The Ethio-Luxembourg business discourse began at the Hilton Hotel on February 4, 2016 with an opening speech by the Ethiopian State Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Regassa Kefale, Fana Broadcasting reported.

Around 20 delegated companies are currently discussing in Addis Ababa.

Mr. Regassa stated that this business discussion would enhance the bilateral and business ties between Ethiopia and Luxembourg. He pointed out the fact that potential investors from Luxembourg should benefit if they were to take advantage of Ethiopia’s investment and market potentials.

Ambassador of Luxembourg to Ethiopia, Mr. Jean-Marc Hoscheit, said the same strong political relations needed to be repeated on the economic sector.

According to Mr. Jeannot Erpelding, Director of International Affairs of the Chamber of Commerce of Luxembourg, the chamber chose to promote trade and investment in Ethiopia and some other African countries because these countries have a stable economy and politics, economic outlook and business potential.

On another note, the Addis Ababa Chamber of Commerce and Sectorial Association signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with its Luxembourg counterpart.

[www.fanabc.com/]

ovago, one of the top hotel booking website in Africa, and Axa, a worldwide leader in Insurance and Asset management announced today a partnership to develop the expansion of Jovago and a new round of funding to boost its activities in Africa.

This would further ensure the expansion of the business to booming markets and the strengthening of the brand in the existing branches of major cities across Africa, Jvago, said today in its press statement.

The new major investor confirms Jovago’s strategy to expand its operations and local presence in Africa in order to reach and meet the needs of travelers.

Axa is a world class player which is not only strong financially but also has a huge experience in investing in companies.

Axa will invest Euro 75 million and own approximately 8 % of the capital of AIG, parent company of Jovago. As a result, AXA will thus become a shareholder of AIG along with MTN, Rocket Internet and Millicom

“This is an exciting news to Ethiopia to boost Jovago activities and to connect with the global advanced systems that will bring economic development and knowledge transfer.” Alexander Burtenshaw, Country Manager of Jovago Ethiopia said.

Jovago’s current positions as African largest inventory of hotels will be further consolidated. Jovago would continue its provision of a secure platform to increase the visibility of even the most remote hotels, improve service quality, facilitate the movement of travelers and promote profitability for their businesses.

“It’s rewarding for Jovago to partner with such a strong group as Axa which will allow us to strengthen our ability to build the first platform for travelers in Africa. Jovago wants to break the barrier to travel and make travel more easy and affordable in Africa. The support of AXA will be key to accomplish this success, “said Paul Midy, CEO Jovago.

He further explaining that “The funding came on a perfect timing with significant amount, this makes for one of the top investments in the history of start-ups in Africa. It also strategically positions Jovaog and Africa Internet Group to further build e-commerce in Africa.”

This investment will allow AXA to build on the strength of AIG companies to further develop its activities. AXA will become the exclusive provider of insurance products and services through AIG.

“This transaction confirms AXA’s long-term commitment towards the African markets and represents another step in our development on the continent. Africa is home to some of the most dynamic and promising insurance markets in the world and our partnership with Africa Internet Group will enable us to accelerate materially our development by having access to their rich customer base and to their state-of-the-art e-commerce technology. Going forward, we aim to enable African consumers to better access insurance solutions to create sustainable financial well-being throughout their lives and those of their dependents”, added Denis Duverne, Deputy CEO of AXA.

Since its creation in 2013 and the opening of its first offices in Africa, Jovago has been growing steadily. Its large inventory lists 25,000 hotels in over 40 African countries, over 500 hotels in Ethiopia and 200,000 hotels worldwide. With its ongoing success, Jovago aims to accelerate the innovation of its digital services in the hospitality industry in emerging countries.

Jovago is an online hotel booking service with offices in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) Lagos (Nigeria), Nairobi (Kenya), and Dakar (Senegal) founded by Africa Internet Group and has MTN and Millicom as investors. Jovago.com, Africa’s No.1 booking portal, facilitates the booking process for its users to provide them with the best hotel booking experience with fast, transparent and easy-to-use services.

The AXA Group is a worldwide leader in insurance and asset management, with 161,000 employees serving 103 million clients in 59 countries. In 2014, IFRS revenues amounted to Euro 92 billion and IFRS underlying earnings to Euro 5.1 billion. AXA had Euro 1,277 billion in assets under management as of December 31, 2014.

[newbusinessethiopia.com/]

The State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC) is to be the second private company to invest on energy development in the country. The company that has in the past participated on mega transmission line projects in the country has now set out to generate electric power on its own. “We want to work on projects for the government and on our own, in the future. Currently, we are working for the government on the transmission line and on substation projects but we are interested in power generation projects,” says Xiong Feng, Business Division General Manager of SGCC.

Recent developments in Ethiopia’s policy aimed at expanding private sector engagement in the electric production have made State Grid’s ambitions possible. Another energy company, the US-Icelandic Reykjavik Geothermal Ltd, has also entered an agreement with the government to develop 1,000MW of electric power from geothermal resources in the southern parts of the country at a cost of USD 4 billion.

State Grid are also interested in investing on renewable energy in Ethiopia, more specifically investing on wind farm projects by the government and on their own. Details of such a project, such as the project site and amount of investment are unknown but “We are now on preliminary discussions with the government,” said the General Manager.

SGCC has recently completed the biggest ever transmission line and substation for the Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).The company is also constructing the Ethiopian part of the Ethio-Kenya transmission line project at the cost of USD 119.3 million and has provided electricity grids for substations in the Addis Ababa light rail transit (LRT) power project, which commenced operation in October last year.

[www.capitalethiopia.com/]

The first manufacturing industry in Ethiopia was established during the 1920s as a private household cottage enterprise. The first group of 27 factories, mostly owned by foreigners commenced operation by producing limited outputs.

The formal institutionalization effort of the manufacturing sector dates back to late 1950’s and early 1960’s when the imperial government developed a new policy to shore up the economy by attracting foreign investment to the economy.

The new policy brought about a series of incentives including tax exceptions, remittance of foreign exchange, duty free imports and exports, tax exemptions on dividends and financial support from the Ethiopian Investment Corporation and the Development Bank of Ethiopia.

Furthermore, the government introduced protective measures for industries by instituting high tariffs on and banning the importation of commodities that might adversely affect the market share of domestically produced goods. The products that had received such protection included sugar, textile, furniture and metal products. The government was also taking part in the sector by directly investing in industries that had high capital costs, such as the Assab Oil Refinery as well as the in paper and pulp, glass and bottle, tire, and cement industries.

In 1963, while the Second Five-Year plan was under way, the government enacted Proclamation No.1963/51 with the objective of consolidating other investment policies to expand benefits/incentives to Ethiopian investors (previous legislation had limited the benefits to foreigners only) and create an Investment Committee that would oversee investment programmes.

