"ADDIS ON THE RISE" Abyssinia Business Network /ABN/ January 2021

3rd Year / #27 / January 2021 ABYSSINIA BUSINESS NETWORK

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Addis On The Rise 2021

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Addis On The Rise 2021

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Editorial Team MANAGING DIRECTOR Daniel Tiruneh

MANAGING EDITOR Getachew Alemu

EDITOR IN CHIEF Aklile Tsige aklile08@gmail.com +251 911 837 863

CONSULTANCY Zeima Ahmed

STAFF WRITERS Mekonnen Hailu Ketema Kebede

Teshome Fantahun

REPORTER

Josephine Wawira Kamba Anthony Joseph Oduha

Designer

Daniel Tiruneh

Daniel Tiruheh Photo Sol Image

MANAGING DIRECTOR

Web Admin

Tel : +251 945 443 450 Email : eyudanmixdani@gmail.com info@abyssiniabusinessnetwork.com

Rahel Tesfaye

Distribution Hailu Abesse

Partners

Ethiopia Culture And Tourism Addis ababa police Commission Ethio Great Investment Support Service PLC

Abyssinia Business Network is published by EYUDAN MEDIA PLC Business license no .KK/AA/14/706/661438/2009

ADDIS

Address

ON THE RISE

Kirkos Subcity ,Wereda 02 , House No 545/B Meskel Flower

Disclaimer:

Abyssinia business network monthly magazine welcomes opinions, comments and letters. Comments, opinions and letters are sole responsibility of the author and does not in any case represent the position of the magazine.

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Editorial Addis ABABA: Towards Resilient City Cities are vulnerable to many types of shocks and stresses, including natural hazards like storms and sea level rise, but also man-made ones like economic transformation and rapid urbanization.

These shocks and stresses have the potential to bring cities to a halt and reverse years of socioeconomic development gains.

Cities that are to grow and thrive in the future must take steps to address these shocks and stresses.

Simply put, a resilient city is one that can adapt to these types of changing conditions and withstand shocks while still providing essential services to its residents. A resilient city can keep moving toward its long-term goals despite the challenges it meets along the way.

The Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, is urbanizing and growing at a rapid pace. Though infrastructures such as road and housing constructions as well as the number of new tourist destinations have been increasing, the city still faces potential shocks and stresses that could hinder it from achieving its development goals. These include urban flooding, fire, rapid urbanization, water scarcity, unemployment, lack of transportation service and social vulnerability.

Various sources underline that the unprecedented urban growth that Addis Ababa will face over the coming decades could create the agglomeration of people and economies that can catapult the city towards its long-term goals, but if not well managed, it could also exacerbate existing shocks and stresses related to natural hazards, access to basic services, congestion, economic opportunity, and individual well-being.

Addressing localized flooding caused due to surface water run-off by developing a stormwater drainage master plan, and establishing mass transport skeletal services appear to be very essential. Moreover, improving housing quality and quantity, and road access as well as aggressively working on huge potable water projects are the most important activities the City Administration has to embark on quickly.

In order to make Addis a resilient city, physical and socio-economic planning processes should be wellcoordinated, legally enforced, inclusive, and crosssectoral. Key stakeholders should also be involved to align plans with sector priorities and to ensure that the interests of all societal groups are taken into consideration.

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Abiy Ahmed /PhD/ Prime Minister of Ethiopia

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Mohamed NurSani Chairman of the Addis Africa International Convention and Exhibition Center/AAICEC/

Melaku Kebede

Hibret Bank Chief Executive Officer

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Dereje Zebene

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Samrawit Fikru RIDE Founder and Manager

Zemen Bank President and CEO

H.E . Adanech Abebie Deputy Mayor of Addis Ababa

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Genene Ruga Nib International Bank President

Rateneh Fassil

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Sewite PLC, Managing Director

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CONTENTS

Miretab Tesfaye

38 Sileshi Girma

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Benyam Bisrat

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Samuel Tekleyesus

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Director of DigitalEthiopian Airlines

Trevor Ward

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Girma Degu

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Chief Executive Officer /CEO/

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Hospitality Group's Managing Director

Addis Ababa Hotels Associations /AHA/ Directors

Managing Director of Mama's Kitchen

Eskindir Habte

Solyana Trading and Investment Managing Director and founder

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Hirut Kassaw / PhD / Ethiopian Ministry of Culture and Tourism

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ADDIS ABABA:

ASSORTED INTERNATIONAL, HOST OF

REGIONAL

ORGANIZATIONS Having been the cradle of the pan-African bloc, the then Organization for African Unity (OAU), and now the African Union (AU), Addis Ababa, which is also the diplomatic capital of Africa, hosts the Headquarters of the 55-member Union and that of the UN Economic Commissions for Africa (UNECA), each with its own elegant conference facilities and office complexes.

