Yazaki Is Optimistic About Further Business in Gafsa ~ Invest in Gafsa

The Yazaki Corporation is one of the biggest wire companies in Tunisia. The company has four automotive cable plants in the region of Gafsa, creating more than 4,000 job opportunities. An article published in Businessnews on October 7th, however, claimed that the company is going to stop any plans for expansion within Tunisia and, instead, plans to move to Morocco. In the October 7th article, Businessnews reported that Yazaki previously had intended to create more plants in Gafsa, as well as new ones in Kef and Jendouba, which would allow for the creation of approximately 11,000 job opportunities. Now, however, according to Businessnews, Yazaki is abandoning its plans in Tunisia, due to constant unrest in the region of Gafsa.

Contrary to the article published in Businessnews, one of Yazaki’s secretaries by the name of Louba reported to Tunisia Live staff when contacted by phone on October 7th that the company’s situation in Tunisia is the same as it was before. “Yazaki Corporation has plants in 72 countries, and being in Morocco does not mean it is abandoning Tunisia,” said Loubna. Furthermore, a previous visit to Gafsa in mid-September, in which members of Tunisia Live spoke with Montasser Othmani — one of Yazaki’s engineers — confirmed this message. At the time, Othmani verified that the company was working on opening a plant in the region of Gafsa, on the main road to Touzer.

In a phone interview conducted on October 7th, Head of Human Resources in the Gafsa factory, Zina Brichini, also assured us that Yazaki neither plans to leave Tunisia, nor to put an end to its plans in the country. “Our company is currently working nonstop to complete the building of our second factory in the region of Gafsa,” Brichini asserted. Mrs. Zina also added that Yazaki is quite optimistic about further business in Tunisia, despite all of the security issues.

At the same time, Brichini commented that the company, for the moment, is a bit cautious about the safety and stability of the country — which is why it has temporarily moved part of its activities to other countries. “Our company is always confident in Tunisia and optimistic about developing its business in Gafsa, but because of the insecure current situation in Tunisia, some of our businesses are to be transferred temporarily to other Yazaki sites outside of Tunisia,” she elaborated.

According to Mrs. Zina, Yazaki will continue to show support to Tunisia and to serve as a reliable partner, which means fulfilling all previously announced projects.