Mohammed Hussein Ali Al-‘Amoudi (Amharic: ሞሐመድ አልዐሙዲ?, Arabic: محمد حسين العمودي) is a Saudi Arabian and Ethiopian billionaire businessman. In 2016, his net worth was estimated by Forbes at approximately $10.9 billion and a relative fall in net value was linked to the global fall in oil and gold prices at the time of estimation.[1] He was also listed as Ethiopia’s richest man, the second richest Saudi Arabian citizen in the world and the second richest black person in the world.[2] Al Amoudi made his fortune in construction and real estate before branching out to buy oil refineries in Sweden and Morocco. He is the largest individual foreign investor in Ethiopia and a major investor in Sweden.
Business activities
Al Amoudi owns a broad portfolio of businesses in construction, energy, agriculture, mining, hotels, healthcare and manufacturing amongst others. 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 70,000 people through these companies.
Al Amoudi’s construction company consortium, Mohammed International Development Research and Organization Companies, also known as MIDROC, won a 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.
In addition to his business interests in Ethiopia, he also owns oil refineries in Morocco and Sweden (Svenska Petroleum Exploration AB) and is engaged in energy exploration and production off West Africa and elsewhere. His Addis Ababa Sheraton is said to be among the finest hotels in Africa.
He has recently pledged US$275 million 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 and, in September 2011, it was announced that he planned to invest around US$1.07bn (4bn Saudi Riyals) in two major Saudi industrial projects (phosphate derivatives and sulfur) in Ras Al Khair [Eastern Region] and Jubail Industrial City respectively.
Ethiopian investments
Al Amoudi has invested in Ethiopia since the mid-1980s. He now has business interests there, largely operated through MIDROC Ethiopia which was created in 1994. In 2011 it made 1.3bn birr (US$70m) of profits.
Saudi Arabian/Ethiopian businessman and billionaire, Mohammed Al-Amoudi has an estimated net worth of $8.33 billion in January 2018. The son of Saudi father and Ethiopian mother, Al Amoudi started investing in Sweden in the 1970s. His construction company Midroc scored a contract to build Saudi Arabia’s nationwide underground oil storage complex in 1988; estimated $30 billion project solidified his fortune. Mohammed Al-Amoudi is the richest black person in the world. He has been investing in Ethiopia since the late 1980s.
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