Investment Ethiopia

Here is your chance to buy a farm with unique opportunities. You can open an Eco Lodge with a nature similar to the Simen Mountains offer foot, bicycle, motorcycle or horse tours or something unique like paragliding. You can also work with the highly profitably business of producing fur rabbits and lumber with the sawmill.

All ready to start without the time and money it takes to start from the beginning.

Direction:
To reach the farm you drive north though Piassa up though Entoto. From there you drive in the direction Suluta (Chancho, Mulo, Fiche). After app. 40 kilometer from the border in top of Entoto you turn right by a gravel road (before you reach Chancho). After 18 kilometer you will reach the farm. The asphalt road is very good quality (made by the Japanese) and the gravel road is maintained by the state forest company. Both roads have a minimum of traffic. It is recommended to use a 4 wd. car to drive to the farm, but it is also possible to drive there by Toyota DX (one time) or Beatle ’63 (four times). The road ends by the farm.

Farm and surrounding:
The farm is located at around 3400 meter above sea level at the top of the Cheleleca Mountain. The total area is 2.5 ha. (it is possible to rent more land from the surrounding farmers). The top of Cheleleca Mountain is used for fields and grazing all around, so it is possible to use this area for outdoor activities.

There is a magnificent 300 degree view from the farm, where you can see as long as the weather and your eyes permit.

The gravel road is on the side of the mountain confined on both sides by forest and fields. The road is raising 800 meters through a half-circle during the 18 kilometer (from 2600 meter to 3400 meter). There are a lot of deer’s (some bigger than donkeys), birds, monkeys, foxes, hyenas etc. The forest company keeps different kinds of trees and has areas with natural forest. The forest company does a good job maintaining the road and we have good relation with them.

Different possibilities:

Paragliding:
Offer clients to learn to fly paragliding. Bring paragliders to Ethiopia and arrange there whole trip. Work together with other tour operators and offer tandem paragliding (clients can fly together with an instructor without any training). From the farm you can offer housing and they experience flying over the landscape of Ethiopia only one hour drive from Addis Ababa.

Take off: On both ends of the farm there are suitable places to take off. In the north part the mountains comes together and enhance the wind. In the south part there is a big flat piece of land with steep but not sharp sides (south, west and east) are used for grazing.
All over the mountain there are suitable places for take off.

Wind: There is a steady and hard wind on selected places on the mountain. The wind is predictably (coming from the same direction all sunny seasons). Birds have no problem staying the same place or increase there height without moving there wings or circling.

Landing: The mountings around are soft and therefore suitable for landing almost everywhere. Paragliders can easily land near Chancho or at one of the gravel roads and be driven back by car or explore areas and ride back by horse (a guide sees where the client lands, brings two horses to the landing place, brings the paraglide on his horse and the client take the other horse).

If a buyer whishes to find international clients for paragliding I can sign a contract to create the contact. I was originally planning to find 20 to 52 partners in as many countries and states. Each partner would get a week (or 2-3 weeks) where they bring their own clients and instructors every year. The other partner would also have the opportunity to send clients outside their part of the year. Each partner brings their own instructor. Profits are shared after a fixed scheme.

Read more about paragliding here.

Birds
I don’t know much about birds and I am not terribly interested in birds. Nevertheless, I am fascinated by many different kinds of eagles that are around the farm. Some of the eagles are the biggest I have ever seen. I have seen more than 10 different kinds of eagles in the farm. I am also impressed by the high speed the many swallows achieve. There are many other birds, but you have to go to the nearby forest to see them in big numbers.

50 meters south of the farm there is a holy place where the whole local community has a ceremony 3 times a year. The leftovers from slaughter will be given to the eagles. The eagles sit for more than half an hour next to the big crowd of peoples and wait for a little leftover. I think it is possible to train the eagles to come within 2-5 meters of clients every day. Now they are comfortable in a 10 meter range.

Sawmill/Lumber-mill
I brought a sawmill from Denmark that was outdated because it needs two men to operate it. This is heavy duty machinery that will keep working for many years with a little maintenance. There are no computers or electronic to break.

I haven’t setup the sawmill here in Ethiopia. It is the European type, round saw with a saw plate that is app. 1 meter in diameter. It will lead the log forward on a sled that weighs app. 600 kilo, because of the high weight it cuts very steady.

There is a similar sawmill in Menagasha forest (Jimma road, near Meta Brewery). My saw mill is a little older and more heavy duty. I don’t have any picture of my sawmill setup so I show you the picture of the sawmill in Menagasha forest. If you want to see how the sawmill works go to Menagasha forest.

It can cut log directly with a diameter up to half a meter. The biggest diameter logs that can be bought from the Ethiopian forest company is between 19–25 cm. this can be handled without problem.

Wood is cheap in Ethiopia. A eucalyptus log with a diameter of 19-25 cm. and 3 meter long log cost 18.2 birr including vat. I bought some half year ago. The lumber (wooden planks) is scares, made in bad quality and expensive.

I have seen samples of hardwood cut with the sawmill in Denmark and they were of very high quality, very straight and almost as the wood was planed (better than the planed wooden planks I have seen in Ethiopia).

