Turkish investor hails Ethiopia as ripe for business

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia

The head of a group of Turkish investors on Wednesday hailed Ethiopia as a ripe area for investment.

Serkan Mehmet Durdu, chairman of the Serdur Group, called on Turkish businessmen to invest in Africa and to prioritize Ethiopia becoming more profitable, stressing that his group has assessed Ethiopia for nearly two years.

Durdu also highlighted how much Ethiopians trust the quality of Turkish goods, citing something that happened in an Ethiopian shop.

"When I said I want the Italian brand, as the Turkish one wasn’t good, the shopkeeper stepped in to defend it, saying, ‘Why do you think the quality of Turkish goods is poor?' This made me feel very happy,” he said.

He said the Serdur group plans to open a big hotel in the capital Addis Ababa and the first-ever Turkish furniture shop by 2020.

On the importance of Turkey's exports, Durdu said that their group made an estimated $50 million in exports from Turkey to countries where their group operates.

Reporting by Tufan Aktas:Writing by Sadık Kedir Abdu