Company History

Prior the company establishment - the founder Allo Mahe undertook an intensive studies searching for suitable area by conducting reconnaissance survey with the aid of the investigation results of the Geological Survey of Ethiopia, starting from Hadar and Warssiesso.

Afar Bentonite is established in 2014 by an Afar entrepreneur by the name Allo Mahe with an exploration license from Afar National Regional Government with a vision of creating a preferable indigenous and sustainable bentonite mining company.

Alo Mahe has been intensively engaged on carrying out the required geological and mineralogical studies and tests with various stakeholders including a local company called Origin mining consultancy PLC, Geological Survey institution of Ethiopia and two France international consultants, namely “Daniel Perez consultants S.A.S” and “Saphir investment” to confirm and certify the quality of Afar bentonite material is significantly above the average market quality. Based on this exploration work the company has been able to acquire a mining license from responsible body called Afar Region Bureau of Mines, Water and Energy with License No. 431/10. Through those processes the mining company tries to process the mineral in a small cottage factory.

Based on the collective agreement signed by all of the shareholders (including former shareholders) and authenticated by the Afar National Regional Government Document Authentication Directorate on August 22, 2022. With the invitation of Ato Alo Mahe (major shareholder) Ato Arega Ayenew joined Afar Bentonite and took over the management and invested a capital of ETB 150 million in exchange for 30% of the company shares. Arega Ayenew is one of the prominent business men in Ethiopia with more than 20 years of experience international trading, manufaturing and servive businesses. He owns and operates Polly Propylene Woven Bags factory, Foam and Plastic factory, HDPE pipe and granule factory, Ribbon factory,LDPE plastic sheets manufactory and Post Consumer bottles recycling and crushing plants employing over 450 employees. He is also in to construction machinery rental including excavators, loaders and trucks.

Ato Alemayehu Tsegaye Eshete - with extensive experience in various sectors in the Ethiopian business environment took over the management and started reforming and restructuring the company. Ato Alemayehu has an extensive hands on experience in Marketing, Finance, Operations, managemnet and other cross functional areas of business in international trading, manufacturing, agro processing among others. He has Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree Specializing in Marketing, Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in Accounting & Finance, various certifications on business management disciplines such as management, Accounting & Finance, Ethiopian tax laws, IFRS, Insurance, Export & Import,a global Commerce License (GCL).