Written by Mina Yirga - Horizon Ethiopia Staff Writer
Tuesday, 15 July 2008
A profile of Ato Samuel Tafese – Founder and
Managing Director of Sunshine Construction – one of the largest
construction and real estate development firms in Ethiopia.
Early Life
Samuel Tafese is among those who are always there on the edge of our awareness when talking about the achievement of extraordinary success after humbler beginnings. Before becoming one of the preeminent real estate developers in Ethiopia, he had to overcome a mountain of hardships which he credits for making him the person he is today.
Born in 1958 into a large family, Samuel, as a young boy used to help his parents support their large family but doing odd jobs in the construction industry just as his father did at Filowuha Betoch. Samuel then took to cigarette vending in his spare time after school to supplement the meager income from his handyman jobs. On official holidays, he engaged in door to door selling of colorful holiday greeting cards. When Samuel reached his early 20’s, a new pronouncement which permit contractors to apply for a construction license after showing 10,000 birr in their bank account was announced by the Ministry of Construction. Samuel took advantage of this stroke of luck and parlayed his prior experience in the construction business and the generosity of a friend who agreed to help him overcome the little matter of the 10,000 birr he did not have in the bank, into a successful application for a construction license.
Multiplying the Digits
Samuel made his first step into success with a mere “…500 birr in his pocket and his [famous] leather jacket…,” as he likes to say it. After receiving his construction license, he won a 100,000 birr initial project to revitalize Shebele Hotel’s roof. With the net profit of 25 thousand he made from this job, Samuel bought his first automobile – a small Toyota Corolla. Subsequently, he continued with similar renewal projects for Paulos, Zewditu and Tikur Anbesa hospitals amongst others and finally the 2.5 million Birr project at the Tobacco Monopoly which allowed him to really expand his business in a number of ways. From 1983-87 he stayed in the roofing renewal business from which he got the name ‘Samuel Taria’. Eventually, he expanded well beyond roofing into general and road construction laying the groundwork for the company Sunshine is today.
25 years have passed since Sunshine was founded as a business entity. In just less than a decade of its foundation, it was transformed from a sole proprietorship to a private limited company that today is one of the driving forces in Ethiopia’s construction and real estate industries. The exclusive stakeholders of the company – which possesses a paid up capital of 50,000,000 ETB – are Samuel and his wife, Wzo. Fetlework Ellala, acting as the Managing and Deputy Directors of Sunshine’s many business units. Today, the company employs over 6000 employees and is heavily engaged in the construction of roads and of course also has a strong presence in the real estate sector since 1995 when it erected the Sunshine Building on Bole Road. Sunshine’s residential projects include the construction of 210 villas opposite CMC with plans for more nearby (in the Meri Luke area) as well as the ongoing work on a condominium complex in Gerji. These projects are expected to cost over 600 million ETB. Not to be overlooked are the homes he had built for himself and his family adjacent to the Millennium Hall and which are marvels of architecture and luxurious design.
Ato Samuel's palatial estate right off of Bole Road next to the Millennium Hall
Giving back to one’s People
Among his many other pursuits, Samuel is very interested and engaged in philanthropic efforts. Sunshine is currently planning to build 5 schools – one each in Addis Ababa, Amhara, Oromia, Southern and Tigray regions – to educate children orphaned by HIV/AIDS. Each school will have the capacity for 400 students and the overall project has been allocated 25 million birr. Construction of the first school is already underway at Nekemte in the Oromia region.
Sunshine’s Vision for Addis
Sunshine and Samuel’s vision for Addis is a truly breathtaking one. Believing as he does that there is absolutely no reason to compromise when it comes to Addis’ continued development, Samuel is planning to complete construction on a hotel that will be managed by Marriott Courtyard in addition to developing plans to build a massive complex in the Legetafo area that will house a luxurious hotel, conference center, golf course and more. This may seem to be far fetched to some but for Samuel, it is just one more dream to bring to life as the embodiment of his and his company’s slogan…“Seeing is believing!”
Coming soon: A picture gallery of Sunshine's real estate developments in Addis.