In 1966, the government also enacted Proclamation No.1966/242, which elevated the Investment Committee’s status from an advisory council to an authorized body empowered to make independent investment decisions. By early 1970s, Ethiopia’s industrialization policy included a range of fiscal incentives, direct government investment, and equity participation in private enterprises.

The government’s policy attracted considerable foreign investment. For instance, in 1971/72 the share of foreign capital in manufacturing industries amounted for 41 percent of the total paid-up capital. Many foreign enterprises operated as private limited companies, usually as a branch or subsidiary of multinational corporations. The Dutch had a major investment (close to 80 per cent) in the sugar industry. Italian and Japanese investors participated in textiles; and Greeks maintained an interest in shoes and beverages. Italian investors also worked in building, construction, and agricultural industries.

In 1975, the military government nationalized most industries and reorganized them into state-owned corporations. On February 7,1975, the government adopted a socialist economic policy. The policy identified three manufacturing sectors which are left to government prerogatives. These included basic industries that produced goods serving other industries as input and that had the capacity to create linkages in the economy; industries that produced essential goods for the general population; and industries that produced drugs, medicine, tobacco, and beverages.

The policy also classified industries for the public and private sectors. While the first industries were reserved for the state, the second industries were operated by state and private capital and the third were left to the private sector.

The 1975 nationalization had negative repercussions on the national economy as it blocked foreign private investment. Private direct investment, according to the National Bank of Ethiopia, declined from 65 million birr in 1974 to 12 million in 1977.

In 1983, the Derg regime issued Proclamation No. 235 (the Joint Venture Proclamation) signaled Ethiopia’s renewed interest in attracting foreign capital. The proclamation offered incentives such as a five-year period of income tax relief for new projects, import and export duty relief, tariff protection, and repatriation of profits and capital. It limited foreign holdings to a maximum of 49 per cent and the duration of any joint venture to twenty-five years. Although the proclamation protected investors’ interests from expropriation, the government reserved the right to purchase all shares in a joint venture.

The proclamation failed to attract foreign investment primarily because of investors’ mistrust of the government which was engaged in large scale nationalization. In 1989, the government issued Special Decree No. 11, a revision of the 1983 proclamation. The decree allowed huge foreign ownership in many sectors, except in those related to public utilities, banking and finance, trade, transportation, and communications. The decree also removed all restrictions on profit repatriation and attempted to provide more extensive legal protection to investors than provided in 1983 proclamation.

In March 1990 the government issued a mixed economy policy. Under the new system, the private sector would be able to participate in all parts of the economy with no limit on capital investment (Ethiopia had a 250,000 USD ceiling on private investment); developers would be allowed to build houses, apartments, and office buildings for rent or sale; and commercial enterprises were allowed to develop industries, hotels, and a range of other enterprises on government-owned land to be leased on a concessionary basis.

However, the Derg has never fully implemented the policy. The downfall of the regime in 1991 ushered a new era not only in the political development of the country but the entire socio-economic system. With the introduction of a major shift in the economic policy of the nation during the Transitional Government, a new development strategy of Agricultural Led Industrialization (ADLI) was instituted. ADLI envisaged agriculture development playing a leading role in the industrialization process by preparing various conditions for full-fledged industrialization.

The industrial development policy underscored the importance of the linkage between agriculture and industry through the development of agro-industry to bridge a smooth transition to full-fledged development of the industry. The strategy focused on export oriented sectors as priority sub-sectors to improve foreign exchange earnings.

The industry policy outlined the importance of labor intensive production as a major tool for generating employment opportunities. A number of concrete interventions including the maintenance of macroeconomic stability, building a regulated and functional financial sector, creating efficient civil service based on skilled and effective human resources and legal framework, the promotion of modern infrastructural facilities including the construction of industrial parks were charted out as sub-strategies for promoting of industrialization.

A number of regulatory reforms such as revisions in business registration procedures, investment code and the modernization of the tax regime including value added tax were introduced.

In order to build the capacity of the manufacturing sector, due emphasis was given to textile and leather industries for which various supportive institutions were formed. Moreover, food, beverages, apparel constituted major export oriented manufacturing sectors.

The manufacturing sector in Ethiopia is facing several challenges which require urgent and gradual solutions. Lack of skilled manpower, adequate financial resources, affiance in the acquisition of land and power supply, absence of transparent tax administration, hurdles in trade logistics for manufactured goods, inefficiency of government bureaucracy and corruption are only few of the challenges that need to be addressed if the manufacturing sector should prevail in the competitive global market.

The Ethiopian government is already taking a number of remedial measures to create better investment climate engaging in wider range of training necessary manpower for the manufacturing industries through Technical and Vocational Education Training Programmes and through university-industry linkage to encourage apprenticeship programmes for young engineers. Accomplishments in the construction of industrial parks and simplification of business regulations via the introduction of a single window service is paying off by luring investors into the manufacturing industry.

Ethiopia is endowed with natural resources that can effectively buttress the raw material needs of the manufacturing industries. The development of national power grid is in the making while infrastructural networks are in progress, creating favorable ground for the development of manufacturing industries. New breed of cotton is being introduced in the country while hides and skins are abundantly available given proper handing. Over the last several months, the reduction in global oil prices has brought about better opportunities.

All told, the development of industries in Ethiopia which has a 14 per cent share of the economy is still at the take off stage. A lot more improvements are required in the supply of power, better tax administration system, and financial support to investors. It is also essential to form joint ventures with foreign investors in addition to encouraging local businesspersons to invest in manufacturing industries. It is also vital to make sure that the sector is free of corruption.

[www.ethpress.gov.et/herald/]

U.S. investments in Ethiopia climbed to $4 billion last year helped by several companies taking advantage of the renewed Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) to venture into the East African nation, the country’s ambassador to the US said.

Girma Biru said several U.S. companies including Corbetti Geothermal Company, KKR & CO., l.P Horticulture, Blackstone and Coca Cola, have in the last few years invested heavily in Ethiopia, Walta Information Center reported.

Black Rhino, company owned by funds from United States investment firm Blackstone Group, was last week awarded a contract to construct a 550 kilometer fuel pipeline worth $1.5 billion linking landlocked Ethiopia to Djibouti’s port. President Barack Obama’s visit to Ethiopia mid last year was seen by many investors as a stamp of approval to do business in the fast growing sub-Saharan Africa Economy. AGOA builds existing US trade programs by expanding duty-free benefits previously available only under the country’s Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program.