Addis Ababa has been the seat of the AU Headquarters since the inception of the Organization for African Unity (OAU) in 1963, which was transformed to the African Union (AU) in 2002.

The new facility of the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa has a very tall building office complex, with 20-story tower dominating the city scape of Ethiopia's tidy capital. During their summit in January 2012,African heads of state and governments inaugurated the AU office complex and the facility's massive new conference hall, which can accommodate about 2,500 people, and which has been dedicated to commemorate the known South African freedom fighter and the country’s former president, Nelson Mandela.

The new AU conference and office building project also features other facilities, with stateof the-art technologies, including, medium size conference halls, multi-purpose halls, small conference halls, briefing rooms, media center as well as amphitheater and visually appealing landscape and parking lots on its premises.

The compound has also housed among others, courts for sport activities and monuments of some of the founding fathers of OAU/AU, including Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, and Emperor Haile-Selassie I of Ethiopia. The

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premises of the AU Headquarters is also a home a separate building of the Peace and Security Department, which has been uniquely designed and furnished with local features, and also been named after Julius Nyerere of Tanzania, who was one of the founders of the then OAU, now AU. As an expansion project, the AU Headquarters has already got an Integrated Service Center Project which is a building consisting of three floors, each covering about 5,000 square meters. The center includes among others, an accreditation facility, a cafeteria and the AU archives and exhibition center. This is also another grace to the city’s appearance which has been getting more and more stunning.

The African Union (AU) has a tradition of convening the biannual summit of AU heads of states and governments, one in JanuaryFebruary, and the second one in June-July. Addis Ababa, as a seat of AU, hosts the first one, which is held every year in JanuaryFebruary, whereby African leaders take turn and are sworn in to assume the rotating one-year-term chairmanship of the Union.

Various regional and international sideline events also take place within the framework of the summit of the AU heads of states and governments, which is attended, especially during the opening session, by African leaders, UN Secretary General, invited leaders of non-member countries, as well as heads and executives of international organizations.

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Though it has regional centers in different parts of the continent, the AU specialized health agency, the Africa Center for Disease Prevention and Control (Africa CDC), which comes in the forefront during the fight against diseases by coordinating continental efforts to curb possible outbreaks such as COVID-19, is also headquartered here in Addis Ababa, and a site has also already been provided in the city for the construction of the HQ of Africa CDC, which is currently hosted on the premises of the AU Building. Africa CDC strengthens the capacity and capability of Africa’s public health institutions as well as partnerships to detect and respond quickly and effectively to disease threats and outbreaks, based on datadriven interventions and programmes.

On the other hand, the UNECA being headquartered here in the heart of Addis, shelters some offices of the UN agencies and bodies that spear head initiatives and coordinate efforts for their respective programmes and intervention areas. These agencies include among others, UNFPA and UNICEF. Other UN bodies such as FAO, UNDP, and UNAIDS have their respective offices in Addis. Events organized by these UN bodies, including UNCTAD, and also other organizers are hosted within the premises of the UNECA, which has conference facilities of different sizes, with state-of-the-art technologies and appealing design of ambience.

Being a seat for the UNECA Headquarters and the Secretariat of AU, which is the AU Commission with its different departments and directorates, Addis Ababa hosts august gatherings and major events that have international significances in different arenas.

The city established in late 1800’s is also the hub for embassies and diplomatic missions

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of member countries as well as for that of countries outside the continent. International organizations with humanitarian and development programmes are also hosted in the city, including ICRC and ILRI among others.

Addis Ababa also hosts offices of other continental and sub-regional intergovernmental organizations as well as that of multilateral institutions, professional & business groups and think tanks, including among many others, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the African development Bank (AfDB), the World Bank (WB), the Federation of African Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Associations (FAPMA), and the Institute of Security Studies (ISS).

With the facilities of the AU and that of the UNECA coupled with emergence in increasing number of international standard, star-rated hotels and other venues in the heart of the city, Addis Ababa, in recent years, has proved itself that it is capable of hosting august international gatherings and events, and of course with the country’s suitable weather and warm reception as well as with its people’s longstanding and robust tradition of hospitality.

Different international and regional organizations have also been moving and opening their branch and main offices in Addis Ababa, demonstrating the ever rising of the city.

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Aklile Tsige

Editor-In-Chief

Aklile Tsige is a journalist, a documentary script writer, director and narrator, movie subtitlemaker and Aviation English Language Rater.

