MIDROC’s Ambitious Visions of Next Five Years

Owner and chairman of MIDROC Ethiopia, Sheik Mohammed Hussein Ali Al-Amoudi, last week signed an agreement at the Sheraton Addis with the Malaysian Consultancy firm AgriNexus to grow four agricultural plants on 250,000hct of land in Ethiopia. The investment, which is hailed as the largest ever by Abi Woldemeskel, director general of the Ethiopian Investment Agency, is expected to create job opportunities for 350,000 people.

At the signing ceremony last Thursday, the Saudi business tycoon made bold plans for MIDROC in the coming five years ranging from ventures in mining to agriculture.

MIDROC Gold, a subsidiary of MIDROC Ethiopia, currently extracts 300Kg to 350Kg of gold annually in Shakiso area of the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples’ Regional State (SNNPRS). The announcement of plans to boost this to 1,200Kg within two years would mean a 300pc increase.

Ethiopia’s richest man also has planned to establish a glass factory in a joint venture with a Sudanese company investing 700 million Br. The input for the factory is expected to be acquired from Abijata Soda Ash Factory, which is jointly run by the National Mining Corporation and Privatisation and Public Enterprises Supervising Agency (PPESA).

The factory is expected to produce soda ash pulling water from Lake Shalla to Lake Abijata, which is drying up though it is rich with the glass input. According to the Sheik, the glass factory needs 200 million dollars. Both the glass and soda ash are partially intended for export.

Ethio Agri Ceft, another of Sheik Mohammed’s companies popularly known for its tea production is planning to expand as, according to Mohammed, the country’s demand for tea has risen and its exports have shrunk.

“We have brought experts from Australia and Singapore to boost our tea production threefold,” he told the ministers and executives of MIDROC.

Elfora Agro Processing, one of MIDROC’s subsidiaries, has finalised preparations to cultivate flowers and horticulture on 5,000hct of land, according to Mohammed. Consequently, a Dutch expert has come to conduct a feasibility study.

The packing factory that was begun with an investment of 250 million Br would be finished in late April. This factory would produce an astonishing 3,000 cartons per minute, according to Mohammed.

“Last week we were in Ireland to patch up our transnational airplanes,” said Mohammed. “The company that maintains the planes told us it is interested to open a maintenance company in Africa and we agreed to work towards establishing it in Ethiopia.”

In the underperforming textile sector, the Sheik hopes MAA Garment, found in Mekelle, would finish its one billion Birr expansion in the coming four months to join the industry. According to Mohammed, Ethiopia will no longer need to import textiles if the expansion of MAA Garment is finalised, a drastic change from the current trend.

In Raya and Tekeze, in Tigray Regional State, there he plans to begin large-scale cotton farming to supply two factories in Woldiya in Wollo for jean production.

The company’s 240 million Br food processing factory is hoped to be finalised in the coming six months.

Mohammed also sees room in the milk industry as rising prices have attracted new entrants, using Shola Dairy Development Enterprise, which was acquired by one of MIDROC’s subsidiary companies six months ago. An expert from New Zealand is conducting a study on the market. Mohammed told the invitees that he also wants to see the price of milk now almost four Birr a litre back to its previous price of less than 3.50 Br.

Mohammed also sees room to enter the housing market in Addis Abeba that is inadequate to meet the demands of the burgeoning population. Bringing an expert from Michigan in the United States (US), MIDROC wants to construct real estate for 20,000 people in the coming two years.

In the hospitality sector, the tycoon wants to finalise constructions of a number of hotels in the next two years. In addition to the grand hall at the African Union (AU), Mohammed said he has planned to install a four-star hotel with 200 bedrooms on the 90,000sqm plot on Bole Road (Africa Avenue) after demolishing the Millennium Hall. The Sheraton expansion also needs 37hct of land. Mohammed expressed his dissatisfaction with the city administration for not getting the land on time.

“It has been three years since we paid for the plot but we still have not acquired it,” said Mohammed.

According to the Sheik, this is one of the projects that are expected to change the look of the city.



By WUDINEH ZENEBE

SPECIAL TO FORTUNE