Libya Private-Sector Projects: 5 Investments Shaping the Economy

Libya’s private economy is often discussed in general terms: diversification, entrepreneurship, foreign investment and the need to reduce dependence on hydrocarbons. Those themes matter, but they become much more useful when they can be traced to individual businesses that are actually building factories, logistics systems, digital platforms and service networks.

Five projects illustrate different parts of that process.

Tosyalı-SULB is building large-scale direct reduced iron capacity east of Benghazi. Dafniya Complex for Food Industries is processing and packaging staple foods inside Libya while moving into export markets. Presto has built a large digital delivery network around merchants, drivers and consumers. Mataa is developing the warehousing and fulfillment systems required for formal e-commerce. Kia Libya and Ajwad Almoharekat represent another part of the private economy: the distribution, servicing and technical infrastructure that supports imported consumer products after they enter the country.

The projects operate in very different industries, but they share one important characteristic. Each is attempting to build more economic activity inside Libya rather than limiting the business model to the import, sale or export of a raw commodity.

They are also closely connected to the entrepreneurs behind them: Ahmed Gadalla, Shaban Whiba, Ammar Hmid, Ibrahim Shuwehdi and Mohamed Kara.

Together, they provide a practical picture of what private-sector diversification looks like at company level.

Five Private-Sector Projects to Watch in Libya

1. Tosyalı-SULB — Ahmed Gadalla
Sector: Steel and heavy industry
A major direct reduced iron project under construction east of Benghazi, designed to create new industrial production and export capacity.

2. Dafniya Complex for Food Industries — Shaban Whiba
Sector: Food manufacturing
A large Whiba Holding production complex combining food processing, storage and packaging, with products serving both Libya and export markets.

3. Presto — Ammar Hmid
Sector: Technology and logistics
A Libyan digital platform connecting consumers, merchants and drivers while building delivery and consumer-service infrastructure.

4. Mataa — Ibrahim Shuwehdi
Sector: E-commerce
A marketplace developing warehousing, fulfillment, merchant systems and first- and last-mile logistics around Libya’s online retail market.

5. Kia Libya / Ajwad Almoharekat — Mohamed Kara
Sector: Automotive distribution and services
An automotive network combining vehicle distribution with after-sales service, spare parts, technical support and workforce training.

These projects should not be treated as equivalent in scale. Tosyalı-SULB is a capital-intensive heavy-industrial development, while Presto and Mataa are digital platforms whose assets are built around technology, logistics and networks. The value of placing them together is that they show several different mechanisms through which Libya’s private sector can deepen.

1. Tosyalı-SULB: Building a New DRI Center East of Benghazi

The largest project in this group is Tosyalı-SULB, a direct reduced iron complex under construction at Ras Al-Mangar, east of Benghazi.

The joint venture combines Turkish steel producer Tosyalı with Libya United Steel Company for Iron and Steel Industry and is chaired by Ahmed Gadalla. The project’s current official plan calls for up to 7.5 million tonnes of annual DRI capacity, with a contracted first phase of 2.5 million tonnes per year.

The project is significant because it links Libya’s existing energy advantage with industrial production. Direct reduced iron can be produced using natural gas and supplied to steelmakers using electric arc furnaces, giving Libya the opportunity to perform more industrial processing before the product reaches international markets.

The first phase will use MIDREX Flex technology, which can initially operate with natural gas while allowing greater hydrogen use in the future. As of October 2026, Tosyalı-SULB reports approximately 40% project completion, with piling completed and above-ground construction progressing.

The larger economic question is what develops around the plant. A DRI complex requires contractors, engineers, transport, maintenance, safety systems, industrial gases, spare parts and other services. If Libyan companies gradually capture more of that demand, the project could support a wider industrial supply chain rather than operating as an isolated factory.

This makes Tosyalı-SULB an important test of whether large private investments can build capabilities around themselves as well as production capacity.

Entrepreneur: Ahmed Gadalla
Dedicated project profile: Tosyalı-SULB Libya: Inside the Benghazi DRI Project

2. Dafniya Complex: Manufacturing More of Libya’s Food at Home

The Dafniya Complex for Food Industries represents a very different form of industrial investment.

Part of Whiba Holding, the complex is located near Zliten and covers approximately 100 hectares. Its current official profile lists 18 manufacturing units and facilities across five food-manufacturing companies, supported by substantial storage and silo infrastructure.

The project is associated with Shaban Whiba, CEO of Whiba Holding, whose wider business group has developed food-production assets across several Libyan cities.

