Egypt's Elsewedy Electric opens its first China office

The Elsewedy family began operating a Chinese subsidiary on Sept. 15, six months after registering it, giving the Egyptian energy group it founded in 1938 a permanent buying presence inside its largest supply market.

Elsewedy Electric Shanghai sits in the Hongqiao International Central Business District in the west of the city and will act as the group's procurement centre for China, handling supply chain development and business expansion in energy. The company announced the launch in March and took until now to bring it into operation, with the Shanghai authorities assisting the registration.

The family already runs the institution that manages the relationship. Ahmed Elsewedy, the group's president and chief executive, chairs the Egypt China Business Council, the body through which Egyptian companies engage Chinese counterparts and government, alongside chairing the Ethiopian, Iraqi, Lebanese, Zambian and Algerian councils and sitting on a dozen more.