EXECUTIVE INTERVIEWS > PUBLIC SECTOR
POWERING THE NATION
Mohammed Osman Al-Badri is CEO of Al-Badri Power Company. Mohammed studied business administration at the University of Khartoum and graduated with a BA with Honors, followed by a Masters of Science then finally completed a Doctorate. During our interview Mohammed said “I have a firm belief since university that Sudan is a country of wasted opportunities, so I decided to make my way into the field of business and did not apply for a job or attended any interviews, even though my father was a professor at the University of Khartoum with limited income”
My career in business started when I entered the field of transport with one truck, then
my company quickly developed which lead into supplying heavy machinery due to a growing demand at the time. The same clients requested for other complimentary products which naturally resulted in taking a strategic decision in 2011, to become a fully integrated supplier of equipment to the mining industry. In 2014, we were appointed as exclusive agents of power generator suppliers YorPower of the UK. In 2016, we added another brand to our portfolio, by signing an exclusive agency agreement with the first company in the world to produce power generators, Lister Petter of the UK. Finally in 2017, we signed an exclusivity agreement with another UK power generator supplier, Welland Power. Thus, Al-Badri Power is now one of the most important players in the field of power generators
in the Sudanese market.
In Sudan there are more than ten brands of power generators of different origins to meet the local demand. It was necessary to search for additional added value services in this field, and
we decided to be the first in the assembly of power generators in Sudan. In 2018, we launched a power generator assembly factory in Sudan and started constructing the factory at the
end of 2018 due to the political circumstances, including the great December Revolution, followed by the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.
We finally completed the construction phase in April 2021, and now the factory is in the technical preparation phase, and we expect production to start in December 2021.
British engineering and products are in great demand in Sudan, however considered expensive. How do you convince Sudanese end-users that quality generators are less expensive in the long run?
After the recent power outages in Sudan, clients’ conviction in genuine British power generators grew immensely, because they are the most resilient, and capable of withstanding long hours of operation under high temperatures. Despite the price differentiation, the demand remains high, especially in complex sectors such as mining and agriculture. Clients eventually concluded to opt for quality versus the cheaper considering the age of the generator and its need for maintenance compared to its counterparts manufactured in
other countries.
Customer service is the tip of the spear in the sales process. We heavily invested in the after-sales service department as the highest priority for business continuity. We have distributed maintenance teams in different regions of Sudan, therefore we have a high degree of customer satisfaction, which is clear in the reports and the volume of repeat client purchases.
The main challenges we face working in Sudan is the difficulty of opening letters of credits through local banks, as most of the import operations are made from natural resources or the amounts allocated through the auctions from the Bank of Sudan, unlike other countries which provide financing and import credit facilities for companies which have opportunities.
We entered the solar energy field and now in the process of negotiating to sign an exclusive
agency agreement with one of the largest manufacturers of wind energy in the world and we will
announce it in due course.
Sudan Business Magazine
