IGNORING the furious winds buffeting the global aviation industry, 66-year-old Ethiopian Airlines is investing more than $2,6bn to ensure it capitalises on its location and the ever-increasing interest in Africa from emerging-market giants such as ...

By Tesfa-Alem Tekle May 10, 2012 (ADDIS ABABA) – The state-owned Ethiopian Commercial Bank (ECB), said it will open more branches in main towns of South Sudan including one in Upper Nile State going operational in weeks. ECB was granted regulatory ...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia – Ethiopia has eyed at harnessing ecotourism development as an instrument in poverty reduction efforts, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism said. Speaking at the inauguration of a book entitled '' The Fundamentals of Community ...

The World Economic Forum has chosen to showcase Sole Rebels during its meeting in Ethiopia next month with scheduled delegate tours of its headquarters in Addis Ababa. (Courtesy Photo) New York (TADIAS) – The upcoming World Economic Forum on Africa ...

Report of Ruth Olurounbi , who just back from Addis Ababa, on how the Ethiopian government plans to lead other African nations in tourism. In order to promote the growing tourism industry in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the trio of Ethiopian Airline, ...

The Ethiopia Commodity Exchange has lifted the minimum price limit of coffee to allow prices to adjust to the declining coffee prices on the New York Reference market. As of last week the price of Arabica Coffee has shown the sharpest decline since ...

At Sheba Ethiopian Restaurant in Fairfax, slightly haunting instrumental music and spicy smells transport you to East Africa. Owner, manager and cook Azeb Gide serves family recipes from Addis Ababa; she used to own a restaurant in her native Ethiopia.

The iconic upscale business street officially named Africa Avenue but commonly known as Bole Road is finally undergoing rebirth, after years of delays. But, for some, further delays would have been welcome, as the construction process has disrupted businesses via decreased street access, writes Elleni Araya, Fortune Staff Writer.

EthioSports
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia – Ethiopian Airlines yesterday signed an agreement awarding the design work of its new headquarters building planned to be built at the Addis Ababa Bole International Airport to BET Architects. The agreement was signed by Yisak ...

SomalilandPress
DIRE DAWA – The Ethiopian Horticulture Development Agency (EHDA) this week celebrated a key milestone as the east African nation began exporting bananas for the first time ever. In a nation where agriculture is the foundation, Ethiopia's economy has ...

Officials at the Ministry of Industry (MoI) have given their nods to the desperate request made last week by managers of the state-owned Mugher Cement Enterprise to export their product to neighbouring countries, sources disclosed.

Ethiopian Entrepreneur Bethlehem Tilahun was named one of Africa's most successful women by Forbes magazine. “Every now and then, I profile outstanding African women who're making giant strides in business, politics, technology, entrepreneurship and ...

By Elizabeth Weise, USA TODAY The world may still have gold and myrrh, but it's quite possible that frankincense could become a thing of the past, given ecological pressures on the arid lands where it grows in Ethiopia. The storied resin, known to ...

2merkato - Ethiopian Business Portal
Ethiopia has set a target to earn 359.3 million US dollars from the export of leather and textile in the coming year announced the Ministry of Industry. It is expected that 206 million US dollars will be raised through the export of value added leather ...

Abyssinian Flight School, Ethiopia is to merge with a US company internationally recognized in the sector according to Solomon Gizaw, managing director of the Ethiopian Flight School. An initial investment capital of 10-20 million US dollars is ...

The factory, which has the capacity to produce 80,000ql a day, is to give 60-day credit to contractors who place a 50pc down payment and back up the remainder with an unconditional bank guarantee. This is not merely a one-time deal, as contractors can keep using it as long as the guarantee is in place, according to Haile Assegedie, CEO of Derba.

Pretoria Portland Cement Company (PPC), a South African-based company, has become the largest shareholder in Habesha Cement (HC) acquiring 10pc shares worth 70 million-Br last week. This development comes about a week before HC is to hold its general assembly.

A record offer for a full membership seat at the Ethiopia Commodity Exchange (ECX) has come from a relatively young company that is involved in exports, which was established a year after the exchange, in 2009.

Support is being provided to textile and garment factories with a view to enabling them undertake export oriented activities and generate foreign currency earnings for the country, the Textile Industry Development Institute said. Institute Director-General, Sileshi Lemma said support is being provided to the factories to focus on export trade and generate foreign currency. Sileshi said the support being provided to the factories includes capacity building, investment promotion, market linkage as well as financial assistance. Export performance in the sector has been showing improvement, he said. In addition, 62.2 million USD was secured from the sector in 2003 E.C. budget year.

NewsDire
Though the idea of weather index insurance seems new to Ethiopia, it has been done around the globe for a long time. Area yield index insurance has been tried in a subsidized manner in Canada, India, Sweden and the United States since the mid 1980s. ...