Over 7,000 products from Africa are enjoying tariff-free entry into the lucrative US market under the agreement. A new class of Ethiopian entrepreneurs is taking advantage of AGOA to operate in a world-class space. Startups such as SoleRebels, an Ethiopian eco-friendly footwear manufacturer, has transformed itself into global footwear company with projected yearly sales of $15m or more in revenue through AGOA deals.

Ethiopian Prime Minister  Hailemariam Desalegn however said during a US-Africa Business Summit earlier in February that “The US investment in Africa falls short of expectation compared to its total global investments”.

According to APA, Hailemariam asked US firms to diversify their investment in Africa beyond extractive industries to bring about economic transformation in the continent and improve the livelihoods of Africans at large. “We want you to play a role in the transformation of Africa which I believe is beneficial both to Africa and to US investors,” he said.

Several Ethiopian homegrown businesses still don’t have potential to for scalable manufacturing capacity to supply a US market and some Chinese companies are taking advantage of this to get their products to the American market through partnerships with Ethiopian businesses, The Africa Report said.

[www.waltainfo.com/]

Recently, over 1,200 business representatives, government officials, entrepreneurs, investors, decision makers and managers from Africa, US, China and Turkey attended the U.S – Africa Business Summit here in Addis Ababa. In this summit, many leaders declared that Africa is rising, and its future is very bright.

Opening the Summit, Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn explained that Ethiopia’s economy has been the fastest growing economies in the world for the last decade. He noted, “We are not frustrated by the head wind which has been expressed as affecting the global economy.”

According to Hailemariam, the World Bank agreed that Africa could be in the bricks of economic take off as much as China and India was 30 and 20 years ago respectively. The United States has been a central and long standing partner of Africa in political, social, economic development for many years. In those years, Africa has been provided generous amount of humanitarian and development assistance from the United States.

On the other hand, he revealed that U.S private sector engagement in Africa has been rather lower. He believes that the current U.S business and investment in Africa stand for no more than small percentage of the total U.S global investment. According to him, to reach the potential expressed by the World Bank, governments need to work hard in increasing trade and investment between U.S and Africa particularly in productive sectors.

Regarding investment incentives, the Prime Minister explained that Africa has substantial and untapped potential for investment, trade and tourism. It has a wide range of still largely unexploited, or unused natural resources including diversified mineral deposits.

In this regard, he also stated that the government of Ethiopia has provided encouraging conditions designed to attract foreign business and investment for better economic development. Thus, Ethiopia has a stable economic and political environment; stability in macro economy, and a free market economy in attracting investment incentives.

Prime Minister Hailemariam affirmed that companies those need to invest in Ethiopia should focus on agribusiness, agro-processing and overall agricultural production to import capital goods duty free and entitled to tax holiday privileges.

The country has investors friendly legislation with attracting incentive packages to encourage its growth. The priority sectors that are available includes light manufacturing – textile, leather and leather products, sugar, metal, industrial engineering and pharmaceutical sectors. Oil, gas and other minerals are among the extractive sector attracting foreign investment.

Similarly, Hailemariam said that a booming construction industry, and a major range of infrastructural development sectors such as hydro power, wind and geothermal energy projects, rail and road construction are the other attractive areas where foreign investors could engage.

Of course, Ethiopia has huge natural resources, abundant, affordable and skilled labors. That is why the the government has put considerable attention for energy resources, and became intolerant to corruption unless minimal crime rate. Ethiopia needs increased investment to build its economy, lift its citizens out of poverty as well as enable the country get out of low income status.

The country has offered investment incentives to investors engaged in prioritized sectors. In addition, the government is currently expanding industrial parks with adequate infrastructure to speed up industrialization in the country.

CCA President Stephen Hayes said, “CCA is one of the very few U.S. business organizations that has an M.O.U. with the African Union and held its tenth biannual summit in Addis for three days. This relationship is important, and fruitful as the conference was planned to look at the long term issues between U.S.-Africa economic and trade.

U.S. Assistant Secretary Linda Thomas-Greenfield said that this forum follows the successful business forum, the Global Entrepreneurship Summit hosted in Kenya in July. It is true to say that business in Africa is important to America; American investors are interested in Africa, and investors across the globe are interested in Africa.

There are many opportunities, and those opportunities are being highlighted by the actions of the business community here. Linda said, “We know that business is the engine of growth, we know that business is the way to prosperity in Africa, businesses will create jobs, not governments.”

Likewise, CCA Chairman Paul Hinks said that CCA is a leading US-based company promoting trade and investment on the African continent. “As doing business in Africa and elsewhere is not easy, the public and private sector should understand the circumstances of the business environment.”

US Ambassador Patricia Haslach believed that the business summit was the first of its kind providing available opportunity and the privileges and discussed greater intra-African trade. According to her, U.S investors have a role in building up African economies.

African governments need the private sector entrepreneurial spirit, market survey and readiness to invest. They should have to encourage their commitment to transparency and fighting corruption.

As investing in Africa is not so easy, U.S investors should become patient and resilient to do business in Africa, then the profit will also be huge. Patricia also recommended that African governments should supply for investors the enabling environment such as stability, fair and efficient regulatory frameworks as well as attractive investment plan.

As a result, U.S and African investors has taken advantages of investment and business opportunities from the Summit held in Ethiopia. The Forum has enabled U.S and African investors explore peculiar opportunities and gain insights into Ethiopia’s fast growing economy.

Companies, participated in the U.S-Africa Business Summit, were keen to get greater access, connections and insight to do business in Africa through high-level special events, business conferences and trade exhibitions. Of these, Yazmi USA was a company that came up with an incomparable solution to address the challenge that hinders African countries from building the human infrastructure.

Yazmi Chairman and CEO Noah Samara said that his company is committed to empower Africa through creating unique education strategy that works in every schools without the need of electricity. Noah recommended that as the programme fosters the development of science, Ethiopia is cushy to accept and apply new sciences, and needs its implementation.

[www.ethpress.gov.et/herald/]

Ethiopia exported more than 11 million pieces of flower in connection with Valentine’s Day, a day celebrated on February 14 every year, Walta Information Center reported.

Ethiopia earned an amount of 18 million US dollars in connection with the same day last year on exports made to Europe, North America, Middle East and Far East countries.

According to a report by Anadolu Agency in December 2015, Ethiopia is said to be the second-largest flower exporter in Africa after Kenya, with over 100 flower growers on 1,700 hectares. Ethiopia garnered USD 250 million from horticulture export in 2014.  Flower growers in Ethiopia are entitled to the following privileges; a five-year tax holiday, duty free imports, access to bank loans and farm lands as well as a 100 percent exemption from payment of export customs duties.

Ethiopia is said to be the second-largest flower exporter in Africa after Kenya, with over 100 flower growers on 1,700 hectares, Anadolu Agency reported.

