BOOKER TATE | ETHIOPIA

During the 1970’s and 1980’s one of the most prominent news stories related to almost continual and exacerbating famines in Ethiopia. However, to Mark’s considerable surprise, Booker Tate agricultural experts advised that there was no better place in the world to grow sugar. The combination of the continued famines and suitability of local sugar production made this idea impossible to resist. Booker Tate made a number of studies and identified the perfect location next to the Finchaa river in the Ethiopian highlands. Booker Tate was able to use its expertise to raise $260 million by 1989 to build what became known as Finchaa Sugar.

The following conversation between Mark Goodwin and Meredith Belbin is an excerpt from Mark's upcoming book:

"Meredith: So why is Ethiopia so favourable for sugar?

Mark: It has a number of factors. First of all the soil in the highlands is very good, but because of the altitude it has bright sunshine in the day and cooler nights. The cool nights make the sugar cane much sweeter than the humid environment of the Caribbean for example. The yield of sugar per hectare in Ethiopia is much higher than the Caribbean. Then there is the abundance of water for irrigation from the Finchaa River that runs into the White Nile. Above all the Ethiopians are among the best managers and engineers in Africa. They have a great culture, history and education system. Of course the icing on the cake was that there was such a shortage of sugar in Ethiopia that everything we could grow was needed.

Meredith: So everything pointed to it being a perfect place for a sugar plantation. But at this time the President was General Mengistu, not an easy person to deal with.  How did you handle the situation?

Mark: We were determined to make this a beautiful and vast farm, a grand project irrespective of the politics. So we modelled it and found that we needed about $260 million to develop it.

Meredith: That is a huge sum in the 1980’s for a farm. Why so much for a farm and how could you do that in Ethiopia?

Mark: The amount is huge because in addition to a factory there is a need for all the infrastructure, housing, irrigation, roads and schools. It is almost as if you are building a large town of about a hundred square miles. But you are right. At first glance it doesn’t look possible to raise that amount of money for a project in Ethiopia despite all the other merits.

Meredith: Did you ever get any criticism generally about growing so much sugar.

Mark: It is all very well to think about this in a country where there is a significant level of obesity in the population, but in Africa when so many children were dying of malnutrition and one could save their lives with small amounts of boiled water, sugar, salt and lime juice any criticism is completely misplaced. The consumption of sugar in Ethiopia was less than five per cent of the European average before we built this farm, so the need for extra calories was quite different. The other aspect is that sugar cane was discovered by the Persians and Greeks in about the sixth century BCE as “reeds that produce honey without bees”, and it has not caused them any problems in moderation over the last two and a half thousand years.

Booker Tate became determined to realise this farm. It became my most important project. I asked a colleague Peter Cheshire to work almost full time on the development of this scheme. We identified the potential suppliers of all the equipment.  We then asked them if their Governments would supply a loan on more favourable terms to Ethiopia.  Many countries like Sweden, Australia, Spain, Yugoslavia, and the UK, were happy to do this.  Once we sensed the plan was feasible Peter presented the idea, with a scale model of the farm, to the Ethiopian Government. President Mengistu told us that if we could raise the money then we could build and manage the farm.

Meredith: So what happened next?

Mark: It took us a couple of years but we raised the entire $260 million at an overall interest rate of about half a per-cent. It was quite an extraordinary effort by Peter and his team. For the countries involved it was also a perfect use of their aid money as we were building something needed for the future as well as generating significant employment. Most countries gave their aid as an almost interest free loan in return for the equipment supply. Of course once we presented this to the Ethiopian Government they were delighted and we started the project.

Meredith: How long did it take to build?

Mark: Several years.

Meredith: How is it now?      

Mark: From time to time I go on the internet and look up the Finchaa Sugar Estate and see how they performed in the previous harvest. It seems to be still going well. I notice that the Booker Tate role has got a little “lost in translation” as we are referred to as “Bukers”! The factory capacity is now 4,000 tonnes of sugar per day and the farm extends to 270 square miles. It appears that the factory is still expanding, which is how it should be since it such a wonderful place to grow sugar. I am very proud to have played a part in this story. The Ethiopians are such wonderful people. I remember driving up to the farm with Lord Jellicoe and seeing what seemed to be almost a Biblical land.  There were horses covered with tapestry saddles, tassels and an impression of richness from the soil.

Meredith: What do you think one can learn from this story?

Mark: Now that I look back I can see that we had a very clear vision that made perfect sense morally, environmentally, economically and technically. It was a challenge everyone could rise to. We put together a ‘perfect team’ using your Belbin roles to develop the project and my leadership support never wavered. But also we can say that we met the crisis in the civil war with a “very straight bat”.

Meredith: A fitting cricketing analogy."