South Africa, Ethiopia, and other African nations anticipate receiving a portion of a USD 40 billion fund from Vatican and UK businesses to help their economies and fund government development initiatives.
The initial benefactor from these companies may be Tanzania, which is now working on its two large-scale strategic projects, the Julius Nyerere Hydropower and Standard-Gauge Railway (SGR).
Ethiopia garnered USD121 million from the export of 22,689 tons of meat and meat products during the 2021/22 fiscal year.
The 11th edition of ETHIOPEX and 7th session of ALEC tandemly kicked off at Ethiopian Skylight and will continue until 29 October 2022. Over 4,000 visitors, traders, and stakeholders from Ethiopia and neighboring countries are expected to visit the event organized by Prana Events and supported by the Ministry of Agriculture, Pan African Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and SNV Netherlands Development Organization.
The historic Africa Hall, home to the genesis of the United Nation’s Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the Organization of African Unity (now African Union) is to be renovated via USD56.9 funding from the UN. The work will begin in November and is expected to finalize in mid-2024.
The landmark building built in 1961 was dedicated to the “services of the African people” by Emperor Haile Selassie and of which, member states of the UN have recognized the need to preserve and update its functionality and sustainability while preserving culture and patrimony.
The project area comprises 8,300 square meters of floor area and 4,500 square meters of landscaped areas and will feature a new visitor’s center. The ceremony to commence the works was led by Antonio Pedro, acting Executive Secretary of UNECA and Tesfaye Yilma (Amb), State Minister for Political and Economic Diplomacy at the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The makeover of the hall is hoped to strengthen heritage tourism, one of the tenets of the AU’s Agenda 2063 program.
Photo Credit: Samuel Habtab
The CFO Forum Ethiopia was held in Addis Ababa with the purpose of creating a platform for finance professionals and stakeholders. Organized by the local consulting firm HST and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) Ethiopia, this year’s them was “Ethiopia’s International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Adoption. The journey to-date and the way forward.”
HST presented the major factors making Ethiopia’s IFRS implementation difficult and these included the shortage of appropriate experts and expertise, inadequate regulation, shortage of appropriate training and education systems, lack of support by company owners and other stake holders, and the high cost of implementation.
Ethiopia has chosen to fully adopt IFRS and is now amongst approximately 120 nations to have done so.
RedFox Solutions Group launched its data center, RedFox Modular Data Center (RFETH-MDC01), in the country’s ICT Park located in Addis Ababa with Adane Kassaye, CEO, stating that “our goal is to be a pre-eminent data center provider in the region. Redfox builds its data centers in phases; our first modular data center, which is now operational will be followed by our build-to-suite server farm.
Looking to find a solution to retailers’ difficulties of selling-out older products, Qinash mobile and web application that serves as an online discount mall has been developed by Ethiopians. Qinash provides a hybrid service where business owners promote and sell all kinds of discount offers and buyers know where to get the right deals. Instead of the poster on a shop’s window—only seen by people passing by—Qinash allows retail businesses to promote seasonal discounts and unique bundle offers to a much bigger market. In addition, Qinash delivers all sales made through its platform and provides a dashboard where sellers can keep track of their transactions. Qinash takes a 5 to 10Pct commission fee for the promotion, delivery, and tracking service it provides sellers.
Kadisco asianpaints factory inaugurated two showrooms to avail its products to customers in a lounge-type setting. Kadisco, which has been manufacturing paint products since 1968 was originally dealing with adhesive and automobile paints, going on to manufacture adhesive using Italian technology in 1979.
With more than 320 employees, the company operates three factories in the Kality Industrial Park.
Dubai’s Department for Economy and Tourism (DET), in continuation of its ongoing activities in Africa has released dates for its East Africa roadshow, with the Ethiopian edition to be held on September 15. The roadshow will highlight Dubai’s affordable experiences and the diversity of the city’s offerings to key travel partners. Highlights of the roadshow span across travel, hospitality, entertainment and Dubai’s citywide events, with a focus on leisure, family travel, education and medical tourism. Key elements of the event will include breakout network sessions, partner presentations, one-on-one meetings, and medical facility updates.
The International Solar Alliance’s (ISA) Fourth Regional Committee Gathering was held in Addis Ababa—the first for the region—arranged in collaboration with the Ethiopian Ministry of Water and Energy (MoWE). In attendance were Ajay Mathur (PhD), Director General of ISA and ministers from Ethiopia, the Central African Republic, Guinea, Ghana, Mali, Guinea-Bissau, Comoros, and Somalia. ISA has 107 member countries, including 36 that are actively participating and 6 African signatories.
The national payment processing system EthSwitch has welcomed Kacha Digital Financial Services—Ethiopia’s first ever private mobile money service provider. Ensuant to financial sector reform and subsequent directives, the road has been paved for payment instrument issuers like Kacha, for which the National Bank of Ethiopia has granted the first such license. Kacha has thus bought shares in EthSwitch.
Kacha is undertaking final preparations and is piloting its platform before its commercial launch which will avail its cashless transaction services through 30,000 agents by virtue of the partnership formed with banks, microfinance institutions, and saving and cooperative organizations that are all part of EthSwitch.
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