Walia Plc to Erect Second Steel Factory
ADDIS ABABA – Walia Steel Industry Private Limited Company, one of the fastest growing manufacturing firms in Ethiopia, is set to open a new steel factory on 100,000 square meters of land.
The new factor, S.H Steel Manufacturing, is a joint venture company with foreign company, and built in the capital, Addis Ababa around Haile Garment. It will be able to process 500,000 metric tons of steel, according to Badege Kebede, General Manager of Walia Steel.
Walia Steel has 60 percent share in the new factory, while the remaining is covered by a foreign investor. The new factory is built with a total investment capital of $11 million and is set to create jobs for 200 employees and produces reinforcement bar and wire pod, according to Badege.
“In the future we plan to build a strong construction inputs manufacturing brand in Africa. To further expand our investments and create more jobs and boost our tax and related contributions to the government,” he said, urging the government to give priority to the companies engaged in the manufacturing sector to access quickly hard currency for importing raw materials.
“For now to help us get some amount of hard currency to import raw materials for our steel manufacturing, we are engaged in export of coffee establishing a separate company,” he said.
Walia Steel Industry is one of the companies owned by Sisay Investment Group. Focusing on the construction sector, the Group has invested in over half a dozen companies ranging from real estate, construction,paint manufacturing to mineral water bottling.
Walia Steel Industry, Best Paint Industry, Best Plastic Industry, Best Plastic Pipe Industry, Sebeta Mineral Water Bottling, Horizon General Construction and A/Amba Real Estate are currently owned by SisayInvestment Group.
“Over the past years we managed to launch new factories by re-inventing our profits on different projects,” Bedege said.
The Sisay Investment Group is owned by a visionary and entrepreneurial-minded individual – Sisay Tesfaye whose background is business administration, and began his investment journey byestablishing a small plastic manufacturing company about two decades ago.
Walia Steel Industry has created jobs for over a 1,000 employees including the temporary staff, according to Badege, who also coordinates activities of the group companies.
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Walia Steel Industry (WSI) already has is a factory in Alemgena town, which is 20km away from Addis Ababa [Photo File].
