside of Puerto Montt
, Chile on Chiloe Island
that was founded in 2003. MA is being developed into a vertically integrated operation throughout the entire value chain of the business frum the actual farming, to processing, packaging and commercialization. MA's processing plant will process both company cultivated and third party cultivated mussels.
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
n agribusiness
Agribusiness
In agriculture, agribusiness is a generic term for the various businesses involved in food production, including farming and contract farming, seed supply, agrichemicals, farm machinery, wholesale and distribution, processing, marketing, and retail sales....
corporation, headquartered in Palmira, Valle del Cauca, whose main products are refined sugar, ethanol
Ethanol
Ethanol, also called ethyl alcohol, pure alcohol, grain alcohol, or drinking alcohol, is a volatile, flammable, colorless liquid. It is a psychoactive drug and one of the oldest recreational drugs. Best known as the type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages, it is also used in thermometers, as a...
, palm oil
Palm oil
Palm oil, coconut oil and palm kernel oil are edible plant oils derived from the fruits of palm trees. Palm oil is extracted from the pulp of the fruit of the oil palm Elaeis guineensis; palm kernel oil is derived from the kernel of the oil palm and coconut oil is derived from the kernel of the...
, mussels and shrimp
Shrimp
Shrimp are swimming, decapod crustaceans classified in the infraorder Caridea, found widely around the world in both fresh and salt water. Adult shrimp are filter feeding benthic animals living close to the bottom. They can live in schools and can swim rapidly backwards. Shrimp are an important...
. IMSA is more commonly known as Grupo Manuelita or simply Manuelita.
Manuelita was founded in 1864 when James Martin Eder, better known in Colombia as don Santiago Eder
Santiago Eder
James Martin Eder , known in Colombia as Santiago Martín Eder Kaiser, don Santiago Eder or simply "El Fundador", is considered the pioneer of the sugar industry in Colombia, and is widely recognized as one of Colombia's leading 19th century industrial pioneers.-Early life:Eder was born in Mitau in...
, an American citizen born in Mitau, Courland, bought the hacienda "La Manuelita", located near Palmira, from the father of famed Colombian novelist Jorge Isaacs
Jorge Isaacs
Jorge Isaacs Ferrer was a Colombian writer, politician and soldier. His only novel, María, became one of the most notable works of the Romantic movement in Spanish literature....
at a public auction
Auction
An auction is a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bid, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder...
. The farm's namesake was Manuela Ferrer Scarpetta, Isaacs' mother.
Eder planted various crops, including coffee in the farm, but eventually centered on sugar, and "on the first day of the first year of the twentieth century" he inaugurated Colombia's a new sugar mill which had Colombia's first steam engine
Steam engine
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separate from the combustion products. Non-combustion heat sources such as solar power, nuclear power or geothermal energy may be...
, and replaced the former ox powered mill.
After don Santiago's retirement in 1903, Manuelita continued to grow under the leadership of his sons Charles "Carlos" Eder, and Henry "Enrique" Eder, his grandson Harold Henry Eder Caicedo, and his great-grandson Henry James Eder Caicedo, who is still Chairman of the Board. As of April 1, 2008, don Santaigo's great-great-grandson Harold Enrique Eder Garcés is President of IMSA. In 1980, the size of the company was cut in half, after barely surviving a hostile takeover attempt by the Carlos Ardila Lülle
Carlos Ardila Lülle
Carlos Arturo Ardila Lülle is a Colombian entrepreneur and the founder and head of the Organización Ardila Lülle, a major Colombian conglomerate which controls companies such as RCN TV, the Postobon soft drink, and the Atlético Nacional soccer team. His net worth is estimated at over one billion U.S...
's business group. This unfortunate incident resulted in the split of the Ingenio Manuelita and Ingenio del Cauca sugar mills. This latter mill had been founded by Harold Henry Eder while he was at the head of the Eder Family enterprise and was hence a great loss to the family both economically and sentimentally.
Under Henry J. Eder's stewardship (1965 - 2008), Manuelita's standing in Colombia's sugar sector in terms of production was fully recovered and even surpassed when compared to Manuelita and Ingenio del Cauca's combined production levels in 1980. During this period of time, Manuelita also expanded its sugar production to ventures in Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
and Brasil, including a project named Arena Dulce, or Sweet Sand, in which nearly 2000 hectares of Peruvian desert were planted in sugarcane
Sugarcane
Sugarcane refers to any of six to 37 species of tall perennial grasses of the genus Saccharum . Native to the warm temperate to tropical regions of South Asia, they have stout, jointed, fibrous stalks that are rich in sugar, and measure two to six metres tall...
