Moroccan businesswoman Lamia Tazi’s Sothema reveals plan to set up operations in Central Africa

Marocaine Ste de Therapeutique (Sothema), a Moroccan pharmaceutical group led by pharma mogul Lamia Tazi, has announced ambitions to establish operations in Central Africa as part of a strategic development drive aimed at meeting the group’s international growth targets.

The expansion drive comes as Tazi’s pharmaceutical group enters a new phase of growth through various diversification activities aimed at leveraging opportunities in national and international markets and building on its well-diversified operations across Africa and the Middle East.

Sothema noted in its recently published financial statement that the decision to set up operations in Central Africa will allow the business to develop a bridge to join the English-speaking Southern African markets and, in the future, access prospects in East Africa.

Aside from its pan-African diversification aspirations, the company also stated that it is making progress in implementing its growth strategy in Morocco and internationally as part of an effort to boost earnings and generate more value through new businesses and partnerships.

Sothema has acquired a strategic share in a target industry with a technology platform that is specialized in manufacturing medical equipment. This will allow the company to further expand its operations and become a forerunner in the sector in Morocco.

Sothema is Morocco’s leading healthcare firm, producing around 60 million units of pharmaceuticals per year and managing a diverse portfolio of 35 global laboratories that create and sell products to Europe, the Maghreb, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Persian Gulf.

Tazi, the group’s chairperson and CEO, who has been instrumental in its growth and expansion, owns a substantial 3.93-percent interest in the group, totaling 282,644 shares. At the time of writing, her investment was worth MAD410.3 million ($38.9 million).

The group announced nearly two days ago that its consolidated revenue increased by more than 18 percent in the first half of its 2022 fiscal year, from MAD973 million ($92.1 million) in the same period in 2021 to MAD.15 billion ($108.9 million).

The double-digit increase in revenue was driven by higher sales in the first half of 2022, which rose by 16.5 percent from MAD985 million ($93.3 million) to MAD1.147 billion ($108.6 million).