Two years after it was abandoned by its former owners, the bankrupt Else Addis Industrial Development Plc is now in a good shape and making a substantial profit under the management of the creditor Development Bank of Ethiopia (DBE), The Reporter has learnt.
The Company which started its operation under the ownership of DBE this year has managed to return 23 million birr in profit within the first six months alone.
It is to be recalled that in 2016, the then owners of the company Seyfettin Kocak and İImam Altinbas – investors from Turkey – after failing to pay close to one billion birr loan they have secured from DBE, has left the country in a rather unceremonious manner.
The two personalities also managed to escape the country without settling millions which they owed to cotton suppliers. Moreover, there were also attempts of intentional sabotage on the machinery in the factory.
As far as the suppliers who failed to collect their payments are concerned, they are still languishing in court seeking justice.
These very investors, who still manage a different business in Turkey, abscond with arrears of payments and loans including DBE’s. It is to be recalled that, the Bank has informed Immigration Authorities stop the two investors from leaving the country at time. However, the efforts bore no fruit.
The two investors came to Ethiopia in 2009 to invest. The time is considered to be an era where a slew of Turkish investors was interested in investing in Ethiopia. A successful effort, by the Ethiopian government and its embassy in Ankara, which was led by the then Ambassador Mulatu Teshome (PhD) – now FDRE’s president — attracted many to relocate their investments.
Mulatu during his ambassadorship in Ankara from 2006 to 2013 oversaw the relocation of giant Turkish Textile companies such Ayka Addis and MNS.
Seyfettin and İImam on their turn came to Ethiopia in order to establish a factory in Adama. The company then secured 200,000 sq. m. of land. In addition, during its stay, the factory got a financial support from the Ethiopian government via DBE, which amounted to more than 900 million birr.
It has also created around 1,000 jobs to Ethiopians as well as Turks. The company has been producing at its 95 percent installed capacity.
The company which was initially established as Else Industrial Development Plc was equally owned by Seyfettin Kocak and İImam Altinbas.
Particularly, İImam Altinbas, conducting a range of businesses in Turkey, is a part of Atinbas family who runs Altinbas Holding – an umbrella company which is involved in finance and logistics.
Furthermore, the company is also involved in the education sector. In 2008, the company established ‘Istanbul Kemerburgaz University’ later renamed as Altinbas University. The University was founded by a foundation run by a holding company called Mehmet Altınbaş Education and Culture Foundation.
In 2017, almost one year after they abandoned their investment in Ethiopia, Mulatu Teshome went to Turkey to receive an honorary doctorate from this University.
The President received a doctorate from İImam Altinbas, the then chairman of Altinbas Holding and Ali Altınbaş – the University’s Board of Trustees, as reported by Hürriyet – a Turkish leading newspaper.
During the ceremony, İImam Altinbas was quoted appreciating the support and advice he got from Mulatu while he was preparing to enter into investment activities in Ethiopia.
It is to be recalled that despite the high expectation from Turkish investment particularly in textile, it is not only Else Addis but there were also others that are not living up to the expectations.
Following this up and down, Else is now in a better condition, Desslegn Firew, CEO of Else told The Reporter.
“For next year, we are in preparations to start exporting our product,” he said.
The Company is supplying the local market.
Source: https://www.thereporterethiopia.com
