Sir William Roberts, the founder of the Company came to the Indian subcontinent in 1906 and joined the Indian Agriculture Service. He was appointed First Professor of the famous Punjab Agriculture College Lyallpur (now University of Agriculture, Faisalabad) in 1909. He became Principal of this College in 1916 and continued in this capacity till 1921.
After the First World War vast area of Punjab became cultivable on completion of one of the largest canal irrigation systems in the world. Seeing the potential, he took over the assignment to introduce American Upland Cotton in place of “Desi” cotton variety and entered into partnership with British Cotton Growing Association, Manchester (which pioneered cotton growing in Sudan) and took on lease 7221 acres of land near Khanewal.