using vanguard drip irrigation technology adapted by Manuelita technicians to the specificities of cane cultivation and harvesting and which are producing record levels of tons of cane per hectare and percentage of sucrose
Sucrose
Sucrose is the organic compound commonly known as table sugar and sometimes called saccharose. A white, odorless, crystalline powder with a sweet taste, it is best known for its role in human nutrition. The molecule is a disaccharide composed of glucose and fructose with the molecular formula...
in cane. Additionally, Henry Eder diversified Manuelita into other products and countries in order to diversify risk, namely shrimp
Shrimp
Shrimp are swimming, decapod crustaceans classified in the infraorder Caridea, found widely around the world in both fresh and salt water. Adult shrimp are filter feeding benthic animals living close to the bottom. They can live in schools and can swim rapidly backwards. Shrimp are an important...
(Colombia), mussels (Chile), palm oil
Palm oil
Palm oil, coconut oil and palm kernel oil are edible plant oils derived from the fruits of palm trees. Palm oil is extracted from the pulp of the fruit of the oil palm Elaeis guineensis; palm kernel oil is derived from the kernel of the oil palm and coconut oil is derived from the kernel of the...
(Colombia), ethanol
Ethanol
Ethanol, also called ethyl alcohol, pure alcohol, grain alcohol, or drinking alcohol, is a volatile, flammable, colorless liquid. It is a psychoactive drug and one of the oldest recreational drugs. Best known as the type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages, it is also used in thermometers, as a...
(Colombia, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, Peru), asparagus
Asparagus
Asparagus officinalis is a spring vegetable, a flowering perennialplant species in the genus Asparagus. It was once classified in the lily family, like its Allium cousins, onions and garlic, but the Liliaceae have been split and the onion-like plants are now in the family Amaryllidaceae and...
(Peru), and table grapes (Peru).
Many details of Manuelita's business affairs from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries are preserved at the Phanor James Eder Collection at the University of Miami
University of Miami
The University of Miami is a private, non-sectarian university founded in 1925 with its main campus in Coral Gables, Florida, a medical campus in Miami city proper at Civic Center, and an oceanographic research facility on Virginia Key., the university currently enrolls 15,629 students in 12...
, which includes a great deal of don Santiago
Santiago Eder
James Martin Eder , known in Colombia as Santiago Martín Eder Kaiser, don Santiago Eder or simply "El Fundador", is considered the pioneer of the sugar industry in Colombia, and is widely recognized as one of Colombia's leading 19th century industrial pioneers.-Early life:Eder was born in Mitau in...
's business correspondence.
Colombia
1. Ingenio Manuelita S.A. - Ingenio Manuelita S.A. (Manuelita) is Colombia's oldest sugar mill and the original business of the Manuelita group of companies. Currently Manuelita is served by 25,000 hectares of land, 15,000 of which are company owned, and has a crushing capacity of 10,000 tons of cane per day, making it the second largest mill in Colombia after Ingenio del Cauca, a mill that was founded by Harold Henry Eder Caicedo and the Manuelita Group in the 1950s. Currently, Manuelita produces nearly 300,000 tons of high quality refined sugar per year, and has a fuel ethanol production capacity of 250,000 m3 per day. Manuelita is one of Colombia's first fuel ethanol producers and its most efficient producer. Given IMSA's strict adherence to a sound environmental policy, Manuelita's ethanol production process is geared to produce as little vinasseVinasse
Vinasse is a byproduct of the sugar industry. Sugarcane or Sugar beet is processed to produce crystalline sugar, pulp and molasses. The latter are further processed by fermentation to ethanol, ascorbic acid or other products. After the removal of the desired product the remaining material is...
as possible (2 liters of vinasse per liter of ethanol vs. 12-20 liters of vinasse per liter of ethanol in standard plants).
2. C.I. Oceanos S.A. - C.I. Oceanos S.A. is a 100% owned subsidiary of IMSA and the world's largest contiguous shrimp farm
Shrimp farm
A shrimp farm is an aquaculture business for the cultivation of marine shrimp or prawns for human consumption. Commercial shrimp farming began in the 1970s, and production grew steeply, particularly to match the market demands of the United States, Japan and Western Europe...
with 148 production pools covering a total area of 1,052 hectares. Oceanos produces over 10,000 tons of shrimp per year and exports 90% of its production primarily to Europe, Japan and the United States.
