Widely known for its household appliance, Condor, the Benhamadi family group is diversified in recent years in order to be present in various areas of activity: metal construction, Building and Public Works, hotel services, building materials, real estate development, solar, agribusiness ... « We at least invest 50 millions of dollars and we recruit an average of 1000 employees each year », Explains to TSA Mr. Abdelmalek Benhamadi, CEO of the Benhamadi family group based in Bordj Bou Arreridj.
«To ensure the sustainability of the company, we need to invest in human resources as a priority and not give priority to the immediate profits », he explained. A strategy that has already yielded fruit. Today, Condor, the brand created in the early 2000s, dominates the household appliance market with «30 to 40% of market share, according to products», surpassing the South Korean giants Samsung and LG, welcomes M . Benhamadi.
Objective: a turnover of one billion dollars
The group activity actually generates a two digits growth. From 25 billion dinars in 2011, Condor turnover increased to reach more than 50 billion dinars (650 million dollars) in 2013. « Our objective is to reach the turnover of one billion dollars within the two or three upcoming years », says Mr. Benhamadi. «Condor is certainly not a prestigious brand but it successfully established itself as a provider of reliable and high quality products with competitive prices and high quality customer service. Condor clients must be dealt with properly no matter where they are», he says.
Benhamadi group in no time changed from a simple importer of household appliance into a manufacturer. «We have the only manufacturing unit of refrigerator gaskets in Algeria. In the refrigerators manufacturing, the integration rate exceeds 60% at the present time. We will manufacture all possible products in Algeria», says Mr. Benhamadi, who negotiates himself all purchases of raw materials and components from abroad. « We purchase raw materials with good prices from abroad, which enables us to sell our products with competitive prices », he says.
Condor coveted by LG
The commercial success of Condor arouses envy. Mr. Benhamadi stated that he declined an offer by LG to buy his brand. «LG proposed to stop with Condor and produce products bearing its brand. I reviewed this issue with my managers. So I said no and it was the best decision to take», he said.
Objective: 20% of the smartphones market »
While strengthening its position in the household appliance market with new products, Condor tackles the mobile phones market, with the first assembly unit in Bordj Bou Arreridj with the capacity of 3.500 unit/day. « In the beginning, I did not wanted to invest in the manufacture of mobile phones. It was a very difficult market with products that change all the time. But the situation has changed with the arrival of the smartphones. As we are already active in the IT field, we noticed that the differences are not very great. I was also driven by managers who wanted to take up the challenge. Therefore, we launched our first mobile phone, a year ago. It was a success so we invested our money in this activity», recalls Mr. Benhamadi.
A market of 5 million Smartphones
Today, Condor aims to take 20% of the smartphones market share in Algeria in 2014. « We estimate the market to be five million units per year. Our objective this year is to sell between 800 000 and 1 000 000 of smartphones. We will reach this number », he says. As in household appliance, Condor's strategy in the market of mobile phones is based on the low prices of the reliable products suggested to the consumers, according to Mr. Benhamadi. «We allowed people with low budgets to acquire a modern mobile phone», he says. « With the launch of the 3G technology, users, particularly students, need a low cost smartphone, and that's what we offered», says Mr. Benhamadi, whose group employs more than 12 000 employee.
Focus on solar
Besides Smartphones, Condor is also interested in solar as part of the diversification of its activities. Earlier this year, Condor launched a photovoltaic panels manufacturing unit, in Bordj Bou Arreridj always. The project allowed the creation of 100 new jobs and places the family group on the path of a future market. «We are leaders of this field and this is a strategic choice to invest in solar», Claims the owner of Condor, during a visit to this unit. « 50% of our customers are individuals and the other half is made up of institutions and public administration. Today, we can install an electricity production system from solar starting from 400 000 dinars », explains Mr. Benhamadi. For now, this unit carries out the mission of photovoltaic cells assembly. «The objective is to manufacture those cells here in Algeria », he says, while deploring the lack of encouragement from the state for the development of renewable energies. «The government has given to foreigners projects of solar farms installation with the total capacity of 400 megawatts while we had nothing», complains Mr. Benhamadi, which pleads for the development of the renewable energy. «Having oil does not mean that we don't have to work to develop the renewable energy. instead, we can use solar energy to produce electricity and continue the exportation of gas to get an income in hard currency», he says.
A giant complex of steel frame
At the age of 57, Mr. Abdelmalek Benhamadi, a graduate of the Higher Commercial Studies school of Algiers and of the English univesity of Exter, a merchant's son, always lurking for any investment opportunity. The latest of its projects is a manufacturing complex of steel frame, of which a part is just under construction. A total investment of 2 billion dinars. «It is a part of the group need. We found that in order to buil hangars for factories we always import many elements from abroad. So we decided to implant the largest and the most advanced Steel Frame unit in Africa», explains Mr. Benhamadi. The complex, implanted in Bordj Bou Arreridj, spreads over 100 000 square meters. The startup of all units is expected by July 2015 at the latest. «The principal objective of this project is to provide turnkey hangars to our clients, except for civil engineering works», explains the project manager.
A drug factory soon !
Continuing its diversification, Benhamadi group, goes into pharmaceutical industry. The construction works of a drug factory are expected to start by the end of 2014 in Sidi Abdellah (Algiers) with the cost of 1.5 billion dinars (15 million Euros) according to Mr. Benhamadi. Initially, the project was launched in partnership with Jordanian partners but they retreated later, explains Mr. Benhamadi. The production capacity of this factory is up to 15 million units per year. The project will create 110 jobs, he says.
