SETTING COURSE FOR EXPORT SUCCESS

Sierra Fishing has been rebuilding its fleet and restarting exports. Now it is raising standards and seeking new markets

Bassem J. Mohamed’s dream is for his company, Sierra Fishing, to get back to the golden era of the 1980s when it was the largest fishing enterprise in West Africa. The company engaged in joint ventures with firms from the Soviet Union and Saudi Arabia, operated up to 200 vessels, and exported all over the world. Then came the war, and it was virtually destroyed.

“We restarted three years ago and are trying to get back to where we were,“ says Mr. Bassem, Sierra Fishing’s Managing Director, whose father founded the firm in 1976. “It took a lot of persuasion to get people to work with us, but a Korean company helped. Slowly we have been picking ourselves up.”

Today Sierra Fishing is a medium-sized company with nine vessels—seven for fresh fish and two for shrimps. It has built ice plants, established a local distribution network that extends all over the country, and started exporting by air. Recently it signed an agreement with a Senegalese company to export fresh fish.

BASSEM J. MOHAMED General Manager of Sierra Fishing Company

“Americans prefer shrimps and the Japanese market is very complicated, but we are working on it,” says Mr. Bassem. “We are looking at Europe, since it represents a wide market. Unfortunately, there is an EU ban on fish products from Sierra Leone, so we have to go through a third country to do our export.

“We are working on rectifying this and are putting in a new plant to raise our standards to European levels.”
Ultimately, Mr. Bassem hopes to restore the brand name and international reputation the company used to enjoy. “We have quality products and will meet the required standards very soon.”