While searching for a successful business model that was able to paint a positive image for the Egyptian companies, one cannot go too far from the El Sewedy Electric Group, which is considered to be an Egyptian industrial pioneer in more than 15 global and African markets through 22 different establishments.
Established in 1938 as an electrical equipment trading company, Elsewedy Electric has leveraged its decades of expertise to become a key energy player in both its home market of Egypt and throughout its global operations.
El Sewedy Electric is positioned as a leading company in Africa with investments in 17 African countries over 16 years a role which is considered to be a synonym of success.
Listed on the Egyptian stock exchange, Elsewedy Electric has successfully integrated into the global market without distancing itself from the family that founded it and the country where it was launched 80 years ago.
The business, which was passed from father to son, is not only number one in power cables and telecoms in Egypt, where it owns nine factories, but it has also established itself with success in 25 countries and has nearly 14,000 employees worldwide.
The company’s strategy
The company main strategy is mainly based on leaving a footprint into the local markets which has laid the groundwork for its first-mover advantage into new markets and sectors, while supplying the most cost effective, clean technology to regional developing nations.
El Sewedy Electric believes that it should be transformed into a global pioneer through providing energy solutions and related services.
With over 83 years of experience in the MEA region, El Sewedy Electrical has managed to sustain its success with a constant focus on innovation and evolving business practices, while maintaining the highest ethical standards and meeting customer needs.
Its ambition is now to become a provider of integrated solutions, developing, equipping and managing electricity networks on national or regional levels.
Company overview
The company serves industrial, commercial, and residential clients through its five primary business lines: Wires & Cables, Turnkey, Transformers, Meters, and Electrical.
Elsewedy Electric is a fully integrated energy solutions provider — from raw materials such as metals and plastics to inputs across the spectrum of wires, cables, and electrical products, to contracting and turnkey infrastructure projects and electricity generation through competitively advantaged wind technology
Its African presence
The group has already developed around 10 turnkey installations in Angola, Ghana and Mauritania, where it has delivered electrical substations at the same time as transmission lines.
The company wants to continue to move forward on several fronts by setting up plants on the continent and selling transformers (such as in Ethiopia, Nigeria and Zambia) as well as buying land to use for industrial parks. In both areas, its market research has led Elsewedy to focus on Uganda.
The company is also on the lookout for other African markets. It set up operations in Morocco in October 2018 in the hope of participating in the country’s expanding renewables sector.
El Sewedy Electric has been operating in Africa for more than 16 years in more than 17 different countries, and it is one of the largest and most reliable development partners in Africa in the energy and infrastructure sectors, as it implements a number of major development projects in Africa,
The company is partnering with the Arab Contractors to build a dam project in Tanzania with a storage capacity of 34 billion cubic meters, along with a hydroelectric power plant with a capacity of 2115 megawatts. El Sewedy is also establishing an electrical transformer station in Congo with a total value of $ 38.6 million, in addition to other projects in Ethiopia, Uganda, and Burkina Faso.
The company also owns 7 factories in Africa for the production of power cables, wires, insulators, terminators, transformers, joint accessories, meters and systems, telecom cables and accessories, fiber optic cables and accessories, wind blades, wind towers and wind turbines, in order to contribute to the development of the African economy by providing job opportunities that represent one of the most important pillars of local development in African countries.
An ambitious CEO
When Ahmed Elsewedy took over the management of family affairs in 1986, he already knew the small trading company created by his father in 1938 by heart.
Apprenticed during his studies as an electrical engineer at Cairo University, he gradually rose through the ranks. That lucrative cable business became Arab Cables, the number-one manufacturer in the sector in Egypt. But this was not enough for the young Ahmed, who dreams of new markets.
Ahmed renamed the company Elsewedy Electric, and it joined the club of the world’s major cable producers like Prysmian and Nexans.
He pushed the company – listed on the stock exchange in May 2006 – to operate along the entire electricity chain, from production to energy distribution.
Today, the multinational company operates in seven sectors: cables, electrical products, telecoms, transformers, wind power, turnkey installations (from engineering to distribution) and energy management solutions (smart grids). This globetrotting CEO chairs the Egyptian business councils focused on China, Lebanon and Ethiopia.