His work has earned him numerous recognitions and certificates from various film production companies in the country. Currently Aklile is engaged in freelance writing for different media houses, and also serves as Editor-in-Chief for Abyssinia Business Network/ABN/. He has studied English Language and Literature for his under graduate study and Journalism and Communications,Graduate School of Journalism and Communications Addis Ababa University.

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GONDAR BATU (ZIWAY) SULULTA (YAYA) SHASHEMENE Abyssinia Business Nework // ABN Addis On The Rise 2021 13

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The City Administration carries an enormous responsibility to make Addis live up to the meaning of its name and its potential, which is becoming the New, Blossoming Flower both for Ethiopians and Africans alike.

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H.E . Adanech Abebie Deputy Mayor of Addis Ababa Photo Addis Ababa Mayor Office Abyssinia Business Nework // ABN

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ddis Ababa:

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The Rising Mega City

History has it that Addis Ababa Municipality was established in 1909.

The very basic cause was the city's population growth, economic activity and rising land area and also the need to properly handle various people coming from different parts of Ethiopia. During Emperor Menelik's reign, Addis Ababa went through a transition into modernization and sustainable development activities.

After the establishment of the municipality, a French citizen called Mr. Lilo Shefanu and a Syrian citizen named Mr. Adelebi pressured the council to relocate to Adwa cinema. City hall and the house was called "house union”. This designation was as a result of the pressure imposed by Mr.Idlib. The former "Union City house'' designation reassignment was due to "Municipality" is an English word and could not represent Addis Ababa, therefore, in 1920 EC, Behiruyi Wolde-Selassie gave the name “Mazegaja Bet".

Currently the Mayor of Addis Ababa isAdanech Abebie who is the 32nd mayor of Addis Ababa as of August 18, 2020. She is the head of the executive branch of Addis Ababa’s municipal government.

The incumbent mayor, Adanech Abebie was the Attorney General of Ethiopia before being elected as mayor. Adanech, the first woman to head the city administration, replaced Takele Uma who served as mayor of Ethiopia’s capital for the past two years. For the first time Abyssinia Business Network /ABN/ meets the first female Mayor of the African capital Addis Ababa, and presents questions in relation to her mission and various development activities in the metropolis.

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ABN: Tell us a little about your first few days since you took your post as Mayor of Addis Ababa?

Mayor Adanech: My first job as the Mayor of our great City was understanding the city’s vision, both the short- and longterm objectives along with the work and progress made by my predecessor and his administration. After that,it was my desire to understand the achievements and challenges faced while working towards our goal including the vision embodied in the projects the City administration is engaged in with a special focus on the Mega projects and good governance. We moved into visiting different project sites in order to understand the status of the projects and find best ways to ensure their timely completion in collaboration with pertinent stakeholders.

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ABN:What are the major duties and responsibilities of the AACA in building the image of the City?

Mayor Adanech: The relevance and importance of Addis, as you may well know goes beyond being our nation’s capital. Its continental and even global significance can only be shadowed by its potential.

Addis Ababa is already the political and diplomatic capital of Africa and its significance for Africans is clearly visible with basic understanding of its history and milestones. Understanding this, the City Administration carries an enormous responsibility to make Addis live up to the meaning of its name and its potential, which is becomingthe New, Blossoming Flower both for Ethiopians and Africans alike.

The City’s massive facelift and transformation is based on this understanding. Some of the big City image enhancing projects

are completed and open to the public as well as tourists. These includes, Unity Park, Entoto Park and on September 10th our Prime Minister has inaugurated friendship square which is part of the 56 km of beautifying Sheger project that aims to clean up the rivers, making the City a model of green development.

ABN: Let’s talk about those mega projects. Their objectives, significances, features and implementation process?

Mayor Adanech: Addis Ababa is reclaiming its place as a beacon of opportunity and hope for many.

Locally, there are huge number of people that come to Addis in search of jobs and economic opportunities among other things. The City, being home to one of the highest performing airlines in the world, is also a major international transit hub. In 2016, relevant data shows that nearly 9 million passengers traveled through Bole International

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Airport. This number has grown though it is challenged because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Because of all the influxes from all parts of Ethiopia, the City is over crowded. However, the residents of the City, the ones who came to the city looking for opportunities and travelers transiting through or making Addis their destination did not have up to standard facilities to relax and enjoy themselves previously. This caused strain to the city and led to shortage of tourist destination places in Addis.

So, the projects you mentioned in your question aim to provide relaxing spaces to the city residents in addition to giving huge job opportunity to the youth as well as increase our tourism.

So, when we talk about the mega projects, four major points should be raised.First, the development of infrastructure and giving Addis modern facilities befitting its name and relevance.

