BrazilMTI Consulting to help Gemcon Group with entry into Ethiopian market
Bangladeshi concrete manufacturing conglomerate Gemcon Group is looking to establish a presence in Africa using Ethiopia as an entry point, and has turned to French consultancy MTI Consulting for support with the same. The firm hopes to get involved in Africa’s growing power distribution landscape.
Infrastructure investment – particularly in the domain of power and electricity – is reported to be lacking across Africa. A report from the Boston Consulting Group last year revealed that the gap in infrastructure investment on the continent amounted to as much as $100 billion.
Several African countries have been working to fill this gap in recent years, Ethiopia being among those most active. Geothermal energy, in particular, has been the go to energy source for the country, to which end it has managed to secure support from the United States Energy Association, among a number of other investors.
The Gemcon Group is looking to capitalise on this growth in the sector, primarily as a supplier of concrete. Using Ethiopia as a base, the firm also hopes to get involved in the energy market across Africa, where a number of other countries are drawing substantial investment in power distribution.
In order to support with the entry into Ethiopia, Gemcon has turned to Bahrain-based thought leadership and strategy consultancy MTI Consulting. The firm has operations across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and offers support with corporate finance, human resource management and a number of other business operations.
Specifically, the Gemcon will be supported by MTI’s associate firm in Ethiopia – BCaD Consulting Management. The firm has been operational in the Ethiopian market for over two decades, and offers business development services in addition to support with value chain analysis, among others.
BCaD represents a particularly important partner in this scenario, given its previous experience in the domain of development. The firm has completed a number of projects with developmental organisations including the World Bank as well as the ILO, USAID and Oxfam.
The decision to make Ethiopia the point of entry for the firm came primarily due to its position amongst the fastest growing economies on the continent. In general, a combination of political stability and economic growth has made East Africa the region of preference for investors looking to enter the African market.
