Leading Bangladeshi conglomerate taps MTI for Africa expansion

Leading Bangladeshi conglomerate The Gemcon Group has drafted in MTI Consulting as it eyes an expansion into the African electrical infrastructure and distribution market.

With more than 650 assignments in 43 countries under its belt since the boutique firm’s late-nineties inception (with offices initially established in Sri Lanka and Bahrain), strategy and management advisory MTI Consulting continues to stretch its wings in a diverse set of geographies, including recently advising various enterprises on market-entries into the US, Ukraine and Africa.

The latter consultation project has been carried out for The Gemcon Group, a leading diversified conglomerate in Bangladesh and the country’s largest manufacturer of Spun Pre-stressed Concrete Poles (SPC – which are used to support electrical transmission lines) through its engineering branch Gemcon Limited, which sits alongside operations in the retail, real estate, and food & beverage sectors among others.

After having served its home country’s electrical distribution needs since the company’s formation in 1980, Gemcon Limited is now eyeing the African market – via an initial entry into Ethiopia, the fastest growing and most dynamic economy on the continent – and has enlisted MTI Consulting to aid its entry strategy. MTI duly arranged for a Gemcon delegation to visit Addis Ababa and MTI associate BCaD Consulting. Based in the capital, BCaD was established in 1998 and provides a range of business development services including strategy formulation, value chain analysis, planning, training, and marketing, with previous assignments carried out for numerous large multilateral organisations such as the World Bank, Oxfam, USAID and GIZ. For the visiting Gemcon representatives, BCaD arranged a visit to a local SPC manufacturing plant.

BCaD is just one of the number of associates MTI collaborates with across the world – including further consulting firms on the African continent in Ghana, Angola, Cameroon, Namibia, Liberia, Lesotho and Zimbabwe – which together with its own offices and country representatives grants MTI direct access to approximately 35 countries worldwide, significantly aiding its consulting capacity on cross-border expansions.

In addition to its project with Gemcon, MTI has recently been assisting the organic Bangladeshi tea brand Teatulia launch a new product in the US – Tea Soda – following a project last year to expand the company’s bricks & mortar presence in the UK, while the consultancy has also previously smoothed Sri Lankan herbal product producer Link, famed for its Samahan tea and Sudantha toothpaste, with an earlier entry and recent expansion in Ukraine.