World Biz+ Africa Expatriates Talk About Their Passion for Contributing to “Nation-Building” With a Multinational Team.

The year 1960 was a memorable year, as 17 African countries gained independence from their former colonial rulers. Sumitomo Corporation recognized the potential inherent in Africa even before that and established its first outpost in Cairo, Egypt in 1954. Since then, 118 Sumitomo Corporation employees at 11 bases in 11 countries have been working to solve social issues in rapidly developing Africa while establishing roots in their respective local communities.

In the past, we focused mainly on trade in mineral resources, automobiles, chemicals, food products and woodchips. Through the 2000s, we expanded our operations in the resources sector, investing in an Iron and Steel Making Raw Materials Company in South Africa and taking part in the Ambatovy Project in Madagascar. In the 2010s, we entered the infrastructure sector, including a wind power generation project in South Africa and a power generation project in Ghana. In recent years, we have begun to engage in consumer businesses that directly engage the people of Africa. The first project we worked on involved our participation in Ethiopia’s integrated telecommunications industry, as the fourth pillar of our business.

Since I joined Sumitomo Corporation, I’ve been involved in the Ambatovy Project in Madagascar, which is one of the world’s largest nickel and cobalt production project and involves integrated operation from ore mining to refining to high-grade metal. Until June 2021, I was working at Tokyo head office and in charge of overall operations, budget planning, investment and financing practices, and support for Ambatovy’s financial modeling. I was then dispatched to the project site in Madagascar in July 2021. I now mainly in charge of management of cash flow, finance and operating insurance arrangement.

In this project, nickel ore mined in the Mulamanga district, about 70–80 km from the capital of Madagascar, is transported through a 220 km pipeline to the processing plant located in the costal port city of Toamasina, where the ore is then processed and refined to high-grade nickel metal. In addition to the main product of high-grade nickel metal, high-grade cobalt metal and ammonium sulfate are also produced as by-products, that are then sold. Nickel is mainly used to produce stainless steel. Further growth in demand for automotive battery materials is expected in line with the expansion of the worldwide electric vehicle market in recent years. With approximately 30 years remaining life of the mine, this is a long-term project that will supply nickel and cobalt to Japan and the rest of the world over the next quarter-century.

The Ambatovy Project is also a key contributor to the Madagascar economy, with total payments to the government from the project accounting for about 2% of the country’s national budget in 2022. It counts towards approximately 30% of the country’s total exports, making it an important source of foreign currency. As well as creating more than 10,000 jobs, the project provides vocational training and internship programs, mainly for industrial engineers. The project’s processing plant is currently symbolically depicted on Madagascar’s highest denomination banknote. I find it highly rewarding and feel the great responsibility of being involved in this project that symbolizes the country’s economy and hopes for future development.

I am currently on temporary assignment to Safaricom Ethiopia, a mobile telecommunications company in Ethiopia, where I am mainly engaged in project management and business development.

Ethiopia is a young and vibrant country with the second largest population in Africa (120 million) and a median age of 18.5 years. Despite its promising market, until now there has been only one state-owned telecommunications company, and the rate of penetration of mobile phone usage has remained low. Seeing this, Sumitomo Corporation dispatched employees to Ethiopia in 2019 to conduct market research on how mobile phones are used in Ethiopia.

Subsequently, Ethiopia decided to open up its telecommunications market to foreign companies, and Sumitomo Corporation and the Vodafone Group, a major U.K. telecommunications company, began a joint venture to develop a mobile telecommunications service in the country. After winning the bid, we launched the business from scratch, and the service was officially started operation in October 2022. By the end of December 2023, more than 9 million people had subscribed to the service, and 900 local employees had been hired. Furthermore, the mobile payment service “M-PESA” provided by Safaricom has made a strong start with the number of users exceeding 3.1 million in just over 4 month after the service was launched in August 2023.