Berhanu Ludamo, Promotion and Information Service Head of Ethiopian Horticulture Producers Exporters Association told Anadolu Agency that Ethiopia would soon assume Kenya’s position to become the leading flower exporter in Africa.

Experts told Anadolu Agency on Friday, December, 11, 2015, that the Ethiopian flower industry is flourishing, with the help of the government incentives and low labor cost.

Berhanu noted Ethiopia garnered USD 250 million from horticulture export in 2014. The revenue is expected to rise the current year as a result of expansion of horticulture farms. He added the country is going to grow 3,000 in the coming five years to garner revenue of USD 550 million from export.

Ethiopia’s climate is a major competitive advantage for floriculture sector, Shiferaw Mitiku, a researcher and agricultural marketing consultant in Addis Ababa said.

Flower growers in Ethiopia are entitled to the following privileges; a five-year tax holiday, duty free imports, access to bank loans and farm lands as well as a 100 percent exemption from payment of export customs duties, according to Ethiopian Investment code 2001.

[www.waltainfo.com/]

Business leaders in Ethiopia and Kenya have pledged to push their respective governments to implement a bilateral trade agreement signed in 2012. The leaders who met in Nairobi on Thursday said implementation of the Special Status Agreement was key to growing trade between the countries.

According to the Kenya Association of Manufacturers, the country “has a strong interest in the implementation of the SSA,” which will eliminate tariff and non-tariff barriers in trade between the two countries. It is also expected to improve market access between them, increasing the flow of goods and services.

KAM has partnered with the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry to spearhead bilateral talks, in the wake of increasing industrial competition from the north-neighboring country. “We anticipate that the co-operation will open up better opportunities for local businesses in Ethiopia and vice versa,” KAM CEO Phyllis Wakiaga said in a statement last Friday. Ethiopian business delegation was led by its Foreign Affairs State Minister, Regassa Kefelew.

Analysts have projected that Ethiopia is likely to become a leading investment hub for global manufacturing companies eyeing Africa due to its investments in infrastructure projects and lower electricity costs.

Kenya’s north-neighboring country, Africa’s second largest by population, has since the turn of the decade concentrated on upgrading its railway transportation services. The 756-kilometre standard gauge railway from capital Addis Ababa to Port of Djibouti – commissioned in 2011– is on trial use, while the 17 km Addis light rail mass transit system started operations on September 20, last year. “Opportunities for peer learning through projects such as the tram and the standard gauge railway in Ethiopia and Kenya will set us on a path to economic sustainability for both nations,” Wakiaga said.

Kenyan companies have been keen on expanding into Ethiopia under the agreement.

Last year, Kenya Commercial Bank announced it had received a license to open a representative office in Ethiopia, which has previously heavily restricted foreign investors from venturing into telecommunication, banking, retail, insurance and electricity sectors.

Kenya is banking on the bilateral engagements and improvement of infrastructure, which includes the Marsabit- Moyale road to grow trade opportunities into Ethiopia. The value of trade between the two countries increased from Sh2.2 billion in 2004 to Sh7.4 billion in 2014, KNCCI CEO Matanda Wabuyele said.

[www.the-star.co.ke]

What makes the seminar special is professionals and pertinent stake holders come together for discussion with common objectives focusing on pharmaceutical and medicinal business

Relations between Ethiopia and Egypt dates back to many centuries. Though the two countries relation was overshadowed by divergent interests, the on-going business and trade relations is defusing the past mistrust and glimpse of hope is in insight which benefit the two countries.

In a press conference held yesterday, the Egyptian Embassy announced that a seminar organized by Embassy Commercial Office and the Egyptian Export Council for Medical Industries will be held February 26, 2016 here in Addis.

Embassy Commercial Councilor Waleed El Zomar said that in the light of the continued efforts to strengthen relations between the business communities of the two sisterly countries, the seminar will cover many of the sectors of medical industries such as pharmaceuticals, veterinary medicine, medicine supplies, cosmetics and medical tourism.

According to El Zomar, the seminar will be attended by Health Ministers of Ethiopia and Egypt as well as Ambassadors of the two countries. Leaders, and representatives of the largest and most reputable pharmaceutical companies in Egypt will also attend the seminar. It is expected to enable stakeholders from both countries to harness the opportunities created by trade and investment relations.

Though Egyptian medicine and medical equipment are popular here in Ethiopia, only one per cent of pharmaceutical products are destined to the Ethiopian market which needs to be changed.

Ethio- Egyptian Business Council Trade and Investment Director Melaku Juhar on his part said what makes the seminar special is professionals and pertinent stake holders come together for discussion with common objectives focusing on pharmaceutical and medicinal business.

According to information made available at the press conference, currently there are three giant Egyptian hospitals which show interest to invest in Ethiopia establishing hospitals and medicinal facilities.

[allafrica.com/]

Daewoo Engineering & Construction Co., a major South Korean builder, clinched an $82 million deal to construct a four-lane highway in Ethiopia, making its first entry into the African country.

The company said Tuesday that under the contract signed with Ethiopia’s road management authority, Daewoo E&C will design and build a 37-kilometer highway connecting Meki and Zeway. The construction is scheduled to last 40 months after the groundbreaking.

Daewoo E&C has been faster than any other domestic builders in expanding its footstep in Africa – North Africa including Nigeria, Algeria, Libya and Morocco, and South Africa including Botswana. It obtained one third of the orders that domestic contractors have so far won on the continent, the company noted. The South Korean builder has been steadily winning orders to build not only roads but also other infrastructure, petrochemical and power plants in the region.

The company noted that East Africa is a growing market as the amount of official development aid from various international organizations has been flooding into the region. The latest deal is expected to give the company a chance to have bigger presence in neighboring markets including Kenya and Tanzania, it added.

[pulsenews.co.kr]

A group of Ethiopians in the Diaspora are going to build a large business center in Addis Ababa at a cost of 2.6 billion birr, Fana Broadcasting Corporate reported.

The large business center which was given the name ‘’Ethio-Diaspora Grand Mall’’ would commence construction no more than a year later.

Company Manager, Mr. Ahmed Mubarek, stated that the 17-storey grand mall would be the first of its kind in Addis Ababa. The Business center would be erected on 19 hectares of land comprising cinema halls and various shops.

Ethiopians and foreign nationals of Ethiopian origin living in North America, Australia and other countries were included as members in the Ethio-Diaspora Grand Mall S.C.

[www.fanabc.com/]

African countries should put maximum effort to bolster regional trade networks amongst themselves, advised AU Trade and Industry Commissioner, Mrs. Fatima Haram Acyl. ”If we do not have continental market, it is going to be very difficult for us to justify huge amount of investment in this continent. It is also hard to attract big amount of investors to invest and produce” the commissioner said while talking exclusively to ENA.

