| Bio/Wiki | |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Mohammed Hussein Ali Al Amoudi |
| Profession | Businessman |
| Physical Stats | |
| Height (approx.) | 5' 8" (173 cm) |
| Eye Colour | Dark Brown |
| Hair Colour | Salt & Pepper |
| Career | |
| Awards, Honours | • 1997- Rank of Commander, Order of the Polar Star by King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden • 2003- Honorary Doctorate from Addis Ababa University • 2007- Order of the Polar Star by King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden • 2011- Honoured at the 19th Arab Economic Forum Summit for his achievements in economics and philanthropy |
| Personal Life | |
| Date of Birth | 21 July 1946 (Sunday) |
| Age (as of 2025) | 79 Years |
| Birthplace | Dessie, Ethiopia |
| Zodiac sign | Cancer |
| Nationality | Saudi, Ethiopian |
| Hometown | Weldiya |
| Religion | Islam |
| Controversies | • Arrested on the order of Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman On 4 November 2017, Mohammed Hussein Al Amoudi was arrested in Saudi Arabia by order of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during a "corruption crackdown" led by the prince’s anti-corruption committee. He was held for 14 months and was finally released on 27 January 2019. ((The New York Times)) • Defamation Case In 2010, Mohammed Hussein Al Amoudi took legal action in the English High Court against Elias Kifle, publisher and editor-in-chief of the Ethiopian Review website based in Washington, D.C., for publishing false and damaging claims. The article said that Mohammed Hussein Al Amoudi was likely involved in the murder of his daughter's partner in Iraq and had chased his daughter and granddaughter across London to have them stoned to death in Saudi Arabia. He told the court he was shocked by the article, which he said was completely untrue and had been available on the website from January to August 2010. In July 2011, the court ordered Elias Kifle to pay £175,000 in damages for spreading false information. ((BBC)) • Al Amoudi v. Brisard case In 2005, Mohammed Hussein Al Amoudi, who normally lived in Saudi Arabia but spent around two-and-a-half months a year in England, sued Swiss resident Jean Charles Brisard and his Swiss company, JCB Consulting International SARL. Jean Charles Brisard, who said he is an expert on terrorist financing, mentioned Mohammed Hussein Al Amoudi in two reports on the JCB website. He suggested that Mohammed might be knowingly involved in the financial or terrorist networks of Osama Bin Laden. Al Amoudi took legal action and sued him for defamation. Brisard had wrongly accused Al Amoudi of funding terrorism after the 9/11 attacks but later apologized. The judge said the claims were untrue and confirmed that Al Amoudi is strongly against all forms of terrorism. ((Pinsent Masons)) |
| Social Media | • Facebook |
| Relationships & More | |
| Marital Status | Married |
| Family | |
| Wife/Spouse | Sofia Saleh Al Amoudi (Businesswoman) |
| Children | Son- 1 Daughters- 7  |
| Parents | Father- Al-Hajj Sheikh Husayn Ali Al-Amoudi (Businessman) (Deceased) Mother- (Deceased) |
| Money Factor | |
| Net Worth (approx.) | $9.07 billion (as of 2025) ((Addis Insight)) |
Some Lesser Known Facts About Mohammed Hussein Al Amoudi
- Mohammed Hussein Al Amoudi is of Yemeni-Ethiopian ancestry, as his father is Yemeni and his mother is from the Wollo Province in Ethiopia.
- In the 1960s, Mohammed Hussein Al Amoudi’s father moved to Saudi Arabia with his brother Mauricet, and he eventually became a Saudi citizen.
- His father was a descendant of the 13th-century Hadhrami Sufi scholar and saint, Sa’eed ibn Isa Al-Amoudi.
- In the 1990s, Mohammed was ranked as Ethiopia’s richest man.
- In 1994, he founded Mohammed International Development Research and Organisation Companies (MIDROC), which is an Ethiopian mining and oil company. With Mohammed’s guidance, MIDROC holds operations in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
- Mohammed holds big investments in the energy sector in Sweden, managed from Stockholm.
- In 1994, he bought Sweden’s OK Petroleum (later renamed Preem Petroleum) through a company called Corral Petroleum AB. Today, Preem is a leader in making renewable fuels and is focused on an important project at the Lysekil Refinery.
- Al Amoudi’s consortium of construction companies, known as Mohammed International Development Research and Organisation Companies (MIDROC), secured a contract in the late 1990s to construct Saudi Arabia’s estimated $30 billion nationwide underground oil storage complex. In 2000, MIDROC also acquired Yanbu Steel in Saudi Arabia.
- Mohammed Hussein’s MIDROC holds significant gold mining interests in Ethiopia.
- It was also reported that Mohammed’s company, named ‘Preem’ refines a total of just over 18 million tonnes of crude oil per year.
- In 1996, Mohammed Hussein Al Amoudi wholly took ownership of the Swedish-based oil company named ‘Svenska Petroleum Exploration AB’ (Svenska), which focuses on energy exploration and production off West Africa and elsewhere.
- In 1998, Mohammed established the Sheraton Addis Hotel, which is an American international hotel chain.
- The Sheraton Addis Hotel in Ethiopia was one of Mohammed International Development Research and Organisation Companies’ (MIDROC) early projects, which also reflected on Mohammed Hussein’s commitment to investing in his home country, Ethiopia. His hotel is also said to be among the finest hotels in Africa.
