By Ajong Mbapndah L *
The factory floor in Addis Ababa tells a story few would have predicted a decade ago: African hands assembling laptops and tablets destined not just for local markets, but for a continent with global ambition. In an era when Africa is still too often framed as a consumer of imported technology, JP Følsgaard Bak is betting on a different future — one where the continent designs, builds, and owns its place in the global electronics value chain.
As Chairman of Industry Five Group, with operations across the United States, Denmark, and Ethiopia, Følsgaard Bak arrived in Addis Ababa not through corporate spreadsheets but through an unexpected personal connection forged in Ethiopia’s national WASH program. That relationship matured into a fully equipped consumer-electronics assembly facility, staffed by a young, highly educated Ethiopian workforce and backed by Ethiopian Investment Holdings (EIH) — the government’s powerful investment arm.
In this wide-ranging conversation, Følsgaard Bak unpacks why Ethiopia has become the strategic heart of Industry Five’s global operations, how human-centered manufacturing can turn jobs into lifelong careers, and why Africa’s industrial future hinges on unity, energy security, and local value creation. From trade wars and tariffs to African-made laptops and tablets, this interview offers a rare, ground-level view of what it truly takes to build a global technology brand on African soil.
What drew Industry Five Group to Ethiopia, and what strategic role does the country play in your global operations today?
JP Følsgaard Bak: There are two reasons; The personal one and the professional one!
The personal reason was, that we were contacted by then Ethiopian Ambassador to US, Dr Seleshi Bekele, who in 2017, when he was Minister of Water and Irrigation bought 6000 of our SEAL rugged tablet computers made at our factory in the US for his One Water, Sanitation, and hygiene program, called WASH!
During a lovely lunch in the ANC Club, he informed me back then that he was extremely surprised that almost all the Seal devices we have delivered in 2017, sill worked perfectly. That was not the experience they normal had when they acquired electronics for the ministry’s different purposes.
Based upon that good experience he suggested we established a assembling facility in Addis Ababa for the SEAL tablet to meet the big demand there not only from his former ministry but from the Ethiopian educational sector as well.
Of course, we took his advice and that is the reason why, we after a lot of delay due to BRIX and other political obstacles, can present a full equipped assembling facility for consumer electronics, Laptops, smartphones and tablet computers here in Addis Ababa with a highly educated workforce consisting of initially 50 local people and with an order book filled to the brim.
Our 49% local partner is Ethiopian Investment Holdings (EIH) the Ethiopian governments investment arm, owning among other 40 companies, Ethiopian Airline, Ethio Telecom and Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE).
The professional reason is the position of Ethiopia and Addis Ababa on the power map of Africa.
Granted Addis Ababa is not considered the capital of Africa, but for all practical purposes, it functions like that. It is housing the headquarter of African Union, UNECA and UNESCO.
Apart from the set back caused by its landlocked position, still the energy position after the GERD dam and the access to a substantial number of young educated and motivated people, most of them commanding the English language and almost all of them carrying the “American Dream” in their minds, makes Addis Ababa one of the best location for a business like ours.
How would you describe Industry Five’s business model and core philosophy, particularly in the Ethiopian context?
JP Følsgaard Bak: The vision, we started in Haiti, followed by New York and now Addis Ababa is very simple: we want to create meaningful jobs and even more important, jobs that leads to a career.
Although we use modern technologies in our production, still we make sure to preserve the human element as the core part of production and robots and other electronic equipment are only there to assist our workforce in making the quality of our products even better.
We chose the electronic industry, since it has the young workforce’s attention and is the most “cool” place to work.
Which sectors or industrial activities are you prioritizing in Ethiopia, and where do you see the strongest long-term opportunities?
JP Følsgaard Bak: It is our goal to establish an ecosystem, where more and more of the components are produced in Ethiopia. We plan to move our operation to one of the Industrial Parks, where we include a datacenter and a R&D lab for developing the technology and design.
How has your partnership with the Ethiopian government supported your operations, and what makes this collaboration effective?
JP Følsgaard Bak: The partnership with the Ethiopian government has made it possible to for us to do business here in Ethiopia. The support of the EIH and being part of their portfolio of companies like Ethiopian Airlines and Commercial Bank of Ethiopia is invaluable and opens the necessary doors to make a successful enterprise.
Lately, upon our proof of concept by starting the commercial production, and due to the overwhelming market demand, EIH is taking a more active role in the scaling of the business. Some very good news in that regard is expected in the near future and you will be the first to know.
What have been the biggest challenges and advantages of operating in Ethiopia compared to the U.S. and Denmark?
JP Følsgaard Bak: The biggest challenge is at the same time the biggest opportunity, Denmark is an overregulated country, not only by their own laws and regulations but by the almost unlimited restrictions EU has introduced over the years, It is almost impossible to make a successful start-up scale and still be competitive in Denmark. Of course I would, because of my Danish background, love to establish a branch there, but extensive research done into the business environment there, where I even tried reach out to the main industry and trade organizations, prevented me from pursue such dream further.
As far as US is concerned, I will still claim this is probably the best country for business in the world. There is only one word that in the first place closed down the business there and now prevents us from reopening the factory there : Tariffs!
It is far too risky to establish any kind of business there as long as if doing so, you engage yourself in a trade war, you cannot win!
If that risk would go away, we would reopen our factory in New York without any hesitation.
How do you ensure that Industry Five’s investments deliver sustainable value — economically, socially, and institutionally — for Ethiopia?
JP Følsgaard Bak: By delivering the factory in a turnkey fashion and let the Ethiopian Government and the Ethiopian people bring the business to the next level. Of course, we will still be part owners and serve on the board. The Ethiopians have to take the responsibility for the company’s future themselves.
How do you assess Africa’s economic and industrial trajectory over the next decade, and where does Ethiopia fit within that picture? Do you see your Ethiopian operating model as scalable across Africa, and what conditions are essential for successful replication?
JP Følsgaard Bak: Ethiopia is only the spearhead. Our business model, where each operator builds the entire device, makes it possible to decentralize the Addis Ababa operation to the rest of the continent. Our plan is to cover as much of Africa as fast as possible to become the leading African Brand.
Our plan is to cover as much of Africa as fast as possible to become the leading African Brand.
From an investor’s perspective, what concrete steps must African governments take to significantly improve the investment climate?
JP Følsgaard Bak: There is only one way forward for the Continent as such! Coordinate the investment climate, so Africa from an investor point of view, looks like a united coherent area with the same regulations, same requirements for doing business and some kind of linked together currency situation. US is successful because of exactly that!
For the moment Africa looks like a rag rug, with a random distribution of colors and pattern.
We skipped that confusion, by being invited, first by President Tshisekedi of Democratic Republic of Congo, later by President Museveni of Uganda and latest by the Ethiopian Government to explore the possibility of building a local factory.
We found the right match in Ethiopia, and we can now present our first Industry Five branded laptop factory on African Soil.
Looking ahead ten years, what would success for Industry Five in Africa look like to you — both commercially and developmentally?
JP Følsgaard Bak: First, that we cover at least the following countries, Nigeria, Namibia, Kenya, Rwanda and Ghana.
I visualize Industry Five, apart from producing and distributing our own brands, ATLAS laptop and SEAL tablet computers, we will as a contract manufacturer produce devices for Dell, HP and Microsoft for the local African Market.
I have recently visited China, and the big OEM companies there, support Industry Five and our African strategy.
*Culled from Feb edition of PAV Magazine
