Manish Mundra Drives Petrochemical, Fertilizer Projects in Nigeria

From selling saris in Deoghar in Jharkhand to becoming a CEO of a fertilizer company in Nigeria, Manish Mundra has come a long way. He is now making news in the West African country for contributing to the country’s economic growth, especially in petrochemical and fertilizers.

Indorama Corporation, the company that Mundra heads in Nigeria, now aims to boost the agriculture sector in the nation with the opening of a $1.5 billion project to produce 1.5 million metric tons of urea fertilizer per annum to make the country self-sufficient in the product.

“I figured that Africa would see a growth in business and demand. Nigeria, the most populated and with the most hydrocarbon resources, was the perfect choice,” Mundra said, adding that after the acquisition of Eleme Petrochemicals, the thought of establishing a fertilizer plant became a dream.

“We saw that Nigeria needed a breakthrough in food production. It needs to stop its huge food imports which gulp about $5 billion annually,” Mundra said. “Nigeria has abundant land resources; so there is no justification for this high import cost.”

He said about 75 per cent of Nigeria’s land can support agriculture, but only 49 per cent is in use. “It is for this reason that the company thought of building the fertilizer plant to facilitate abundant food production,” Mundra said.

He does not seem to have finished with his plans for Nigeria. He said that in the coming decade, Indorama plans to make an impact on the Nigerian economy by creating jobs and consolidating its leadership in petrochemicals.

“In the next 10 years we would complete our Natural Gas Liquid plant, methanol plant and the second phase of our fertilizer plant,” he said.

“Our vision remains to build the largest petrochemicals and fertilizer hub in West Africa by 2020 with a total investment of $4.2 billion,” Mundra said.

Mundra joined the Indorama Group in 2002 in the corporate strategy department. He was transferred to Indorama Nigeria as a project manager after his efficiency was recognized. In Nigeria, he supervised the acquisition of the state-owned Eleme Petrochemicals Company Ltd for $225 million.

Mundra is an MBA with over 20 years of international management and mergers and acquisitions experience. He has also worked with the Aditya Birla Group, Indian Rayon, Indo-Gulf and finally aluminum maker Hindalco.

He is also a film producer, his first film was Ankhon Dekhi, which won three Filmfare Awards. He has since then produced half-a-dozen films, including Masaan, X: Past Is Present, Waiting, Dhanak and Umrika.
— (With inputs from IANS)