3. Aceites Manuelita S.A. - Aceites Manuelita S.A. (Aceites Manuelita) is an African palm oil processing company based in Bogota, Colombia, but with operations in the Meta
Meta
Meta- , is a prefix used in English to indicate a concept which is an abstraction from another concept, used to complete or add to the latter....
and Casanare
Casanare
* Casanare Department a subdivision of the country of Colombia* Los Llanos del Casanare a province of the Viceroyalty of New Granada* Casanare River a tributary of the Meta River in Colombia* Casanare, Colombia a city in Colombia on the Casanare River...
departments of Colombia. The Meta plant, known as Yaguarito, was a greenfield project
Greenfield project
In many disciplines a greenfield is a project that lacks any constraints imposed by prior work. The analogy is to that of construction on greenfield land where there is no need to remodel or demolish an existing structure...
started in 1986 in the cattle lands of Colombia's Eastern Plains. The Company owns approximately 15,000 hectares of palm and is served by an additional 10,000 hectares of palm owned by independent farmers. Each year the Yaguarito operation processes nearly 150,000 tons of fruit and produces refined palm oil, bio diesel and other sub-products. In 2009, IMSA purchased a 25,000 hectare property in Casanare province to set up a second palm oil processing operation which will also look to primarily produce refined palm oil and bio diesel. This new operation is also a greenfield project to be laid out in cattle lands. Special attention is being given to environmental concerns, however, so as to ensure that the native flora and fauna of this Colombian frontier region are not adversely affected by Manuelita's arrival.
Peru
1. Empresa Agroindustrial Laredo S.A.A. - Empresa Agroindustrial Laredo S. A. A. (Laredo) is one of the most competitive and fourth largest sugar producer in Peru. It currently produces over 100.000 metric tons of high quality refined sugar per year. Laredo's mill has a cane crushing capacity of 5,000 metric tons per day and is served with sugarcane that is cultivated in over 15,000 hectares of land. The company owns and cultivates cane on nearly 8,000 hectares of company owned land, including almost 1,000 hectares of desertDesert
A desert is a landscape or region that receives an extremely low amount of precipitation, less than enough to support growth of most plants. Most deserts have an average annual precipitation of less than...
which Manuelita technicians were able to successfully plant with cane using drip irrigation technology and taking full advantage of the Chavimochic irrigation canal.
Chile
1. Mejillones America S.A. - Mejillones America is a musselMussel
The common name mussel is used for members of several families of clams or bivalvia mollusca, from saltwater and freshwater habitats. These groups have in common a shell whose outline is elongated and asymmetrical compared with other edible clams, which are often more or less rounded or oval.The...
farm located outside of Puerto Montt
Puerto Montt
Puerto Montt is a port city and commune in southern Chile, located at the northern end of the Reloncaví Sound in the Llanquihue Province, Los Lagos Region. The commune spans an area of and had a population of 175,938 in 2002. It is located 1,055 km to the south of the capital, Santiago...
, Chile on Chiloe Island
Chiloé Island
Chiloé Island , also known as Greater Island of Chiloé , is the largest island of the Chiloé Archipelago off the coast of Chile, in the Pacific Ocean...
that was founded in 2003. MA is being developed into a vertically integrated operation throughout the entire value chain of the business frum the actual farming, to processing, packaging and commercialization. MA's processing plant will process both company cultivated and third party cultivated mussels.
Brazil
1. Vale do Parana S.A. - Vale do Parana SA (Vale do Parana or the company) is a special purpose company established in Brazil to grow sugar cane, construct, and operate a state-of-the-art mill to produce fuel ethanol and sugar in Suzanapolis, western region of the State of São Paulo, Brazil. The mill will be developed in phases starting in 2008, when it will produce approximately 70,000 m3 of ethanol, until 2011, when it will produce approximately 90,000 m3 of ethanol (for the internal market) and 140,000 mt of raw sugar for the export market. Upon full implementation, Vale do Parana will have a total milling capacity of 2 million mt of cane/year supplied from 22,000 ha of sugar cane, 50% of which will be cultivated on leased land with the remainder sourced from dedicated third-party suppliers.External links
- Grupo Manuelita - the company website.
- EDER, FAMILIA - article at the Luis Ángel Arango LibraryLuís Ángel Arango LibraryLuis Ángel Arango Library, is a public library located in Bogotá, Colombia. It was founded in 1923 as a small library with a few books on economics. It is currently under the administration of the Bank of the Republic...
, which is administered by Colombia's Bank of the RepublicBank of the Republic (Colombia)The Bank of the Republic is the state-run central bank of the Republic of Colombia. Its main functions are detailed by the Congress according to the . One of them is the issuance of the Colombian currency, the peso.-History:...
, the central bank. - Phanor James Eder Collection at the University of MiamiUniversity of MiamiThe University of Miami is a private, non-sectarian university founded in 1925 with its main campus in Coral Gables, Florida, a medical campus in Miami city proper at Civic Center, and an oceanographic research facility on Virginia Key., the university currently enrolls 15,629 students in 12...
- Mejillones America S.A.