Rabat – Mostafa Terrab, CEO of Morocco’s fertilizers giant OCP Group, has yet again renewed the company’s commitment towards Africa and its potential to contribute to global food security.
“We have to find ways to make Africa contribute positively to global food security. In the meantime, we have to also contribute to Africa’s food security,” Terrab said in an interview with Jean Fracois Manzoni, the president of the International Institute for Management Development (IMD).
The CEO also reiterated the importance of fertilizers as a key ingredient that can help improve the continent’s yields and agricultural production.
Of Africa’s potential, Terrab recalled that 60% of the world’s unused arable land is on the continent, but he acknowledged that it is hard to help generalize food security across the world without fertilizers.
For Terrab, soil remains one of the most underestimated assets, describing it as a new weapon to tackle many challenges – particularly climate change through proper agricultural practices.
“We have estimates that soil, if treated correctly, can sequester twice the amount of [of CO2] that we emit, every year on the planet!” he said.
OCP has frequently emphasized the importance of capitalizing on Africa’s potential to help tackle and address challenges hampering the continent’s development.
Terrab made similar remarks in February during an interview with the Financial Times. Africa should be self-sufficient w in terms of food security, he argued in the interview, stressing that the continent can also contribute to food exports.
The OCP chief made similar remarks in January, emphasizing the importance of accelerating the transition to sustainable and smarter farming.
Sincerity is key to success
Throughout his conversation with IMD President, Terrab also discussed the group’s strategy — which considers employee empowerment as a priority.
Terrab also brought up some of the key elements OCP is adopting to boost its transition, naming “niya” or sincerity as important for the group’s success.”
“If people think you are sincere, if you’ve managed to convince them that you are sincere – in Arabic we call it niya, which means sincerity of intent – then trust is an outgrowth of that,” Terrab said.
As the OCP CEO sees it, the job he is doing now is different from what he has been doing in the past 17 years.
“What I’m doing today is very different,” he said, stressing that the fulfillment comes when people working under the group grow.
“That’s an amazing fuel for life,” he stressed.
Read Also: Fertilizers Leadership & Pan-Africanism: OCP’s Sustainable Transition Explained
The IMD interview also put focus on OCP’s transition from a “loss making governmental agency” into a leading fertilizer producer.
“Central to this success has been connecting those valuable phosphate reserves to a broader purpose – to maintain soil health so that the planet can continue to feed its growing population – and empowering OCP’s people to innovate so that they can achieve this goal,” the institute said.
A recent interview with Harvard Business School also put the spotlight on OCP group’s development, with Terrab explaining that the group’s challenges were due to OCP’s previous focus on the mining business.
“The rest is history, as we were able to invest massively in fertilizer production and get the company out of its situation rather quickly,” he said.
