Mohammed Al Amoudi

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Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Ali Al Amoudi (Ge'ez: ሞሓመድ አልአሙዲ, Arabic: محمد حسين العمودي; born 1946 in Dessie, Ethiopia but grew up in Weldiya). [ [http://www.ethiosports.com/Sheikh_Mohammed_Hussein_Al_Amoudi.html Ethiopian Sports] ] [PDFlink| [http://www.nai.uu.se/library/resources/dossiers/local_history_of_ethiopia/vw/ORTWEL.pdf "Weldiya"] |135 KiB , "Local History of Ethiopia". The Nordic African Institute, 2005.] is a Saudi Arabian /Ethiopian business magnate who lives in Ethiopia and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. In 2008, Forbes magazine ranks Mohammed Al Amoudi as the 77th richest person in the world [ [http://www.forbes.com/lists/2008/10/billionaires08_Mohammed-Al-Amoudi_AQ88.html Forbes March 5, 2008] ] with a net worth of $9 billion. Mohammed Al Amoudi is Ethiopia's richest person and the richest black person in the world [ [http://nazret.com/blog/index.php?title=ethiopia_al_amoudi_is_the_97th_richest_p&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1 nazret.com] ] In 2006 his net worth was estimated as between $2.5 and $6.9 billion, causing "Arabian Business" to rank him as the world's 8th richest Arab, and "Forbes" to rank him as the world's 77th richest person. [ [http://www.arabianbusiness.com/richlist/list.php "Arabian Business"] estimates his worth at $2.5 billion, [http://www.forbes.com/lists/2006/10/AQ88.html "Forbes"] at $6.9 billion.] Al Amoudi's father is Yemeni and his mother is Ethiopian. He immigrated to Saudi Arabia in 1965 and became a Saudi citizen. Depending on disparate ethnic categorizations, and Al Amoudi's mixed Ethiopian and Yemeni parentage, he is one of the richest Arabs. [ [http://www.arabianbusiness.com/richlist/list.php The World's 50 Richest Arabs] (Arabian Business)]

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 Sweden and Ethiopia. He holds an Honorary Doctorate in Philosophy from the Addis Ababa University and has been honoured with the Swedish Royal Order of the Polar Star by King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden.

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Business activity

Al Amoudi owns a broad portfolio of businesses not only in oil but also in mining, agriculture, hotels, hospitals, finance, operations and maintenance. Some have said he is gaining monopoly on businesses in Ethiopia, but there seem to be other wealthy Ethiopians to challenge some of his companies. Despite losing bids to Al Amoudi, CEO Girma of Ethiopian Airlines said Al Amoudi's work is a healthy competition, saying "growth and competition, it is good for everybody." [ [http://www.addisfortune.com/Addis%20Catering%20Receives%20Land%20Despite%20Ethiopian%20Objection.htm Healthy business competition] ]

His businesses are largely to be found within two conglomerate holding and operating companies, Corral Petroleum Holdings and MIDROC (Mohammed International Development Research and Organization Companies), which he owns and manages. He employs over 40,000 people through these companies.

Commitment to East Africa

Al Amoudi has focused his East African investments on Ethiopia since the mid-1980s. MIDROC Ethiopia was created in 1994. He is strongly committed to Ethiopia, especially job creation and infrastructure capacity building. He is also well known as a philanthropist in his birth country and 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. Al Amoudi has sponsored the CECAFA Cup, Africa's oldest cup competition for the last three years, during which time the football tournament has been known as the Al Amoudi Senior Challenge Cup. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/africa/4471526.stm Cecafa Cup preview] , "BBC", November 25, 2005]

Al Amoudi is a frequent visitor to the UK and the US where he has further business interests and was jointly honoured by the World Bank and State Department for his work in supporting African development. This was the first time that the World Bank had hosted such an event for a private sector investor.

Popular culture

As of October 2007, Mohammed Al Amoudi had become the subject of e-mail spam, in which an ostensible ex-wife claims to have access to Al Amoudi's fortune.cite web|url=http://repository.izone.me.uk/repository.pl?action=read_email&email=20070911040443&month=October&year=2007|title=I await your respond in my email asap|accessdate=2007-12-11|format=HTML|work=419 Scam Email Repository|date=2007-10-11|quote=If you want to know more about my ex-husband Mohammad Al Amoudi visit this site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammad_Al_Amoudi] The e-mail includes a link to Mohammed Al Amoudi's Wikipedia article.

References

External links

* [http://nazret.com/blog/index.php?title=ethiopia_al_amoudi_is_the_97th_richest_p&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1 nazret.com]
* [http://nazret.com/blog/index.php?blog=14&title=sheikh_mohammed_h_al_amoudi_documentary_&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1 Mohammed Al Amoudi Documentary Video]
* [http://www.forbes.com/lists/2006/10/AQ88.html Forbes' World's Richest People]