Cepheus Growth Capital Partners has invested in one of Hawassa’s ceramic makers, Tabor Ceramics Products Share Company and is to hold a “significant minority stake” in the company.
“We see Tabor ceramics as a promising investment opportunity that is very much aligned with the growth trends and trajectory of the Ethiopian economy,” Berhane Demissie and Kassaye Kebede, managing partners of Cepheus said in a statement sent to The Reporter.
For Tabor, the new partnership will give it a strategic advice, managerial and operational support from Cepheus, which is now in the midst of fundraising USD 100 million to invest within Ethiopia in areas of local manufacturing, agro-processing and in the service sector.
“We are excited to partner with Cepheus Capital, as we are at the beginning of a major factory expansion and we are also aiming to improve our management systems and internal operations, to be in line with international standard, Teshome Belamo, a member of the family owned enterprise said.
The company that makes tiles, sanitary ware, tableware, and ceramic insulators is seen as one of the signature companies of Hawassa, giving hundreds of people the much needed local employment.
Cepheus Capital is a private equity firm founded on the premise of investing in promising local firms. It has the financial support of the European Union Investment Commission, CDC group and NORFUND to the tune of USD 51 million. Earlier this year, Open Society Foundations, a foundation owned by George Soros also invested an initial investment of USD 10 million into the firm.