According to the World Trade Organization (WTO) 2014 report, the level of intra-African trade in 2012 was 12.8% which is very low compared to other regions in the world. Currently, the share of Africa’s total exports in global trade flows is 3.5% which is also extremely low compared to other regions.

Adopted to avoid trade limitations in the continent, the Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) is helping create a competitive economy among African nations especially in the service industry sector, according to Commissioner Fatima. Creation of competitive economy relies on the proper functioning of the service sector, she said, calling on African countries to diversify infrastructure and ICT development, among others, with a view to enhance engagements in CFTA. ”In the coming days we will talk about negotiation. We will adopt the rule of procedures on how we are going to proceed with the negotiation,” Mrs. Fatima elaborated. Disparity in the economic strength of African nations is also pointed out as a limiting factor for the consensus on CFTA.

CFTA in particular will create a single market for goods and services in Africa of over a billion people and a GDP of over three trillion dollars providing a good reason to invest in Africa, the commissioner said. Scaling up domestic production capacity, stimulating export capacity, value addition, employment creation and promoting competition among economies are among the pivotal roles of the CFTA.

[www.ena.gov.et/en/]

Ethiopia’s footwear industry has long been known for producing fine-quality leather shoes and products. With reliable power sources, affordable labor and a fast-growing economy with a forecasted GDP growth of over 10%, it is no wonder that international companies and suppliers are flocking to Ethiopia to tap into this market.

Through the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), the US-Africa trade law that provides eligible African countries with duty-free and quota-free access into the US market, leather shoes exported from Ethiopia have simply exploded. Under AGOA, shoe exports jumped from $630,000 to nearly $7m between 2011 and 2012, a more than tenfold increase, according to statistics from USAID.

Ethiopia has the largest livestock herd in Africa and, indeed, one of the largest in the world. Local companies have been producing raw materials and leather products for export, dating as far back as the 1930s.

U.S. companies stand to benefit from lucrative new business opportunities to either invest in and scale up Ethiopian companies, or enable that to happen by providing profitable access to the U.S. market for quality and competitively priced products

New classes of Ethiopian entrepreneurs are taking advantage of AGOA to operate in a world-class space. SoleRebels, an Ethiopian eco-friendly footwear manufacturer, has transformed itself from a small enterprise into a global footwear company with projected yearly sales of $15m or more in revenue. But for the most part Ethiopia’s homegrown businesses do not yet have the scalable manufacturing capacity to supply a U.S. market.

So, who’s taking advantage of AGOA’s duty-free access to the U.S. market? Interestingly, it’s Chinese investors. Chinese companies are stepping in to fill the void in Ethiopia’s manufacturing sector.

The Huajian Group, a Chinese footwear manufacturer that opened up a factory outside the capital, Addis Ababa, is a perfect example of Chinese investors taking advantage of AGOA. Huajian has committed to investing $2m over a 10-year period to build ‘Shoe City’, a global shoe-manufacturing hub in the country.

Chinese private-sector investments are providing a boost to the economy by creating jobs, building local capacity, and increasing funding for public services. Truth be told, it’s helping pull many out of poverty in an environment of a bulging young population in search of employment.

With more Chinese private companies reaping the benefits of AGOA, some question whether the U.S. is losing out. Not necessarily. It is up to U.S. companies to choose what part of the value chain they wish to focus on. If they are focusing on the downstream role of buyers, branders and sellers of the shoes into the U.S. market, so be it.

By providing the necessary infrastructure and reliable power, Ethiopia is enabling the Chinese to move some of their manufacturing offshore from China to lesser-cost production sites. In the end, Ethiopia is the ultimate winner. And AGOA has accomplished its mission of stimulating growth of the African private sector by opening US markets to African-made products.

U.S. companies stand to benefit from lucrative new business opportunities to either invest in and scale up Ethiopian companies, or enable that to happen by providing profitable access to the U.S. market for quality and competitively priced products.

Years ago, U.S. business had little choice but to deal primarily with government officials. The African private sector was primarily structured for commerce and had very little capacity for manufacturing and industry.

U.S. businesses today can find solid partners in Ethiopian small and medium-sized businesses, and certainly can find common ground with their Chinese counterparts in Ethiopia.

Chinese manufacturing companies produce leather goods at lower costs; U.S. companies and markets have access to low-cost, high-quality goods; and Ethiopians gain new jobs and experience a boost in their economy. Ethiopian companies will also benefit from a transfer of knowledge and technical expertise to prime their business for the international market.

[www.theafricareport.com]

Since agriculture is the base of Ethiopia’s economy, it needs to have high consideration by all government bodies and stakeholders that are directly responsible on the matter. Today, the country is in a position to achieve high productivity crops and boost maximum benefit from the sector. Especially, agricultural products that have a demand in an international market have been given due attention by the government in producing ample outcome for both home and international market usage.

Recently, the government has established authorities that are responsible for the improvement of the sector through deploying the right institution at the right place and time to eliminate work overloads. The previous Ministry under agriculture has been divided into some respective Ministries and Authorities. Among these the Ministry of Farming and Natural Resource Development are concerned a lot with increasing farming productivity as far as possible. And the programme for protecting and implementing coffee production is under practice based on protecting the type species of the nation’s coffee.

There are three different types of coffee in the world. These are coffee Arabica, coffee robusta and coffee liberia. Among these, coffee arabica and coffee robusta are produced in much amount. Coffee robusta is produced in relative similar amount with coffee arabica. However, coffee robusta has much caffeine (2.5+) that is why it tastes bitter. Therefore, the world’s 70 percent of coffee available on market is coffee arabica and it is also consumed by the mass in preference. The origin of coffee Arabica is Ethiopia. However, as the origin and highly growing of the type, the nation has not benefited too much economically from the item.

Experts identify the cause as absence of knowledge on modern farming system, lack of technology, influence of plant diseases, and lack of swift seed and absence of quality. And limited promotion is another problem that hinders the product not to penetrate the international market. They also suggested the possible resolutions.

Berhanu Tsegaye, a Higher Coffee Expert at the Ministry of Farming and Natural Resource Development, said that the nation long lived traditional farming couldn’t help for quality coffee production. Therefore, to produce much quantity of coffee in a qualified production system, the farmers need to get continual training on how to plant, protect and harvest coffee in a modern way. And familiarizing the farmer with new technologies, how to breed resilient new coffee beans that are strong enough to resist climate change and diseases could also be taken as other mechanisms.

