Margran Factory Looks for International Markets
Margran is a company that is involved in the marble and granite processing works in Eritrea. The company owns marble and granite mining deposits in Goyne, Geleb, Tsemamt, Tkuel and other areas that supply raw materials for its Marble and Granite Factory located in Ghendae.
The Company started its work with five old machines dating back to Italian colonialism. In 1993, however, it was upgraded to an advanced level. The Company established Ghendae Marble and Granite Factory in 1995.
“The Factory is well equipped and produces different colored and shaped marble and granite products. Eritrea is endowed with ample resources in this regard and the Government is exerting maximum effort to enable our people benefit from such resources,” said Mr. Mehari Teklemariam, manager of the Factory.
The marble and granite deposits in Eritrea are substantial: in quality, color and quantity. When it is fully exploited, it would attract international interest. The marble and granite resources are widely distributed in the country, and mainly in the Gash Barka and Debub regions.
Ghendae Marble and Granite Factory has created job opportunity for more than 90 people. There are also members of the Warsay-Yekealo who are assigned there and technicians who run the sophisticated machineries. The Factory is expected to play a significant role in bringing hard currency. In order to increase its production capacity, Margran will introduce more advanced machineries and will also train its professionals to keep them abreast to the newly introduced machines.
“Our main objective is to develop our human resource. Since it is difficult to achieve the desired goal without having enough skilled manpower, providing up-to-date training is our priority concern. We need people who run the modern machinery and we need to increase production. So, developing human resource is on the top of our priorities,” Mr. Mehari said.
The Factory has so far given different types of trainings to its workers and it plans to provide every worker with short term trainings twice every year. The Factory, other than receiving a little maintenance assistance from national companies, fulfills every required work by itself. The entire raw material demand of the Factory is locally available.
Although the main production of the Factory is marble and granite at the present, it has also been producing flour tiles with limited capacity since its foundation. At present, however, the Factory has increased its flour tiles production after the needed machinery was imported. Margran also supplies its clients with ceramic tiles.
The Factory is located far away from the source of raw materials and that makes it difficult to transport blocks of marble and granite from those areas to Ghendae. “First of all the Factory is export-oriented. So, it has to be located somewhere near the port and since marble and granite factory consumes a lot of water, it has to be located in areas with rich water resource,” the manager said.
Margran Marble and Granite Factory has saved a large amount of money that would have been spent in importing different construction materials. It also enabled Eritreans to exploit their resources by themselves and to export competitive products. Although the export rate has been limited, researches have been conducted to increase export rate as of this year.
The Factory can crash and process more than 100 blocks of granite and marble in a month. If the supply of raw materials increased, the Factory could boost its production. When the Ghendae Marble and Granite Factory goes fully operational, the export goals for 2008/09 would be reached. The product of the Factory is expected to be more competitive and to attract international demand especially from Turkey, Dubai and Italy.
Besides hiring skilled manpower and keeping them up-to-date, the Factory provides 100% life insurance to its workers and is striving for efficient administration and better production for both domestic and international markets.
Source: Hadas Eritrea
The Company started its work with five old machines dating back to Italian colonialism. In 1993, however, it was upgraded to an advanced level. The Company established Ghendae Marble and Granite Factory in 1995.
“The Factory is well equipped and produces different colored and shaped marble and granite products. Eritrea is endowed with ample resources in this regard and the Government is exerting maximum effort to enable our people benefit from such resources,” said Mr. Mehari Teklemariam, manager of the Factory.
The marble and granite deposits in Eritrea are substantial: in quality, color and quantity. When it is fully exploited, it would attract international interest. The marble and granite resources are widely distributed in the country, and mainly in the Gash Barka and Debub regions.
Ghendae Marble and Granite Factory has created job opportunity for more than 90 people. There are also members of the Warsay-Yekealo who are assigned there and technicians who run the sophisticated machineries. The Factory is expected to play a significant role in bringing hard currency. In order to increase its production capacity, Margran will introduce more advanced machineries and will also train its professionals to keep them abreast to the newly introduced machines.
“Our main objective is to develop our human resource. Since it is difficult to achieve the desired goal without having enough skilled manpower, providing up-to-date training is our priority concern. We need people who run the modern machinery and we need to increase production. So, developing human resource is on the top of our priorities,” Mr. Mehari said.
The Factory has so far given different types of trainings to its workers and it plans to provide every worker with short term trainings twice every year. The Factory, other than receiving a little maintenance assistance from national companies, fulfills every required work by itself. The entire raw material demand of the Factory is locally available.
Although the main production of the Factory is marble and granite at the present, it has also been producing flour tiles with limited capacity since its foundation. At present, however, the Factory has increased its flour tiles production after the needed machinery was imported. Margran also supplies its clients with ceramic tiles.
The Factory is located far away from the source of raw materials and that makes it difficult to transport blocks of marble and granite from those areas to Ghendae. “First of all the Factory is export-oriented. So, it has to be located somewhere near the port and since marble and granite factory consumes a lot of water, it has to be located in areas with rich water resource,” the manager said.
Margran Marble and Granite Factory has saved a large amount of money that would have been spent in importing different construction materials. It also enabled Eritreans to exploit their resources by themselves and to export competitive products. Although the export rate has been limited, researches have been conducted to increase export rate as of this year.
The Factory can crash and process more than 100 blocks of granite and marble in a month. If the supply of raw materials increased, the Factory could boost its production. When the Ghendae Marble and Granite Factory goes fully operational, the export goals for 2008/09 would be reached. The product of the Factory is expected to be more competitive and to attract international demand especially from Turkey, Dubai and Italy.
Besides hiring skilled manpower and keeping them up-to-date, the Factory provides 100% life insurance to its workers and is striving for efficient administration and better production for both domestic and international markets.
Source: Hadas Eritrea