Abu Dhabi: Lulu Group is planning to invest $300 million (Dh1.1 billion) in setting up 10 new hypermarkets in Egypt in the next two years, Chairman of the Group, Yousuf Ali MA, said after opening the group’s first hypermarket in Cairo.
“Egyptians are already well aware of Lulu and we hope to bring world class shopping closer to them in various important location of this great country. As per the plan, we intend to invest 3 billion Egyptian pounds [$300 million] in setting up 10 new hypermarkets in next 2 years across Egypt,” he said.
“The hypermarket will also offer a window of opportunity to the local community. We will encourage the Egyptian agricultural sector by procuring and promoting local agricultural produce and also export them to our stores across the GCC and Far East. Currently we are exporting 50 million pounds and this will go up to 150 million pounds next year.”
Main exporting products include fruits and vegetables, meat, fish, cheese and pickles. Lulu also plans to set up own food processing plants to further boost the exports.
“We believe that having a strong national workforce is vital to our long-term success as it helps in creating sustainable community living. Currently, there are more than 800 Egyptians employed at our new hypermarket in Cairo and we intent to employ 10,000 more Egyptians in next 2 years,” Yusuffali said.
The new hypermarket, which opened on Saturday, has separate sections for fresh fruits and vegetables, meat and poultry, dairy products, ready-to-eat products and a live bakery, according to Lulu Group.
The outlet also offers a huge area dedicated to electronics, IT products, home appliances, sports, furnishing and furniture, kitchenware, toys, stationery and health & beauty products.
The new hypermarket was inaugurated by Khalid Hanafy, Egyptian Minister for Trade in the presence of Galal Al Saeed, Governor of Cairo and other officials.
Apart from Cairo, new hypermarkets will be opened in other places including Alexandria and Minya, a spokesperson of the group told Gulf News.
Egypt has been attracting lot of investments especially from GCC countries in various sectors including infrastructure, energy and retail following the investment conference held at Sharm Al Shaikh in March where President Abdul Fattah Al Sissi opened the doors for GCC investment in his country.
Lulu Group, which currently has 118 stores in GCC and India, is embarking on a massive expansion drive into the Far Eastern market. The first hypermarket of Lulu will open in Malaysia and Indonesia by March 2016. It is planning to open 15 more hypermarkets in these two countries in the next two years.