The Ministry of Trade has banned 16 coffee exporters from trading on the trading floor of the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX) on Wednesday, November 8, 2011, for failure to have their stocks audited by it.

The Bahir Dar Textile Factory Share Company in Amhara state said it is undertaking expansion and renovation activities at a cost of 600 million birr. Company Manager, Abay Melaku said installation of weaving, spinning, finishing machinery and liquid waste treatment plant is well underway. He said 60 percent of the activity has been finalized so far. The manager said the factory would export 80 percent of its produce and is expected to earn 30 million US dollars upon going fully operational. Abay said Industry Development Fund covered the expansion and renovation cost of the construction.
(The Ethiopian Herald)

Bourse Africa Limited (BAL), the first pan-African commodity spot and multi-asset class exchange, has announced that it will commence operations in mid 2012.
At the press conference held in Addis Ababa at the Sheraton Addis on Wednesday November 9, Bourse officials, said that BAL is establishing a pan-African exchange platform in Botswana and a network of linked exchanges, fully localized in national and regional markets across the continent.
BAL will leverage FTIL’s technologies across the exchange and clearing space. It will also be supported by the Group’s ecosystem ventures engaged in providing solutions such as warehouse receipt financing, market information

Butajira Fruit Nursery and Training center, imported six different species of avocado trees and technology from Israel, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and has begun to revolutionize avocados in Ethiopia.
The 2.5 hectare nursery located in Butajira, Southern Nations Nationality and Peoples Regional states, some 134 kilometers to the south west of Addis Ababa and established only two years ago, has blended the imported trees with local ones to produce short trees, bearing uniform fruit that takes only three years to harvest. This is a dramatic improvement over the taller, inconsistent, variety which could

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The Ethiopian leather industry would only export finished goods commencing from December 2011, the Ministry of Trade (MoT) has announced. During a half day consultative forum organized to deliberate over the country's leather industry, Ahmed Nuru, ...

The Ethiopian Sugar Corporation said it is vigorously working to raise the countries current 300,000 tons of annual sugar production to 2.25 million tons by the end of the five year Growth and transformation plan (GTP) period. Corporation Public Relation Head Yilma Tibebu said his organization has launched an extensive activity geared towards increasing sugar production. Yilma said expansion projects are underway in Finchaa, Metehara, and Wonji Shewa sugar factories to boost the sugar production. The head said nine new sugar factories would also be built in deferent parts of the country during the plan period. The new sugar factories

African Development Bank Group (AfDB) President Dr Donald Kaberuka said the relation between Ethiopia and the bank is in good shape. The president held discussion with Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. After the discussion the AfDB president told journalists that the bank is providing loan and development aid for Ethiopia’s development endeavors. He mentioned the support of the bank for power generation, transmission projects in the country. The president said the bank is one of the major development partners of Ethiopia and it would extend support for the development endeavors of the country in the future. He said the discussion with the

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A major merger between two state owned enterprises is expected to create a huge retail market.
The Ethiopian Fruit and Vegetable Marketing Enterprise (EtFruit) and Merchandise Wholesale and Import Trade Enterprise (MEWIT) are to become a corporation and expand their services.
Following a high level government delegation visit to India two months ago, discussion began about the possibility of creating a large retail corporation.
Now both enterprises have been requested to submit a breakdown of their resources and financial status. According to sources, the government is working to consolidate these two public enterprises under one corporation.
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Samrawit Moges, a female entrepreneur, who manages Travel Ethiopia a local private tour company, was honored on October 27 in Washington DC as one of the 100 extraordinary women with inspirational achievements, from around the world by the International Alliance for Women (TIAW).
TIAW is an organization that serves as a global umbrella and promotes professional women. Its letter of award to Samrawit reads ‘We have been inspired and humbled by the stories of people like you who, often without fanfare, have taken action to support women’s economic empowerment and advancement in society and business.’
‘A very fitting remark,’

Lion International Bank Share Company announced a net profit after tax of about 43.75 million birr for the 2010/11 fiscal year an increase of more than four million birr from the previous fiscal year.
The bank’s profit after taxation and legal reserve stipulated by the National Bank of Ethiopia was more than 32.8 million birr, also an increase of more than three million birr from the previous fiscal year. The bank’s gross profit stood at 61.8 million birr.
Berhanu Gebremedhin Chairman of Board Directors at LIB said that the gross and net profit of the bank registered an increase

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Ethiopian Airlines welcomed 39 flight hostesses to the Ethiopian family on Thursday, October 27, 2011.
At a graduation ceremony held at the airline’s headquarters, the Chief Finance Officer of Ethiopian Airlines, Kasim Geresu gave out diplomas and cabin crew wings to the graduates and achievement awards to top performing ones.
The trainees have passed through extensive classroom and on the job training on in-flight service delivery, customer awareness, grooming and emergency procedures which enable them offer the best Ethiopian hospitality, ensure customers’ comfort and safety, according to a statement from the airlines.
The recruitment and training process of cabin crew

