Financial Sector Strives to Serve Communities with Special NeedsIt has been one hundred years since Ethiopia witnessed the first bank that served as a whistle to the launching of the Ethiopian financial sector. Now, with 19 banks and USD20 Billion in assets, the banking sector still falls short in serving special needs communities including the visually impaired. Private financial service providers need to go the extra mile and effort in tandem with the regulatory body which needs to create an environment that encourages innovation for a wider scope of inclusiveness in the financial sector, writes Bamlak Fekadu.

Ever since federal troops left Tigray in June 2021, the battleground of military engagement between the federal government and regional powers in Tigray has shifted. As Wello, particularly North Wello Zone, of Amhara Region has become the new stage for war, tens of thousands of livelihoods have been lost while economic activities in the various towns is nothing but bleak. EBR’s Trualem Asmare delves into war-induced shattered hopes of small and medium businesses.

Meat exports in recent years have been sending promising signals to the export sector. Even though this new trend has shown potential to reverse the long-time narrative of how Ethiopia doesn’t take full advantage of its abundance of live animals, it is still being challenged by a competitive local market. As Ethiopians’ love affair with meat is pushing local prices higher and higher, more attention is advised to solve the hurdles of the sector to fully reap the benefits of meat production, writes EBR’s Bamlak Fekadu.

Audiences can now access news and events as they happen with the help of social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. They are migrating from classical media to the digital sphere and, as a result, the underdeveloped mainstream media of Ethiopia is facing new challenges, competitors, and demands as well as expectations and opportunities. Especially for private press, which has been losing advertisers and failing to broaden its readership and coverage, this is bad news. EBR’s Ashenafi Endale explores the journey periodicals are taking to embrace social media.

The unheralded actor in the Ethiopian economy is the woman doing free work in the home or elsewhere. Established institutional and patriarchal norms in our society means that at best, the woman is paid in-kind for her work.

Experts say that this manner of work needs to be quantified to show the true worth of free labor as well as lead to a system where government provides subsidized goods and services to these women, and sometimes men, that are the backbone of the nation’s economic movement. EBR’s Trualem Asmare looks into the topic.

Legal friction amongst businesses is a naturally occurring phenomenon. However, if there is no equally-dynamic venue and avenue to solve those frictions, business activity will get stuck. The normal court system which handles criminal cases and takes months and years to conclude, is too slow for business.

Though arbitration is globally preferred as the best business dispute settlement mechanism, Ethiopia has not had the necessary legal frameworks in place. Usually, business arbitration awards rendered in any country across the world are acceptable by the highest courts. However, this was missing in Ethiopia until the nation signed the 1958 New York Convention in 2021.

Until now, most business conflicts arising from contracts between Ethiopian businesses and foreign partners, have been arbitrated outside of Ethiopia. This has its costs in terms of undue foreign currency consumption, inability to receive fair arbitration, and misconception of Ethiopia as business unfriendly. Ashenafi Endale explores the new changes after the ratification of the convention, as well as the new local arbitration proclamation.

When the massive edible oil factories, Phibela and W.A., were inaugurated with state fanfare, many believed Ethiopia would no longer face cooking oil shortages, even to the extent that imports would be fully substituted with local production. Six months after the launching of the two giants, cooking oil has become a precious commodity in Addis Ababa with prices rising.
With over 2.7 million liters demanded every day, Ethiopian currently imports 1.3 million liters. Though the daily supply from medium- and large-scale factories in the country has dramatically increased from last year’s 228,800 to 992,876 liters currently, it is still far less than their installed capacities of 3.4 million liters.

Even with blossoming local production, there is in excess of 10.4 million liters in supply gap every month. Lack of power supply and raw materials is crippling even the big oil complexes, as most of the oilseed production is exported to fetch foreign currency for importers. EBR’s Mersha Tiruneh explores government’s misguided policy and the extra effort edible oil factories are undertaking towards farming their own supply of oilseeds.

Economic opportunities accessible to women are primarily tied to financing, and lack of working space to a lesser extent. Studies show that women, though with less access to loans, are better loan performers in terms of repayment and society trickle-down effects. Those that do access microloans are stuck in their success as there are no avenues to transition into larger bank loans due to collateral and guarantor requirements and commercial banks have a loan appraisal systems largely incompatible with the needs of small business owners. EBR’s Mariamawit Gezahegn assesses the current financial environment as well as suggestions that are critical to gender equality and empowering women.