Alsahl Group

ABOUT THE FOUNDER AND FOUNDING STORY

Al Mahdi Gadad was born in Al Nasiriyya, a town at the southern outskirts of Tripoli in 1935, during the formation of the colony of Italian Libya.^{[8] [9]} The country formally gained independence in 1951, but the newly formed United Kingdom of Libya struggled with an array of economic, political, and societal challenges for the better part of the decade as the country rebuilt itself from the destruction of World War II. It was not until the late 1950s, when oil was discovered on Libyan land and there was a large influx of foreign aid from the US, that there were nascent signs of economic prosperity.^[10]

Upon finishing his education in 1959, Al Mahdi Gadad headed to Azizia,^[11] a small village near his hometown, in the suburbs of Tripoli to establish a modest business with the help of his father, Ibrahim.^[12] Starting with an olives and grain trading company, they became one of the first indigenous producers of cereals (wheat and barley) and cooking oil.^{[13] [14]} The agricultural business sector was one of the few accessible to Libyan entrepreneurs at the time, due to the extended Italian occupation, during which the local population had been severely marginalized.^[15]

GROWTH PHASE

The Gadad business met with swift success due to the high demand for essential foodstuffs at this stage of Libya’s development.^[16] In the matter of a few years, Al Mahdi was making enough profits to consider investing in other fields. Identifying real estate as an emerging sector in Libya’s growing economy, in 1965 he established his first business in the field, with the slogan “Construction Well Done, Satisfaction Assured!”^[17]

Building on decades of success in both of its core areas, in the 1990s, the business massively expanded its operations in the local food sector. In 1993, it established a poultry feed factory that later grew to include other types of animal feed marketed directly to farmers.^[18] Shortly after, second-generation members started to join the business, beginning with the founder’s son Marwan Gadad in 2002.^[19] A year later, various manufacturing units in the animal feed sector were merged under Al Sahel Al Akhdar Mills and Feed, based in Tripoli.^[20] That same year, the founder’s second son, Abdulmagid Gadad (sometimes known as Magid),^[21] joined the family business after he obtained a PhD in accounting and finance from the University of Essex.^[22] Abdul Naser Gadad — known by his middle name^[23] — who was born in 1967,^[24]  joined the business.

In 2004, under the leadership of the second generation, the various business endeavors run by the Gadad family were internally restructured and incorporated into the new AlSahl Group.^[25] In the years that followed, various new business lines were launched, and the company opened a number of food oil factories between 2007 and 2009.^[26] An era of national turmoil began in 2011 that greatly hindered the operations of private companies of every size and business sector. The regime of Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown amid the wave of protests dubbed the Arab Spring. The subsequent civil unrest was heavily exacerbated by the NATO-led military intervention in support of the anti-Gaddafi forces.^[27]

For the AlSahl Group, the turmoil posed a unique set of challenges. The food sector in which it primarily operated was heavily subsidized in Libya, and it was now facing interminable delays in payments from the authorities, causing massive disruptions to its operational capacity.^[28]  However, the group was able to recover in the years that followed thanks to its size, its market share, and its leadership’s ability to maintain strong relationships with the shifting personalities in power. The group even expanded further in post-Gaddafi Libya, building more manufacturing units to meet increasing demand and venturing into new business lines such as pharmaceuticals and healthcare.^[29] In 2020, the AlSahl Group was the official sponsor of the Libyan pavilion at Expo 2020, which took place in Dubai.^[30]

TODAY

Today, AlSahl Group Holding, still headquartered in Tripoli,^[31] is considered one of Libya’s largest private business conglomerates, operating across the sectors of agribusiness, industrial, healthcare, consumer and business services, real estate, and construction.^[32] The group encompasses 24 companies and a total of 56 brands. With factories and manufacturing facilities all across the country,^{[33] [34]} it is one of the key private-sector employers of Libyan nationals.^[35]

The group is primarily run by member of the family’s second generation, with Abdulmagid Gadad serving as chairman, Naser Gadad as general manager,^[36] and Marwan Gadad as deputy chairman.^[37] Some members of the third generation have joined the business as well, such as Head of Business Development and Strategy Aya Gadad.^[38]