Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote has announced that Dangote Group will set up two companies in Ethiopia which will be engaged in sugar investment and the other for producing cement bags.
“We are also opening a very big factory to produce cement bags. We used to import all bags from abroad in millions. But right now we are going to establish the factory and actually to be ready in the next few months this year,” he was quoted by state run media company Ethiopian Herald .
Dangote also said that his company is looking at Ethiopia’s sugar sector.
“We are also looking at the possibility of looking at other areas, sugar and others mainly agriculture, which we now discussed with government to move forward,” he said.
The Nigerian business tycoon also met with Prime Minister Hailemariam Dessalegn and told him that the violence which occurred few months ago in some parts of the country did not affect the Group’s investment in Ethiopia.
“The objective of my trip to Ethiopia is to show the Prime Minister that we are not temporary investors. We are Ethiopian investors; we are actually Africans so we are part and parcel of Ethiopia. This sort of thing [the disturbance] does not really rattle us”, Dangote said.
“But the main purpose of my trip to Ethiopia is to show the Prime Minister our commitment to continue to invest in Ethiopia,” he said.
“People do need to understand that government doesn’t create jobs at all. Government will facilitate and put all the policies in place for people to create jobs. It is our own job as private sector to partner with the government and create jobs. They create policies and we create jobs. So that, I think it is a win- win situation,” he said.
Dangote Cement is the biggest cement factory in East Africa and Ethiopia.
(Ethiopian Herald , Editing By Kenyan Wallstreet)