Mohammed Hussein Al-Amoudi
Residents of Addis Ababa say Mohammed Hussein Al-Amoudi can often be seen cruising Ethiopia’s capital in a Hummer, the large vehicle favored by the likes of rap stars and California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Amoudi is one of the wealthiest businessmen with origins in East Africa and was ranked this year by Forbes as the 43rd richest person in the world, with a net worth estimated at $9bn.
An avid football fan and music lover, he was born to an Ethiopian mother and an Arab father, and made his money mainly in Saudi Arabia and Scandinavia, later securing Saudi citizenship.
He made his first fortune in Saudi property and construction, but then diversified, moving chiefly into oil, but also mining and coffee, leather goods and tourism.
Amoudi’s business empire centers on the Midroc Global Group, a conglomerate that employs 24,000 people on four continents and has an annual turnover of more than $15bn, according to the 2008 annual report of Midroc Europe, one of its subsidiaries. Read the rest of this entry »
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A U.S.-based private equity fund plans on doubling its investments in South Africa by year-end as it seeks investment opportunities across Africa during a global economic downturn.
Shelter Afrique, a Nairobi-based housing development company, plans to sell KES 1 billion (USD 13 million) of three-year bonds to fund new projects. Securities worth KES 700 million will be sold by July 27 and the balance by September, Deputy Managing Director Mazi Ositadinma Okonkwo said. The notes will trade on the Fixed Income Securities Market segment of the Nairobi Stock Exchange, the Capital Markets Authority (CMA), which granted approval for the sale of the notes, said yesterday.
