Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Al Amoudi

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Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Ali Al Amoudi (Ge'ez: ሞሓመድ አልአሙዲ, Arabic: محمد حسين العمودي; is a Saudi Arabian/Ethiopian businessman and billionaire who lives in Ethiopia and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. As of 2011, his net worth has been estimated by Forbes at $12.3 billion, making him the 63rd richest person in the world. This listing also ranks him as the richest person in Ethiopia and the second richest Saudi Arabian citizen in the world. ^[1]

Al Amoudi made his fortune in construction and real estate before branching out to buy oil refineries in Sweden and Morocco. He is said to be the largest foreign investor in both Swedenand Ethiopia. There is an authorised personal website ^[2] that provides basic information on his business interests, involvements in Sweden and Ethiopia and approach to international development as well as his philanthropic activities.

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[edit]Early Years

Al Amoudi was born in Ethiopia of a Hadhrami Yemeni father and an Ethiopian mother. He grew up in Ethiopia, before immigrating to Saudi Arabia when he was 19 ^[3] and becoming a Saudi citizen.

[edit]Business Activities

Al Amoudi started investing in Sweden in the 1970s. His construction company consortium, Mohammed International Development Research and Organization Companies, also known as MIDROC, won an important contract to build Saudi Arabia's estimated $30 billion nationwide underground oil storage complex in 1988. MIDROC acquired Yanbu Steel in Saudi Arabia in 2000.^[4]

In addition to his substantial business interests in Ethiopia (see Commitment to Ethiopia below), he also owns oil refineries in Morocco and Sweden and is engaged in energy exploration and production off West Africa and elsewhere.^[5] His Addis Ababa Sheraton is said to be among the finest hotels in Africa.^[6]

Al Amoudi owns a broad portfolio of businesses not only in oil but also in mining, agriculture, hotels, hospitals, finance, operations and maintenance. His businesses are largely to be found within two conglomerate holding and operating companies, Corral Petroleum Holdings and MIDROC, both which he owns and manages. He employs over 40,000 people through these companies.^[7] He has recently pledged $275million alongside other Saudi and South Korean investors through Midroc to finance a factory to build Saudi Arabia's first car, to be called Gazal 1, in a project initiated by King Saud University.^[8]^[9]

[edit]Commitment to Ethiopia

Al Amoudi has focused investment on Ethiopia since the mid-1980s. He is committed to Ethiopia, especially to job creation and infrastructure capacity building, and is well known as aphilanthropist in his country of birth. He has built a 140-bed health care facility and supports visual impairment, disabled, children's health and poverty alleviation programmes. In the education arena, he provides overseas scholarships and is a patron of the Ethiopian arts. In 2011, he donated 10million birr to the proposed Ethiopian National Coffee Museum in Ethiopia’s Kaffa Zone.^[10]

Al Amoudi has a commitment to sport in Ethiopia. He has sponsored the CECAFA Cup, Africa's oldest football cup competition, in 2005 and 2006, during which time the tournament was known as the Al Amoudi Senior Challenge Cup.^[11] He also supports Ethiopian Premier League Club St. George^[12] and covered the medical expenses^[13] of one of Ethiopia’s most celebrated footballers, Mengistu Worku,^[14] before his death in December 2010. In 2011, he pledged 100million Ethiopian birr for a stadium and access road in Mekelle.^[15]

The Sheikh has substantial business interests in Ethiopia, largely operated through MIDROC Ethiopia which was created in 1994. He has gold mining interests in Ethiopia^[16]^[17] and 70% of NOC (National Oil Corporation) which competes with YBF, TAF and five other companies in the national petrol market.^[18] In February 2011, the Sheikh acquired 69% of Ethiopia’s sole tyre manufacturer Addis Tyre^[19] and he has a substantial investment in cement production. His major cement plant near Chancho was backed in part by the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation.^[20]^[21]

The Al Amoudi-owned Saudi Star Agricultural Development Plc planned to develop up to 500,000 hectares (1,200,000 acres) of Ethiopian land for sugar, edible oil, and grain production.^[22] In March 2011, Saudi Star announced a further investment of $2.5 billion in Ethiopian rice projects.^[23] Some 10,000 hectares have been taken up in 60-year leases and the company plans to rent an additional 290,000 hectares.^[24] The company had reportedly purchased $80 million in equipment from [Caterpillar Inc.]^[25]

[edit]Charitable Donations

Sheikh Al-Amoudi is a major philanthropist who has committed significant funds in support of healthcare and sport in Saudi Arabia, the US, Europe and Africa.^[26] He has endowed the Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Al Amoudi Center for Breast Cancer Research at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology [KAUST] ^[27] which was launched on July 4th, 2010.^[28] In addition to the Chair in Breast Cancer, the Sheikh has also funded Chairs at KAUST in Biomedical Practice Ethics, Diabetic Foot Research, Viral Hemorrhagic Fever and Water Networks Research. ^[29]

The Sheikh has also fully funded the King Abdullah Institute for Nanotechnology at King Saud University. This will open in November 2011.^[30]

Al Amoudi was named as one of the William J. Clinton Foundation Donors, according to information released as part of an obligation placed on former President Clinton when he supported Hillary Clinton's nomination as Secretary of State. Al Amoudi is reported to have donated between $1,000,001 to $5,000,000 to the foundation.^[31] His $20m commitment (over a decade) in partnership with the Foundation has been designed specifically to target resources at AIDS.^[32]

[edit]Legal Issues

On 8th December 2010 the Sheikh initiated a claim in the British High Court against Elias Kifle of the Washington, D.C.-based Ethiopian Review claiming damages for libel and an injunction to restrain from further publication of allegedly defamatory statements in the magazine. ^[33] Kifle failed to meet a deadline for filing a defense and, on January 27th, 2011, the Queen's Bench Division of the High Court of Justice ordered a default judgement against Kifle. ^[34]

[edit]Honors and Recognition

In addition to ranking 63rd on the Forbes Billionaire List in 2011, Sheikh Al Amoudi has been ranked among the 100 richest persons by Forbes since 2006. ^[35] He was awarded anHonorary Doctorate in Philosophy from Addis Ababa University and has been honoured with the Order of the Polar Star by King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden.^[36] Al Amoudi was also jointly honoured by the World Bank and State Department for his work in supporting African development.^[37] This was the first time that the World Bank had hosted such an event for a private sector investor.

The Sheikh was honoured for his achievements in both the economic and philanthropic areas at the 19th Arab Economic Forum Summit in Beirut in June 2011, with special reference to his commitment to sustainable development^[38] and, in 2009, King Abdullah personally awarded a King Saud University gold medal to the Sheikh, alongside other senior Saudi businessmen, in recognition of his and their role as strategic partners in the development of educational and welfare projects.^[39]

Within Black American popular culture, the Sheikh has also been pointed out as a self-made man who offers a positive role model for American youth. ^[40]

[edit]Personal Life

Al Amoudi splits his residence between Ethiopia and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He is married to Sofia Saleh Al Amoudi, a Saudi citizen and shareholder of MIDROC Construction.^[41] She is also chair of the board of the Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Al Amoudi Center for Breast Cancer Research at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. ^[42]

[edit]References

[edit]External links

Mohammed Al Amoudi is the richest black man in the World

Friday, July 8, 2011