On the other hand, developing the farmer’s economy is a crucial method to boost the sector. This is due to the fact that the farmers are the integral pillar of coffee production. And the ministry is working for this achievement side by side with the essential grooming through protecting the benefit of the farmer by working with the whole intended stakeholders including association, unions, corporate suppliers, government organizations and other international organizations. Farmers need to get the possible benefit from selling the product in a fair price. For this, the government has ratified a law in 2008 that could control illegal merchants.

The experts have also noticed out that the timely stimulation for farmers in an emergency case is crucial for the betterment and safe coffee production so as to keep the product from damage. According to the report from Ministry of Farming and Natural Resource Development, the nation has four types of coffee productions including forest coffee, semi-forest, garden and extension coffee productions covering 10, 35, 50 and 5 percent of the nation coffee supplies respectively.

Therefore, when we think of the protection of coffee, much intended consideration shall be given to coffee each production systems. At forest for example, coffee production is undertaken through the traditional farm that it needs some moderation. Berhanu identifies forest coffee into three: core zone, buffer zone and transitional zone. The core zone coffee forest is the most prohibited area except for harvesting. The buffer zone coffee could get some protection of the farmers including weed avoidance, using compost instead of chemicals, pesticides and others. Therefore, breeding the most needed coffee type of the forest coffee is what the ministry is going to work a lot on.

On the other hand, identifying the most coffee production areas will help to find out the possible remedies and the better productivity in each respective places. According to recent studies made by the central statistics agency Oromia, Southern Nation Nationalities and People, Benishangul, Gambela and Amhara have got the higher plantation with 306505, 121947, 300, 130, 3396 coffee seedlings respectively. Generally, the ministry has distributed some 432,279 seedlings to the aforementioned areas last year. Among these 37 of the seedlings were swift coffee beans.

Alemayehu Tadesse, Senior Coffee and Tea Expert at the Ministry, revealed that the nation has a wide arable land that could help to improve coffee productivity. According to him, the nation’s weather condition and soil type is a very suitable environment for the growing of coffee.

Moreover, the recent coffee growing areas such as Amhara, Beninshangul and Gambela State could be taken as an example. And the areas have shown the possibility of growing coffee in several areas of the nation.

Although the current drought which was caused due to climate change has affected the farmers earning in producing grain and other farming, it will not have significant impact on coffee productivity except in some areas of east and west Harerghe. Neverthless, the climate change has a great opportunity to increase coffee productivity as it became a cause for sufficient rain in most of the coffee growing areas including Keffa, Sheka, Jimma, Bench Maji, Illubabor and Wellega Zones. If a coffee has grown once and could root in, it has a capacity to resist water shortage that may be the main reason to coffee in resisting climate change. And if it could get the expected sufficient rain at

[www.ethpress.gov.et/herald/]

Ministry of Foreign Affairs Middle East Affairs Director General Ambassador Siraj Reshid said that Ethiopia attaches great importance to enhance its cooperation and relations with the state of Qatar. The economic and diplomatic relations between the two countries have been steadily growing.

Opening the Ethio-Qatar Joint Technical Committee meeting here yesterday, Ambassador Siraj said that though both Ethiopia and Qatar have immense potential in trade and investment, there have also been other rich and potential opportunities to strengthen bilateral ties and sound relationships. Ethiopia is endowed with ample natural and human resources while Qatar is rich in financial resources; so that the need to exploit such resources would require cooperation to achieve greater bilateral benefits for the people of the two countries, he added.

Ambassador Siraj also said that the government of Ethiopia is committed to provide every support for foreign investors. Qatari investors are highly welcome to invest in agriculture, mining, manufacturing, power generation and other sectors. “Strengthening people-to-people relations is the other area that Ethiopia needs to cooperate with. Both countries also have common historical and cultural backgrounds that need to be raised.”

Qatari Foreign Ministry International Technical Cooperation Department Director Ambassador Tariq Ali Al-Ansari on his part said that though the two countries share many things in common such as language and culture, Qatar gives great importance to Ethiopia. Qatar is keen to cooperate with Ethiopia particularly in investment, air traffic line, agriculture, hydroelectric projects, mining and petroleum exploration sectors, he added.

Ambassador Tariq said that Ethiopia is rich in natural resources and agriculture, but some technical capabilities need boosting and quarter-ship to move ahead for exploiting these resources. “We must be ready to combat bureaucracy in both countries and move ahead with this agreement, because this is a prerequisite for further engagements,” he said.

[www.ethpress.gov.et/herald/]

The Amhara Regional State disclosed that it is transferring industrial parks equipped with full infrastructural works to investors. Some investors stated that the establishment of industrial parks has enabled them to start production immediately by building their factories. Process Owner for Industry Development with the Amhara Trade, Industry and Market Development the Bureau, Zinaw Lingerih said similar parks were built in 13 major towns of the state, including the state capital, Bahir Dar, over the past five years. The government spent more than 340 million birr to build the parks which cover over 1,400 hectares of land, he said.

So far, more than 600 investors have benefited from road, water, power, sewerage and drainage facilities installed at the designated plots for investment. The state government is prioritizing manufacturing-based investment projects which utilize raw materials from local sources, the head said. Some 50 of those have started provision, the official indicated. Bayh Mekonnen and Kassa Hailu, among the investors engaged in the manufacturing sacks and paints, respectively, said the allocation of parks with infrastructures have enabled them to quickly launch their projects.

In an interview with ENA, the investors also mentioned tax free importation of machineries and tax exemption periods as additional incentives which encourage the speedy implementation of proposed projects.

However, according to Zinaw, some investors fail to implement projects in line with the agreed time frame, with others also violating contracts by using the designated areas for other purposes. Preparations are underway to build four big industrial parks jointly by the federal and state governments.

[www.ena.gov.et/en/]

Ethiopia’s Messebo Cement Company has signed a five year deal with the Egyptian Company for Solid Waste Recycling (ECARU), for the supply of waste based fuels to replace coal at its cement kins. According to ECARU – a subsidiary of Qalaa Holdings’ Tawazon – the agreement between the two companies will see it act as the technology and service provider responsible for collecting, transporting and processing local Biomass that will be converted to environmentally-friendly alternative solid fuel.

Tawazon, Qalaa Holdings’ subsidiary company for investment in the regional solid waste management industry, controls two companies: waste management firm, ECARU, and Engineering Tasks Group (ENTAG), a solid waste management technology provider. Together, these two companies form a waste management enterprise with extensive operations in Egypt and an international project book in Oman, Malaysia, Sudan, Nigeria, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Syria. “Biomass is a renewable, carbon neutral energy source that comes from agricultural residues that would otherwise be openly burned,” commented Hisham Sherif, CEO of ENTAG/ECARU. “This waste to energy solution for heavy industries such as cement manufacturing, is beneficial on multiple fronts,” he continued. “It helps nations solve their Biomass challenges, it reduces emissions that come from burning fossil fuels such as fuel oil, natural gas and coal, and it is a more cost-efficient and sustainable source of energy.”

