An executive reshuffle by Mohammed Ali Al Amoudi (Sheikh) has led to the departure of Haile Assegdie from Saudi Star Agricultural Development Plc. He has been replaced by Jemal Ahmed, who becomes the new CEO. This is on top of his responsibilities at Horizon Plantations.
Saudi Star, with Haile as its CEO, has spent 80 million dollars on agricultural machinery, equipment and 350 Massy Fergussen tractors, with spare parts, through Ries Engineering S.C. It also signed a 85 million dollar contract with GRC, a Pakistani company, for the construction of a 42km canal in November 2011, which is still ongoing despite an agreement to complete in 11 months. Saudi Star also bought mills for 25 million dollars – two in Gambella, for husking and drying, and one in Bishoftu (Debre Zeit), 45km east of Addis Abeba, for whitening and packaging.
“The whole infrastructure of the company has been installed, including machinery to process the rice,” said Jemal. “The former management was not effective, however, in making the company functional beyond processing sample production.”
Al Amoudi signed the letter issued from “the office of Mohammed Ali Al Amoudi” on Monday September 15, 2014, replacing Haile with Jemal.
“The Group is under a restructure and this replacement is the beginning of the reform,” commented Haile.
Before taking up his position at Saudi Star, Haile was the Minister of Works & Urban Development, which later became the Ministry of Urban Development, Housing & Construction (MoUDHC). A civil engineering graduate from Addis Abeba University (AAU), Haile has also worked for both private companies and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO), including Berta Construction Plc and the Norwegian Save the Children.
Mohammed’s letter also indicated that all three companies in MIDROC Groupworking in a similar field – Saudi Star, Horizon and Ethio Agri-CEFT Plc – would be operated under the leadership of Jemal. Fikru Dessalegn, former state minister for Capacity Building, will stay in his position as general manger of Saudi Star. Ethio Afri-CEFT, established in 1996 with the acquisition of the Wushwush and Gumero tea farms, is a tea and coffee plantation business whose general manager is Essayas Kebede.
Saudi Star was registered at the former Ethiopian Investment Agency(EIA), later the Federal Investment Commission (FIC), in August 2009, with a capital of 500 million Br, as one of the biggest commercial farms in Ethiopia. The company received a 10,000ha plot of land in Alwero, in the Gambella Regional State, to grow rice using the Alwero Dam.
Under the administration of Haile, Saudi Star acquired the Abobo Plantation – a 4,000ha state-owned farm located in Gambella – from the Privatisation and Public Enterprises Supervising Agency (PPESA) for 90 million Br. Out of the total land, Horizon harvested on a 600ha plot during the 2013/14 fiscal year.
Horizon Plantations also acquired Bebeka Coffee Plantation S.C., Horizon Addis Tyre S.C., the Coffee Processing & Warehouse Enterprise and Gojeb Farm, in 2013, from the PPESA.
Saudi Star plans to process 100,000tn of rice a year, and export 60pc of the produce to Saudi Arabia. The farm uses the Alwero Dam, which was constructed during the Dergue Regime to grow cotton.
“By the end of June 2015, we will process 50,000tns of rice by cultivating 7,000ha of land,” said Jemal.
Beginning in the 1950s, during the reign of Emperor Haile Selassie, in the Awash Valley, predominantly under the ownership of the government, mechanised commercial farming expanded further during the Dergue regime. But, after the downfall of the Dergue, most of the farms were auctioned for privatisation. On the other hand, since 1991 and especially after the declaration of developmental state in Ethiopia, since 2005, the country saw a surge of domestic and foreign investments in commercial farming including the Saudi Star. The government leased 3.5 million hectares of agricultural land to investors during the period from 1990 to 2009. In addition, the Growth & Transformation Plan (GTP) targeted the transfer of 3.3 million hectares of land to investors for mechanised commercial farms within five years starting from the 2009/10 to 20014/15 fiscal year.
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