- He owns business ventures in many fields such as construction, energy, agriculture, mining, hotels, healthcare, and manufacturing.
- In the late 1990s, Mohammed Hussein founded the ‘MIDROC Gold Mine,’ which is a subsidiary of MIDROC Ethiopia. It was also reported that the company paid the Ethiopian government 100.1 million birr in royalties, which was the largest contribution made by any mining company.
- Mohammed Hussein also acquired a 20-year concession for the Lega Dembi Gold Mine from the Ethiopian government in 1998.
- Mohammed’s MIDROC Gold Mine is Ethiopia’s sole gold exporter. His Lega Dembi Mine has a yearly average production of around 4500 kg of gold and silver every year, and is also the largest gold mine in Ethiopia.
- He sponsored the CECAFA Cup, which is Africa’s oldest football tournament, in 2005 and 2006. Because of his support, the tournament was called the Al Amoudi Senior Challenge Cup during those years.
- Since 2007, supported Ethiopian Premier League club Saint George Sports Club, which is based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and he also pledged to fund the construction of a new stadium for the club.
- Mohammed made a substantial investment in cement production through Durba Midroc, which was founded in 2008.
- In the same year, Mohammed Hussein funded King Saud University’s enhanced oil recovery research chair. He also fully funded the King Abdullah Institute for Nanotechnology at King Saud University in Riyadh.
- In 2010, he pledged to contribute US$275 million, along with other Saudi and South Korean investors through his company MIDROC, to fund a factory for producing Saudi Arabia’s first car, named the Gazal-1, which was a project launched by King Saud University.
- Mohammed Hussein also covered the medical expenses of an Ethiopian footballer, Mengistu Worku, before his death in December 2010.
- In 2011, he was ranked as the second richest Saudi Arabian citizen in the world by Forbes, alongside being recognised as the 63rd richest person globally. During that time, Mohammed’s estimated net worth was $12.3 billion.
- In the same year, Mohammed Hussein said he would invest about US$1.07 billion (4 billion Saudi Riyals) in two big industrial projects in Saudi Arabia, out of which one was for phosphate products in Ras Al-Khair and another for sulfur in Jubail Industrial City.
- In 2011, Mohammed’s company, Mohammed International Development Research and Organisation Companies, made 1.4bn birr (US$70M) of profits.
- In the same year, Mohammed Hussein Al Amoudi acquired 70% of ‘National Oil Ethiopia Plc’ (NOC), which is a private company that sells oil and other petroleum products. It competes with YBF, TAF OIL and five other companies in the national petrol market.
- In 2011, he acquired 69% of Ethiopia’s sole tyre manufacturer company named ‘Addis Tyre.’
- His large cement plant near Chancho received partial support from the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation. In July 2011, it was announced that the Ethiopian Electric Power Company (EEPco) would supply the Derba cement plant with 50 megawatts of electricity.
- The company ‘Saudi Star Agricultural Development Plc,’ which is owned by Mohammed Hussein, planned to use up to 500,000 hectares (1.2 million acres) of land in Ethiopia to grow sugar, cooking oil crops, and grains. In 2011, Mohammed also announced he would invest another $2.5 billion in rice farming projects in Ethiopia.
- For ‘Saudi Star Agricultural Development Plc,’ Mohammed purchased $80 million in equipment from Caterpillar Inc., which is an American construction, mining, and other engineering equipment manufacturer.
- Mohammed Hussein also owns land used for growing coffee. His company, Ethio Agri-CEFT, got 2,295 hectares (5,670 acres) of land in Ethiopia’s Sheka Zone, but only 1,010 hectares have been planted with coffee and shade trees. The rest is still natural forest.
- In 2011, he gave 10 million birr (about US$500,000) to help build the Ethiopian National Coffee Museum in the Kaffa Zone.
- In the same year, after the then-Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi asked the public to help fund the Renaissance Dam in northwest Ethiopia, which was triple the country’s hydroelectric power, Mohammed Hussein promised to donate 1.5 billion birr (about US$88 million).
- In 2011, he pledged to donate 100 million Ethiopian birr for a stadium and access road in Mek’ele.
- In 2012, Mohammed and Italy’s ‘Danieli & C Officine Meccaniche SpA’ signed a US$600 million deal to build the nation’s biggest steel plant in order to meet growing steel demand in Ethiopia and East Africa. The steel plant was the nation’s biggest plant, and the project aimed to significantly boost Ethiopia’s steel production capacity.
- He provided financial support for healthcare and sports initiatives in Saudi Arabia, the US, Europe, and Africa. In 2012, he funded the establishment of a breast cancer research centre at the public research university named King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
- In 2016, Mohammed Hussein Al Amoudi was listed as one of the people who gave money to the William J. Clinton Foundation. This information was shared because former President Clinton had to reveal it when he supported Hillary Clinton becoming Secretary of State.
- Mohammed Hussein was said to have donated between 5 and 10 million US dollars to the William J. Clinton Foundation.
- In 2017, Mohammed Hussein Al Amoudi officially opened the Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Ali Al-Amoudi Stadium. The stadium cost over $22 million to build and took four and a half years to finish.
- He is the largest individual foreign investor in Ethiopia and a major investor in Sweden.
- In 2024, Mohammed Hussein Al Amoudi returned to Ethiopia after departing from the country for seven years.
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