ECARU noted that it has been supplying alternative Solid fuel, Biomass, as a source of energy to Egypt’s leading cement companies for the past five years. The contract with Messebo Cement, which is located in Mekelle, 780 km from Addis Ababa with a production capacity of 2 million tonnes of cement per annum, can be renewed beyond the stipulated five year time period under the same terms and conditions.

Qalaa Holdings said that it invested in Tawazon as part of its energy portfolio which also includes TAQA Arabia, Egypt’s largest private sector energy distribution company and the Egyptian Refining Company (ERC), a US$ 3.7 billion refinery, Egypt’s largest in-progress, private sector mega project.

[waste-management-world.com]

Maersk Oil completed the acquisition of 50% of Africa Oil Corporation’s share in two contiguous licenses in southern Ethiopia and three onshore exploration licenses in the Turkana region of northern Kenya.

According to the company, the transaction was recently approved by the Ethiopian and Kenyan governments.

The licenses cover about 100,000 sq km and include nine recent oil discoveries. Exploration and appraisal activities are ongoing.

Tullow Oil operates four of the blocks, while Africa Oil operates one.

[www.epmag.com/]

Much of Africa’s perceived attractiveness to investors in comparison to other global regions has improved a lot over the past few years.

In fact, according to the 2014 Africa Attractiveness Survey by Ernest &Young, the continent moved from third last position in 2011, to become the second most attractive investment destination in the world, behind North America.

According to the findings, sixty percent of those who were asked indicated that there had been great improvement in the continent’s investment attractiveness over the past year, which is up four percentage points in comparison to the previous survey.

Likewise, Ernest Young reported in 2014 that Foreign Direct Investment in sub-Saharan Africa increased by 4.7 per cent in 2013, and projected to continue on the upward trend.

In a similar breath, The Economist magazine established in 2011 that over the ten years to 2010, six of the world’s ten fastest-growing economies were in sub-Saharan Africa.

Angola had 11.1% annual average GDP growth, Nigeria 8.9%, Ethiopia 8.4%, Chad 7.9%, Mozambique 7.9%, and Rwanda 7.6%.

In the period between 2011 and 2015, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Tanzania, Congo, Ghana, Zambia, and Nigeria all registered above 6.5% annual average GDP growth.

Now, even though I am not an investment guru, I am told that there remains a stubborn perception gap between those already operating on the continent and those who are not yet present.

In fact, recently, I read a piece by a financial markets reporter, Sara Sjolin, who observed that if a financial adviser offered his or her clients a chance to invest in a continent whose economies expected economic growth of 7% or above a year for the next decade, chances are most investors would jump at the prospect in a heartbeat.

However, Ms Sjolin crucially insisted that if the same financial adviser was to reveal that the country in question is located in sub-Saharan Africa, chances are that only the shrewdest amongst the investors would look beyond the woes of sub-Saharan Africa to invest.

The financial markets reporter cites conflicts in sub-Saharan Africa to be the major hindrance to many investors looking to invest on the continent.

But has Sjolin and other financial analysts got a point? It seems when you scratch beneath the surface, you indeed find that conflicts have greatly damaged sub-Saharan Africa’s potential to become the number one investment destination.

Frankly speaking, you do not have to venture too far to establish why some of these investors are so quick to lose their nerves at the thought of investing in sub-Saharan Africa.

And although several inherent concerns have continuously placed the region at a disadvantage in comparison to other investment destinations across the globe, conflicts in particular have played a major role in derailing the much needed investments on the continent.

Political instability, terrorist attacks, and civil wars in many countries have been the key turn-off factor for many of the global investors.

For instance, in West Africa, Boko Haram, a terrorist group which operates predominantly in northeastern Nigeria has ensured that investors view Cameroon, Chad, Mali and Niger as nations likely to be hit by a barrage of attacks.

And although the West African nations recently formed a military coalition against Boko Haram at the beginning of last year, there remains a real threat and investor confidence cannot be assumed to be through the roof.

When you move to Central Africa, you will find that conflicts in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, and now Burundi, have all added to an already glum outlook of the region stability wise.

In the East of the region, you do not need me to tell you about the ongoing troubles in the world’s newest country, South Sudan. Similarly, Al-Shabaab, a jihadist terrorist group based in Somalia has caused a lot of havoc both in Somalia and neighboring countries since 2006; with fatal assaults on Kenya and Uganda.

And it is such conflicts that have led financial markets reporters warn that investors will almost always remain uneasy to invest in sub-Saharan Africa so long as Africa continually generates conflict-related headlines.

In the United States, for instance, Miss Sjolin’s indicates that according to David Snowball, publisher of the Mutual Fund Observer newsletter, only about 0.3% of the average portfolio is invested in sub-Saharan Africa. That is just $3 out of every $1,000, contends the financial markets reporter. Not impressive at all.

Ultimately, much as I am as optimistic as anyone can be for sub-Saharan Africa to achieve and sustain peace and stability, it is time that we tackled head on Africa’s major development hindrance: conflicts.

Of course, I am not naïve to think that conflicts are unique to Africa. They are not. In fact, as I write this, there are conflicts in many parts of the Middle East and elsewhere.

Similarly, at the current rate, almost any country is vulnerable to a terrorist attack. However, the difference is that conflicts in Africa are a major recurring phenomenon that once put out in one country; they emerge elsewhere and continuously prevent the fulfilment of our continent’s potential as a whole.

Sub-Saharan Africa has so far done well to attract investors. However, if conflicts such as the RENAMO conflict in Mozambique, South Sudan civil war, CAR conflict, Sinai insurgency in Egypt, conflict in Somalia, persistent wars in DRC, killings in Burundi, to name but a few, were to be eliminated permanently, I am more than confident that Africa would by all means become the number one investment destination.

The ball is in our court to change this narrative.

[www.nytimes.com/]

It is fact that Ethiopia’s development policies, strategies and programs reflect the country’s development needs and priorities. To this end, creating job for the needy people, youth and women in particular, is one of the top development priorities, but job creation is not well understood and there is a potential for a diverse interpretation and may lead to bewildering of views and perspectives.

The application of perspective thinking to rural job opportunity creation (RJOC) is critical to rural economic transformation in Ethiopia. By understanding complete RJOC concepts and operational frameworks, policy makers and practitioners can account for more viable and sustainable rural job development and better influence rural economic development. Understanding job creation in terms of broader perspectives can help policy makers and practitioners set vision and objectives of RJOC and mainstream into the sector development.