The Ethiopian Revenue and Custom Authority (ERCA) collected almost 70 percent of the country’s budget from domestic sources last fiscal year. The authority managed to boost internal revenue from as low as five billion to over 50 billion birr in less than a decade. In what seems to be a sense of frustration, taxpayers complaints are heating up as ERCA tightens its tax collection efforts.
A meeting with taxpayers was held Tuesday, October 25, informing them of their rights and obligations when they transfer from grade C tax payers’ category to grade B. The meeting was held at Wereda 9 Youth

Zafu Eyesuswork Zafu, who has been the CEO of the United Insurance S.C. (UNIC) since its establishment is giving up his position to the vice CEO Meseret Bezabih. Meseret is now appointed acting CEO and is awaiting  the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) approval of her appointment.
Zafu Eyesuswork and Abera Mulat were re-elected to the board for another three year term along with Girma Wake former CEO of Ethiopian Airlines during their general assembly meeting at the Hilton Hotel on October 27. Yemane Bisrat who served as UNIC’s Board Chairman  has stepped down from his position after serving his

The overall, monthly rate of inflation decreased slightly in September, thanks to a reduction in non food prices.  However the price of food continues to skyrocket, accounting for 57 percent of the average Ethiopian’s monthly budget.
In fact the annual food inflation in September was 51.3 percent, a two year high, the CSA’s CPI revealed. The annual food inflation rate was at 49.9 percent in August. It climbed to 51.3 percent the following month.   Cereals, pulses, coffee, pepper are some of the major food items whose price went up in September.
Food on average accounts for more than 57

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Ethiopia earned 753 million US dollars from export in the first three months of the 2011/12 fiscal year, an increase of more than 33 percent from the previous earning at the same period last fiscal year.
However, this result falls short by 16.3 percent from the government’s target of a little more than 901 million birr; Ethiopia’s export earnings from the same period last fiscal year increased by 189.6 million dollars.
Ethiopia earned this revenue from the export of 275,611 tones of produce to about 94 countries, with almost 80 million dollars or just over 11 percent of it

Haset Wholesale Business Share Company, the first privately owned wholesale share company in the nation, sees an untapped opportunity in opening up the wholesale trade for foreign entities. The company is currently busy with a bid to carry forward its business operation in Saris and is floating shares throughout the country.  This was expressed last week, on October 23, 2011 when the company held its shareholders general assembly at the Addis Ababa Exhibition Center.
“Ethiopia’s wholesale trade lacks competition. Price is not determined by market forces; demand and supply interplay. Prices of goods are determined by a few powerful business

Despite registering a 246.4 million Br profit after tax in the previous fiscal year, the Earning per Share (EPS) of Nib International Bank (NIB) stayed the same, hovering at 38pc.

The audit of Zemen Bank, conducted by the Audit Services Corporation (ASC), hired by the central bank, has brought the eight-month saga that saw Ermiyas Amelga, CEO of Access Capital Services, banned from the board chairmanship of the bank, to an end.

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Ethiopia is to sign an agreement with Djibouti next month for the use of its Port to ship in and unload coal that the Ethiopian Petroleum Enterprise (EPE) plans to import to be used as fuel for cement factories.

Nigeria (Capital Ethiopia)

Nigeria is not the likely benchmark to close the gap between the rich and the poor. But in its drive to climb out of poverty, using the natural oil as a tool, it has done a commendable job. The capital city, Abuja, was built some 30 or so years ago. It is indeed a magnificent and real modern city by any world standard. It was built using the oil money, millions of dollars per day, that pours in to the coffers of the country.
Oil has unsurprisingly been considered a blessing for Nigeria. It has greatly contributed to the development

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Estimates of the future population size and growth rate of Ethiopia with an assumption of moderate fertility decline indicate a substantial increase in the coming years. Though the growth rate declines gradually, the population is expected to increase from 80.4 million to 94.5 million in 2015 reaching 106 million in 2020, according to world population prospects published by the United Nation in 2010. Even if the economy grows by 11pc on average for the next ten years, it is inadequate to ease or overcome the deficits accrued in past decades, or bring the country into sustainable resource-population equilibrium as the result of the unbalanced growth in nominal GDP and per capita income due to high population growth rate. For the next ten years, GDP and per capita income is expected to increase by 91pc and 45pc, respectively.Find Out More.

Karuturi Global, which is aggressively rolling out an agriculture business venture in Ethiopia, is looking at outsourcing 20,000ha of farm land it had taken to Indian farmers on a revenue sharing basis.