The sawmill is specified to cut 300 meter per hour. It is custom build in Denmark and can easily be modified and maintained in Ethiopia with availably materials.

I have partners there interested in providing wood and land with easy transport to Addis Ababa and asses to electric power.

I have a big electric engine, a DEUTZ diesel engine and a generator that can all be a part of pulling the sawmill.

The sawmill weighs around 3-4 tons and can be transported by an Isuzu truck.

Known issues: A small electric engine needs to be maintained, some part need oiling, I would put it together with new bolts and one part was to long for the container, was cut and need to be welted together again.

Ethiopians often ask what a sawmill is: It is a saw that cut the tree/round wood/logs into planks/boards. Because the logs are round and heavy, special heavy duty equipment is needed. With the right management this sawmill can earn millions each year in profit by supplying the booming Ethiopian building industry.

Eco lodge
You can make an Eco lodge with a nature similar to the Simen Mountains and only one hour away from Addis Ababa.

Many tourists that visit Ethiopia have only time to see the south, the historic route, Simen Mountains or Harar but they still have some days in Addis Ababa and they wish to see some of the other attractions. You can offer them a mini Simen Mountain experience, where they can enjoy the view and the air in 3400 meters height. You can do that with the combination or with out.

The area around the farm can be visit on foot, bicycle, motorcycle or on horse back. To the southern side you can explore the big and large unvisited forest and to the northern side you can walk on the rounded mountains full of trails and grazing areas. There are hyenas in the area and therefore it will probably be possible to do some hyena feedings.

You can even offer camping.

Fur Rabbit farm
Fur rabbits are raised by large as other rabbits, but they need a cool climate to develop first class quality fur. By providing them shed this is achieved in Cheleleca (3400 meters).

Comparative avenges:
Castro Rex rabbits are mostly raised in Europe and in the US, therefore it is important to compare the conditions with Ethiopia.

1. Wages are more than a hundred times lower in Ethiopia than in Scandinavia where most of the Castro Rex rabbits are raised (minimum wages 160 birr. per hour in Scandinavia). Rabbit farming is labor intensive because it takes a lot of work to clean and feed the rabbits. A rabbit spend half of its life in a cage by itself.
2. There is a season in Europe that only allows harvesting the rabbits 2-3 month a year, because it needs to be cold to develop first class quality fur. That makes it possible to harvest 2-3 litter a year per female rabbit in Europe (A female rabbit gets around 8 kids per litter (between 1 and 20 kids)). At my farms in Ethiopia it is cold all year around and therefore it is possibly to produce 8+ litters per year.
3. Animal food costs less in Ethiopia.

In Ethiopia the most significant cost is food. It takes less than 15 kilo food to bring a rabbit up to 8 month where a fur rabbit is slaughtered. The other significant cost is the cages that can be produced for a little more than 100 birr per cage of local availably materials.

The price for the fur has fluctuated between 300-900 birr per fur.

The price for rabbit meat has been stabile around 10 USD per kilo in decades. A Castro Rex rabbit gives app. 2 kilo of meat.

So roughly you will have a cost of 50 birr per slaughter rabbit and be able to sell the rabbit for 500 to 1100 birr. The rabbit farm was aimed to produce 50.000 rabbits a year with a profit of app. 40 million birr.

The fur can be sold in auction in Denmark or in the USA. No need to find buyers, you just send the fur to the auction and they send you the money.

The meat can be sold locally to supermarkets in Addis Ababa and in bulk to Dubai.

All rabbits are imported from the 3 leading rabbit farmers in Denmark (this 3 farms have been recognized to be the 3 best farms in the world by the biggest fur auction in the world). From each rabbit farm is selected the best rabbits with different genetics history. The rabbit farm now has 90 rabbits.

I have collected almost all books about rabbit farming and will burn a DVD with them. You will be able to be an expert in rabbit farming by reading these books.

The Ethiopian state wants to promote rabbit farms in Ethiopia and therefore they allow to import a tax free pick-up truck (like a hi-lux), a tax-free motorcycle and a personal car (the personal car I think is only if you are a foreign investor). The Ethiopian state also makes the farm tax free for 5 years from the time of commence. None of these privileges have been used.

Reason for selling: I have several businesses and have not been able too allocate enough time for the farm. My Ethiopian manger hasn’t been able to take the farm where it ought to be and has failed simple tasks that have had a big influence on the development of the farm.

Land lease
The land of the farm is leased from the Oromia state for 50 years, the rent has to be renegotiated in 2055. The rent for 50 year has been paid in full and it has been paid for an additional 40 years.

Buildings
The land is fenced by 6 layers of barbed wire on wooden pools.

Tool house
Made in steel plate contains tools for the farm with sleeping facilities for the guards.

Rabbits Houses
There are two wooden rabbit houses that are suitable for having the breeding stock that demand extra attentions.

Manger House
There is a 3 room manager house where the finishing touch is still missing.

Water
In the top of a mountain water can be a problem. I have therefore built 200 m3 water reservoirs. It is made by digging a hole for maximum support of the sides and all sides are built up with stones. The water reservoirs have been left 1.5 year to settle to prevent cracks.