Dafniya manufactures products including pasta, couscous, semolina, flour, rice, vegetable oils, tomato products, sugar, evaporated milk and beverages. One of its most prominent production assets, the Al-Safwa pasta and couscous operation, has been reported with capacity of roughly 600 tonnes per day and around 200,000 tonnes of storage capacity.

The economic logic is based on domestic processing rather than complete agricultural self-sufficiency.

Libya will continue importing wheat and other agricultural commodities. The question is whether those commodities need to arrive as finished consumer products. When more milling, processing, packaging and storage occur inside Libya, a larger share of the food value chain becomes domestic.

Dafniya has also moved beyond import substitution. The complex has exported products to African markets and began shipping food products to France in 2024. Its continued participation in international food exhibitions, including Gulfood 2026, shows that export expansion remains part of its strategy.

The significance of the project therefore lies in both sides of the equation: manufacturing products that Libya would otherwise import and testing whether Libyan food producers can compete abroad.

Entrepreneur: Shaban Whiba
Dedicated project profile: Dafniya Complex for Food Industries: Inside Libya’s Major Food Manufacturing Hub

3. Presto: Building Libya’s Digital Delivery Infrastructure

Industrial diversification does not only happen inside factories.

Presto provides one of the clearest examples of a Libyan technology company building infrastructure around consumer activity.

Founded by Ammar Hmid in 2020, Presto began as an on-demand delivery platform connecting consumers with restaurants, supermarkets and other merchants.

By October 2024, independent reporting by Rest of World found that Presto had registered more than 2,000 merchants, approximately 24,000 delivery drivers and close to one million app downloads, while processing more than 23,000 orders in a single day.

The more important part of Presto’s development is how the company adapted to the Libyan market.

Digital payments remained limited, so Presto created systems around cash collection and settlement. Delivery networks were fragmented, so the company built a large driver network. Local technology talent was initially limited, so engineering was outsourced before Presto gradually built an internal development team.

These systems turned the company into more than a consumer application. Presto became part of the logistics and commercial infrastructure connecting merchants with customers.

The platform has since expanded beyond restaurant delivery into groceries, general delivery and other digital services, while also beginning to test regional expansion outside Libya.

Presto therefore represents another form of productive private-sector development. It does not manufacture physical products, but it organizes transactions, logistics and work in ways that did not previously exist at the same scale.

Entrepreneur: Ammar Hmid
Main project: Presto

4. Mataa: Building the Infrastructure Behind E-Commerce

Mataa addresses a related problem from a different direction.

Founded in 2022 by Ibrahim Shuwehdi, Mataa operates a Libyan shopping marketplace covering categories including fashion, home products, perfumes and electronics. Its current Google Play listing shows more than 100,000 downloads, while the company describes its objective as developing a broader e-commerce ecosystem inside Libya.

The important part of Mataa’s model lies behind the digital storefront.

E-commerce only works when products can be stored, located, packed, paid for and delivered reliably. In more mature markets, specialized companies may handle these activities independently. In Libya, where the e-commerce ecosystem is less developed, Mataa has had to build more of this infrastructure itself.

The company has focused on first-mile and last-mile logistics, warehouse capacity, inventory systems and merchant infrastructure. In 2025, Mataa raised its first seed funding round from Libyan angel investors, with the capital directed toward strengthening its logistics network, expanding warehouses and adding suppliers.

This is why Mataa is better understood as an e-commerce infrastructure project than simply another shopping application.

Libyan consumers were already buying products through Facebook, Instagram and informal online channels before Mataa appeared. The opportunity is to move more of those transactions into systems where inventory, fulfillment and delivery can be coordinated more reliably.

If that transition succeeds, the effect extends beyond Mataa itself because merchants gain access to shared infrastructure they would otherwise have to build independently.

Entrepreneur: Ibrahim Shuwehdi
Main project: Mataa

5. Kia Libya and Ajwad Almoharekat: Building the Services Around Imported Vehicles

The final project represents another important part of the private economy: the infrastructure surrounding imported consumer products.

Kia Libya’s current dealer network identifies Ajwad Almoharekat operations in Tripoli and Benghazi, alongside additional distributors in Misrata, Zliten and western Tripoli. The company provides vehicle distribution together with maintenance and after-sales services.

The business is associated with Mohamed Kara, chairman of Kia Libya.

The economic relevance lies in what happens after a car enters Libya.

Vehicles require mechanics, diagnostic systems, spare-parts inventories, workshops, customer support and increasingly specialized electrical and software expertise. The car may be manufactured abroad, but much of the economic activity surrounding ownership can still happen domestically.

Ajwad Almoharekat has also participated in technical-training initiatives, including programmes involving young Libyans and university students. These activities connect the automotive business with a broader labour-market issue: the need to create more practical technical skills inside the private sector.