Timir Agro Industry Share Company plans to increase its share sales from the current 25 million birr to 100 million birr by May 2012. The company plans the sale of its shares for the various expansion projects and various business activities.
The company has acquired on July 2011, 20 hectares of land from the Amhara regional state in North Shoa Zone Hagere Mariam city near Sheno city 65 km north of Addis Ababa.  The land was given by the government and is to be used by the Share Company for the building of a dairy farm and products a processing

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Nyala Motors SC has applied to amend the details of the charges it had brought against its late former general manager, Getachew Kebreselassie, and his daughter, Sehen (MD), for an alleged swindle of 21.1 million Br, claiming it had found new evidence.

Exports from the manufacturing industry in Ethiopia in the second month of the budget year have recorded an astonishing performance exceeding all previous historical results.
The one month report that was organized by the Ministry of Industry (MoT) for manufacturing exports indicated that the performance has met 97.2% of the target. The August export target was to earn 29.65 million dollars, while the actual export recorded was 28.81 million dollars.
Based on the last export projection and the real earned amount, this record is a historical performance for the manufacturing export sector.
The past year’s the export earnings from

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Eskinder Desta (center), promoter of Habesha Cement, looks jubilant as he shakes hands with Tadesse Hatiya, vice president for credit service of the Development Bank of Ethiopi (DBE) after signing a 1.5 billion Br loan, the single largest financing extended to a private sector company, on Friday, September 30, 2011 at Intercontinental Hotel. The amount is 70pc of the estimated cost of Habesha’s plant. Chinese Northern Heavy Machinery Industries Shenyang Co Ltd (NHI) was awarded the construction of the factory, which will rest at 30 hectare of land in Holeta, 35km, west of the capital in Oromia Regional State. When it starts operation, Habesha will be the third largest private cement producer in the nation next to the state owned Mughar Cement and the Endowment Fund for the Rehabilitation of Tigray's (EFFORT) Messobo, injecting 1.4 million tonnes on annual basis. Ethiopia Electric Power Cooperation (EEPCo) has guaranteed the supply of 25mw of electric power at a cost of 1.7 million dollars for the cement factory to be in operation in 20 months time.

Habesha Brewery is going to ask for financing of 70pc of the total estimated cost the constructing its plant from the Development Bank of Ethiopia (DBE) after signing a turnkey project of 510.7 million Br contract with Lehui Food Machineries, a Chinese company, on Friday, September 30, 2011. Habesha expects to submit the request for the 357.5 million Br in the next ten days.

In the beginning of September, the Procurement Reform and Capacity Building Division of the Common Markets for East and Southern Africa convened a meeting to discuss the issue of procurement reforms and market opportunities in the region with both the Ethiopian public and private sector actors in the economy. In the day long business seminar which was aimed at creating awareness about business opportunities available to the member countries of COMESA and to highlight the means available to exploit these business opportunities.The seminar was organized on Thursday September 01, 2011 at the Sheraton. Capital’s Pawlos Belete

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Ethiopian Commodity Exchange Authority (ECEA), a regulatory body for trading on the exchange floor has blasted on traders at Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX) because they are not following the legal conditions demanded by the terms of the trading.  
The Authority officials who met exchange members a week ago told the traders that the authority will not allow the illegal activities that have been seen on previous occasions.
Belay Namaga, enforcement director of ECEA, told the participants at the meeting held on Saturday September 17 that the authority has given its last opportunity for traders to follow the regulations and

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ZemZem, a bank under establishment for the sole purpose of providing an interest-free banking service, is to appeal a directive issued by the central bank, which indirectly forces it to have a conventional banking operation.

Eskinder Desta is the founder and head of Habesha Capital Service. Eskinder and his company have been leading the public share sales of Habesha Cement, Habesha Brewery. He is also a board member and vice chair of the two share companies respectively. Currently he chairs Habesha Construction Materials and Development (HCMD), another share company that has been floating public shares since October 2010. HCMD are now set to invest their funds in real-estate and related construction developments. Capitals’ Muluken Yewondwossen has interviewed Eskinder about the recently formed real estate share company and its expected activity in

Despite a year-long battle with the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) over the procedure of its establishment and appointment of board of directors during its second shareholders meeting, Zemen Bank still managed to double its profit after taxes, from 29 million Br to 63.5 million Br in the just- ended fiscal year.

The Ministry of Industry (MoI) has accepted a proposal to lift the excise tax and reduce the custom duty tax on imported textiles made by the Ethiopian Textile and Garment Manufacturers Association (ETGAMA), Fortune has confirmed.

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A partnership between the Ethiopian government and French group Castel aims to harvest grapes 170km south of the capital, Addis Ababa. Photograph: Jean-Philippe Ksiazek/Getty Making wine in Ethiopia, when the whole world has seen pictures of famine ...

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