To finish the water reservoirs the sides and the bottom need a layer of concrete. Thereafter the inside of the water reservoirs need to be painted with epoxy panting, to prevent water form leaking. Add a roof and the water reservoirs are finish.

Water can be collected from the roof of the farm buildings or transported from the near by newly constructed state wells. Until now we have managed with filling water barrels with rain water and occasionally bought 200 litters of water for 7 birr from local farmers.

Goodwill from the local community
The local community is happy to be provided with work opportunities and be able to sell there crops to the rabbit farm.

I am building a school next to the farm and will finish it for my own cost. This has created a lot of goodwill for the local community and the local administration.

In the beginning there were some problems with the local community, but with a combination of creating opportunity, time, support from the local leaders and arm guarding all the problems has been eliminated.

Animals
Beside the rabbits there are one horse and two donkeys on the farm.

Machinery and Equipment:
Beside local bought tools all tools have been bought and imported from Denmark. There are a number of small tools that are not listed here. The farm is taken over as it is. You get what you see.

Dehydratyor CD-B 1700 . Industrial quality.
Use: To take water out of the air, for drying the fur (bought for back-up and for use in the raining season).

High pressure cleaner KEW 2903. Industrial quality.
Cleans cages and other equipment with high pressure water. You can mix water and other chemicals. It can also be used with hot water.

Chain saw Partner 360. Need repair.

A number of drillings machines.

Two air compressors. One new, on industrial quality.

A large number of air tools for the compressor.

Small electric nail gun

Electric planer Power graft 71400

Electric planer Black & Decker DN 254

Ak-47 gun with permission.

Two Red Fox 175 cc. motorcycles which have been driven less than 3000 kilometers, services at the dealer, but they need adjustment, car inspection and the plastic is missing so they look bad (they haven’t been driven for 1.5 years).

This is how they look now.

Welder machine Asea/Svets, continues welding (240/400 volt), made in Denmark. Industrial quality. 130 kilo on wheels.

The sawmill

DEUTZ diesel engine (low number of working hours) can propel the sawmill or other farm equipment. This is the same engine as used in the generator and can therefore be used as a spare engine for the generator. The DEUTZ diesel engine is known to work problemless for years with a minimum of maintenance.

Generator Ansaldo type 52 L 511. 20 KW. (KiloWatt). Powered by a DEUTZ diesel engine. It is bought from a dealer in Denmark where it has been serviced. The dealer gave 1 year guaranty. The generator has not been started after it was driven out of the dealer. I guarantee it can start and work probably, but I don’t give a time guaranty, because I don’t know how to repair it.
Known issues: The front panel has been damaged under transport (some glass pieces have to be changed) and I am not sure where the key is. The start battery is missing (normal car battery).

This is an auction. The minimum bid for the whole farm is 200,000 Birr with all. I will sell the farm for 200,000 birr even it is a very low price. All expenses in connection with the transferee will be paid by the buyer. The winner of the auction(s) will pay 20 % of the bid price in deposit within 5 days after they have been informed that they are the winner.

The deposit will not be paid back. The rest of the money will be paid no later than 30 days after the winner is announced and no later than then the sell agreement is signed.

The money can be paid in cash or be transferred into an Ethiopian bank or international bank.

The farm is sold as it is. What you see is what you get. I don’t give any guaranties. If you are unsecured about something ask me and then I might guarantee specific things.

The official name for the farm is: Rabbit Farm & Processing for Export. It is solely owned by Brian Østergaard. The Permit Number is EIC-IP 6381/05, date of issue is 10/02/05 and last renewal date is 10/02/08.

I have spent a lot of money and time to get the farm to what it is now. It isn’t an easy process in Ethiopia. It is my hope that I can deliver the farm ready to implement and the new owner will succeed.

There is a given permission to use the land for Rabbit farming and processing. If you want to use it for other proposes you need to apply for it.

I am happy to assist with the farm when the new owner will find it needed. I will give the new owner an introduction to rabbit farming and explain what I think will need to be done. I will also tell how the sawmill have to be put together. You can see the similar mill in Menagasha forest. I am ready to answer questions by e-mail and by phone after the farm is sold. But remember I am selling the farm because I lack time.

You can bid on the following:

F1) The farm with generator and sawmill.
F2) The farm with generator.
F3) The farm with the sawmill.
F4) Just the Farm.
S1) The sawmill with the generator.
S2) The sawmill.
G1) The generator.
E1) The extra DEUTZ diesel engine that can be used for both the sawmill and the generator.

The bids have to be sent to Brian Østergaard PO. Box: 3043 Code 1250 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia or by E-mail to B@BestPracticeMarketing.com and it has to arrive before the 28.05 2008 at midday.

There will be no unnecessary negotiations after the bid. I will open the bids and find the best bid(s) and contact the winner(s). The winner will be notified and an appointment will be arranged to pay deposit and the remaining money. So bid on what you want to pay, you will not get a second chance to raise your bid.

I will arrange a visited to the farm Sunday the 18 May 2008. Please write to B@BestPracticeMarketing.com to be included or call 0911 69 58 66.