FMCG giant to open manufacturing plant in Ethiopia

Unilever UNA, the world’s second-biggest consumer-products maker, plans to open a manufacturing plant in Ethiopia “within the next year” in a bid to emulate its expansion into Vietnam, a company official said, according to an exclusive report by Bloomberg Africa.

The company is renting premises for a plant in the Chinese-built Eastern Industry Zone in Dukem, 31 kilometres (19 miles) southeast of Addis Ababa, Dougie Brew, head of corporate affairs in Africa, reportedly said in a phone interview to Bloomberg. Unilever, which already imports Knorr stock cubes and Omo detergent into Ethiopia, may initially make fabric-cleaning soaps before moving into food, he said.

“The plans are ambitious for Ethiopia because we see it as a growing market,” Brew was quoted as saying. “We’ve taken a long-term investment decision in Ethiopia because of the demography, broad-based growth and opportunity to create a genuinely inclusive and sustainable business model from scratch.”