Kia Libya is therefore different from the industrial projects in this series, but it illustrates the same underlying principle.

Imported products do not have to mean that every part of the associated value chain remains abroad.

Distribution, maintenance, technical services and customer support can all create domestic economic activity after the original product arrives.

Entrepreneur: Mohamed Kara
Main business project: Kia Libya / Ajwad Almoharekat

What Do These Projects Tell Us About Libya’s Private Economy?

The five projects demonstrate that diversification is not one single economic strategy.

Tosyalı-SULB is about using natural gas and international technology to create an industrial export product. Dafniya is about processing more imported commodities inside Libya and turning some of that production into exports. Presto organizes merchants, workers and consumers through digital logistics. Mataa is building more formal e-commerce infrastructure around warehousing and fulfillment. Kia Libya develops the service and technical network surrounding imported vehicles.

These activities operate at completely different scales, but they all deepen parts of the economy outside traditional crude-oil production.

They also illustrate why the distinction between trade and value creation matters.

Importing a product and selling it locally creates commercial activity. Processing, maintaining, distributing or building services around that product creates additional layers of activity.

The more of those layers that take place inside Libya, the more capable the private economy becomes.

This does not mean every domestic activity is automatically competitive. Factories still have to operate efficiently, digital platforms must eventually produce sustainable economics and service businesses need customers willing to pay for quality.

The projects should therefore be judged by outcomes rather than announcements.

For Tosyalı-SULB, that means construction, commissioning, output, exports and local procurement. For Dafniya, it means production utilization, recurring exports and the competitiveness of its products. For Presto and Mataa, it means transaction growth, profitability, service reliability and regional scalability. For Kia Libya, it means the depth and quality of the technical and service infrastructure surrounding the distribution business.

Those measures provide a much clearer picture of private-sector development than simply counting how many companies exist.

The Entrepreneurs Behind the Projects

These projects also reinforce the importance of looking at entrepreneurs and businesses together.

Ahmed Gadalla is associated with Tosyalı-SULB and a wider shift toward industrial manufacturing.

Shaban Whiba leads a group that has built large-scale domestic food-processing capacity through projects including Dafniya.

Ammar Hmid built Presto around Libya’s particular logistics, payments and employment environment.

Ibrahim Shuwehdi is developing Mataa around the physical infrastructure required for e-commerce.

Mohamed Kara operates in the distribution and technical-service systems surrounding Libya’s automotive and consumer economy.

The entrepreneur profiles explain who these people are.

The project profiles explain what they are building.

Together, the two series provide a more complete picture of how Libya’s private economy is developing.

Why These Projects Matter Beyond Their Owners

No individual project in this series can diversify Libya’s economy on its own.

That is not the appropriate standard.

The more useful question is whether projects like these create capabilities that remain useful beyond the company that originally built them.

A steel project can strengthen industrial suppliers.

A food complex can increase domestic processing and packaging capacity.

A delivery network can give merchants access to more consumers.

An e-commerce platform can build logistics infrastructure that smaller sellers could not create independently.

An automotive distributor can train technicians and deepen the country’s after-sales service market.

These are different mechanisms, but they all contribute to the same broader process: building an economy in which more activity occurs between the point where a product enters Libya and the point where value is finally realized.

That is one of the foundations of a stronger private sector.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are some of Libya’s largest private-sector projects?

Major examples include Tosyalı-SULB in heavy industry, Dafniya Complex for Food Industries, Presto in digital delivery, Mataa in e-commerce infrastructure and Kia Libya/Ajwad Almoharekat in automotive distribution and services.

What is the largest project in this series?

By physical scale and planned industrial capacity, Tosyalı-SULB is the largest. Its current plan targets up to 7.5 million tonnes of annual DRI capacity.

Which project is focused on Libya’s food industry?

Dafniya Complex for Food Industries is a major Whiba Holding food-manufacturing complex near Zliten producing pasta, flour, rice, oils, tomato products and other foods.

Which Libyan entrepreneurs are connected to these projects?

The projects are associated with Ahmed Gadalla, Shaban Whiba, Ammar Hmid, Ibrahim Shuwehdi and Mohamed Kara.

Which projects are focused on technology?

Presto and Mataa are the two primary technology businesses in the series. Presto focuses on delivery and digital consumer services, while Mataa is developing e-commerce, warehousing, fulfillment and logistics infrastructure.

Are these projects part of Libya’s economic diversification?

They represent different forms of diversification outside traditional crude-oil production, including manufacturing, food processing, technology, logistics, e-commerce and consumer services. Their long-term contribution will depend on production, profitability, exports, employment, local procurement and the capabilities they develop around themselves.