Summary
· Mr Dewji, who was recently named one of Africa’s richest people, said Africa misses right policies to unlock the potential of the sector.
Dar es Salaam. Tanzanian tycoon Mohamed Dewji has challenged African
policies which, he said, have gaps that need to be filled to support large
scale investments in agriculture as he eyes to expand his agribusiness ventures
with a $200 million investment.
Mr Dewji, who was recently named one
of Africa’s richest people, said Africa misses right policies to unlock the
potential of the sector.
“Why are we still importing food
while we have 40 percent of the arable land in the world and we have the young
population? All we need is a little bit of technology and capital,” he told CNN
in an interview.
The chief executive of Mohamed
Enterprises Tanzania Limited (MeTL) Group fondly known as Mo, was recently
ranked by Forbes as the 13th wealthiest individual in Africa and the 1,913th
globally with a fortune of $1.5 billion. In last year’s list, Mo was ranked
15th.
MeTL Group is active in textile
manufacturing, flour milling, beverages and edible oils.
He explained that he wants to
improve his focus on grain crops such as wheat and corn, and then the edibles
like sunflowers, soybeans and palm.
“When you are talking about an
economy that is $70 billion, and if you are doing $2.5 billion of revenue, you
cannot be in only one line of business. I am over 150 lines of businesses,” he
said.
When asked about his bestselling
product, he revealed that it will be his carbonated soft drink ‘Mo-Extra’ of
which he sells nearly one billion bottles annually.
“We plan to set up factories in
areas where Coca-Cola and Pepsi are setting up across Tanzania, and I hope to
reach 3.5 billion bottles in the next 24 to 36 months,” he said.
MeTL has a presence in other African
countries such as Uganda, Ethiopia Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Zambia, Mozambique,
Malawi, DR Congo.a
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