The influence of the growth of youth-owned Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) in Ethiopia using a sample survey of 909 operators were selected through a multi-stage random sampling technique. The result of the cross-tabulated descriptive statistics showed that the personal attributes, firm characteristics, inter-firm cooperation and policy predictability affected the growth of the MSE operators. Growth rate was also influenced by the diverse and heterogeneous character of the youth-owned MSEs. Unlike many other studies, the finding of this study revealed that the average growth rates of micro enterprises were much lower than the small enterprises. Female-owned firms registered relatively lower growth rate compared to their male counterpart.

The results obtained from the regression indicated that among the personal attributes of youth MSE owners: education, sole ownership form of business organization, small enterprise category, experience in similar business, and gender (male MSE owners) were significant variables which positively influenced the growth of the youth operators. Out of the firm-level attributes, access to training before starting business, social networking and access to loan were significant variables which negatively affected growth rate.

On the other hand, access to product markets, future plan of the enterprises, saving culture, size of start-up capital and current capital were found as significant variables influencing the growth of youth-owned MSEs. The predictability of policies and inter-firm cooperation were also found to be significant variables affecting growth and expansion of youth-owned MSEs.

Since the growth rate of micro enterprises and women-owned enterprises were lower, the study suggests to revisiting the current support program by crafting tailored interventions. Moreover, due focus should be given to improve social networking and building the trust and confidence of the operators on government policies and strategies as inter-firm cooperation and policy predictability affect the growth of youth-owned MSEs,.

Ethiopia’s economy is rapidly transforming. Based on a large-scale household survey in high potential agricultural areas, we find that total off-farm income makes up 18 percent of the total rural income. Wage income, in the agricultural and non-agricultural sector, accounts for 10 percent of total household income and is estimated to be as important as livestock income in these areas. While wage increase is good news for the poor, it also induces adjustments in agricultural production practices, including increased adoption of labor-substituting technologies such as herbicides and mechanization, and it relaxes liquidity constraints in the off-season leading to consequent higher productivity.

Developing countries experiences demographic transitions where infant mortality declines which are not matched by a decline in fertility at the early stages of development (e.g., improved health service provision). Such a transition changes the composition of population to be dominated by children and the youth. Ethiopia like many other countries is going through the same process of declining mortality not matched by declining fertility. This has led to the expansion of the youth in total population.

Ethiopia has also experienced a sustained period of economic growth averaging over 10 percent over the last decade. During this period, the overarching development agenda was the Agriculture Development Led Industrialization (ADLI) which primarily targeted improvement in agricultural productivity in agro-ecologic zones with reliable rain and focusing on non-farm activity in moisture stressed areas. Accordingly, value added from agriculture has improved both on the account of increase in yield in an output per hectare of land and expansion in cultivated areas. However, dwindling agricultural land in traditional agricultural areas is becoming limiting factor for sustained growth.

Recent studies indicate that lack of available agricultural land in Ethiopia is becoming a limiting factor for employment choices in rural areas and majority of the rural youth is looking outside of Agriculture for employment. Moreover, the second Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP-II) puts structural transformation as the overarching objective which will be pushed for aggressively. Therefore, it is important to document and examine the topic of rural youth employment choices at this particular time where the economic agenda is focusing on structural transformation as the working age population is expanding.

Non-farm employment in rural area is becoming an attractive solution to improve incomes and absorb job opportunity problems of the rural youth in many low income countries.

Global evidence and business cases show positive value additions of gender diversity and women empowerment. As Ethiopia is moving towards industrial transformation in the near future, it is very important to understand these dynamics around role of private sector as well as government in developing a vibrant labor market. Enterprise partners approach is to pilot business models that are responsive to the needs and demands of factories but at the same time ensure that women have a sustainable opportunity within this industrial transformation.

Young people who aspire for white-collar jobs, find it hard and demotivating to get employed in the private sector which offers mainly blue-collar jobs. It also finds that there is a weak link between the worlds of learning and working. To provide better employment for the youth, the private sector needs incentives, regulation and monitoring of its employment processes. But the limited capacity of the private sector to absorb the huge number of school-leaving young people should be recognized. And the wrong perception of private employers towards the youth and vice versa needs also be readjustment.

MSE development in Ethiopia is taken as a key development strategy and benefits from a proactive policy which provides different supports. The supports provided include access to finance, training, and market linkage, working and selling premise, infrastructural support and technology assistance. These supports are expected to alleviate the constraints of MSEs so that they perform better in their operation.

Similarly, the government should emphasize market expansion and inter-firm cooperation to bring about growth and competitiveness among enterprises. In addition, critical inputs such as finance, training, working premise and sub-contracting need to be enhanced in order to properly address the needs of the youth-owned MSEs.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources has organized a national learning workshop on maximizing ways to create more jobs in the rural areas over the weekend. The Ministry has disclosed that Ethiopia has planned to create jobs for over 4.7 million citizens living in rural areas of the country and close to 1.5 million citizens will get these opportunities on agriculture and non-agriculture sectors on the current budget year. And much focus is to be given to youths and women so as to enable them highly benefit economically through agriculture and non-agriculture potentials.

Minister to the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources Tefera Deribew, on the occasion, said that Ethiopia has agriculture and rural development policy and programs which give prime attention to benefiting the youth and women economically both in agricultural and non-agricultural development endeavors and much focus is given in the second growth and transformation plans period on that regard.

The country can benefit a lot through showing citizens the way to benefiting in agricultural and other endeavors through training and organizing them in work areas that they are much interested as well as facilitating credit services. The targeted groups of this initiative are the numerous uneducated citizens, school drop outs and unemployed citizens that have relatively better educational background and capacity than many farmers among others.

According to the information from the Ministry, strong government structures will be established in all regions from the level of kebeles in a closer collaboration and support and much focus will also be given to those who shall be the exact beneficiaries of the opportunities.

Dr. Melaku Gebremichael, Food Security Adviser in Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), said that Ethiopia’s policies, strategies and programs reflect the country’s development needs and priorities, “creating job for the needy people, youth and women in particular is one of the top development priorities and the application of a rural job opportunity is critical to rural economic transformation in Ethiopia”

He also suggested that integration of the issue with development plans and strategies is crucial for its effective realization and every actor associated with rural transformation needs to be part of the effort.

With some 936, 520 jobs created on the last Ethiopian Budget year, more than 1.5 Million jobs are planned to be created on the current budget year from the rural job creation program.

To sum up, agriculture and rural development has ample potential for creating opportunities for about 12 million additional citizens from the different endeavors of the sectors. The government, the private sector, stakeholders and partners should unleash their utmost best to benefit citizens and support the country’s economy in the years to come.

http://www.ethpress.gov.et/herald/