Meskel Square-Addis Ababa

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Adwa Zero KM museum-Addis-Ababa

The parks, Grand Palace Heritage Parking, Addis Ababa City library, Meskel Square project and Adwa Zero KM museum are good examples. Second is making and ensuring that Addis Ababa becomes a model city of green development.

Beautifying Sheger project that aims to clean up the rivers in Addis will play a major role in helping us meet our goal. Third, is developing the city in a way that benefits its residents regarding jobs and other opportunities. All the projects, during implementation and after completion, provide jobs and business opportunities for thousands of our residents. Fourth is Building the city’s tourism sector.

Addis Ababa with its historical and diplomatic significance has the potential to become one of the top leisure and MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Events) destinations in Africa. The mega 18

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Our great City lives up to its name, New Flower, and to the importance it holds not only in the African continent as the seat of the African Union, but also globally.

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projects are designed with the intention of exploiting this potential. Projects like the Adwa Zero Km Museum and others are equipped with international standard conference facilities to be used to build the MICE sector.

ABN: What is the administration’s plan to make the City greener than it is now?

Mayor Adanech: As a country, Ethiopia has adopted the green legacy initiative which aims to tackle the effects of deforestation and climate change. The Country has planted more than nine billion seedlings and trees in the last two years alone. Addis Ababa is part of this initiative. The City is working toward making Addis greener through block-based structure with strong participation of its residents in their own communities. There are also schemes that aim to boost the green development of Addis such

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Unity Park

as integrated urban agriculture, beautifying Sheger including the river basin developments. In addition to enhancing the green development of the City, these projects also create other economic opportunities especially for the youth of the City.

ownership from the residents side in participating toward protecting its security. Moreover, the youth and the community police have close working relationship which also helps guarantee the security of residents and tourists coming to our capital.

“My dream is to ensure that its residents benefit economically and socially. Better Housing, employment, quality healthcare, infrastructure, transport and good governance are the desire of the residents and my dream, with the help of God we shall fulfil that desire.�

ABN: What are the supports provided to stakeholders in the

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hospitality industry? (Hotels, travel and tour operators, etc.)

Mayor Adanech: Covid-19 is wreaking havoc around the world.

According to the World Bank well over 100 million people globally could fall well below the poverty line. In addition to the works that are underway as a Country, the Addis Ababa City administration has

ABN: What would the AACA do to avoid inconvenience and disorder that impedes the smooth movement of tourists in the City?

Mayor Adanech: In addition to the works by the formal security apparatus of the City and the Federal government, we are also working closely with residents through block to block community engagement participatory governance, which is a government structure based in the grassroots of the community.

This helps create the sense of

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Friendship Square-Addis Ababa

ABN: How do you describe the changes witnessed in the City after the reform began some two and half years ago?

Mayor Adanech: Over the past two years, led by Prime Minister Dr. Abiy Ahmed, we as a Country and a City have embarked on various reforms designed to bring about political, social and economic change in the country and the city. While much of the dialogue around reforms has focused on political and social aspects, economic and service reforms have of equal importance to the development of our City. To this end, we are forging a new path in the transformation of the City through various initiatives and programs. Our vision and one which underlines all our initiatives and programs is simple: to make Addis Ababa a city a model city in Africa where its residents can live and prosper in peace and harmony.

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Addis live up to the meaning of its name and potential Ethiopians and Africans alike

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H.E . Adanech Abebie Deputy Mayor of Addis Ababa Visting Adwa Zero KM museum construction site.

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Photo Addis Ababa Mayor Office

decided to waive some 4.5 billion birr in interests and penalties on unpaid tax accumulated since 2005, benefitting some 7,800 tax payers in the Capital in order to help businesses withst and the growing impacts of covid-19.The above goes into benefitting almost all businesses operating in the City.

We also believe that the completion of these mega projects will be a strong tourist attraction, allowing the hospitality industry to bounce back as soon as the projects are completed.

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Entoto Park

Addis Ababa ABN: What is your dream as the D/Mayor of this Capital of the nation in particular and Africa in general?

Mayor Adanech: Addis Ababa, being both our political and economic capital, it is a melting pot of Ethiopia’s different nations and nationalities and a city with a tremendous amount of potential.

My dream is to ensure that its residents benefit economically and socially. Better Housing, employment, quality healthcare, infrastructure, transport and good governance are the desire of the residents and my dream, with the help of God we shall fulfil that desire. Also, The City of Addis Ababa is an international City, with over 100 embassies, international businesses and organizations calling it home.

Photo File Our work is to ensure this great City lives up to its name, New Flower, and to the importance it holds not only in the African continent as the seat of the African Union, but also globally.

I, finally, would like to say that while our vision and mission is clear, the road to achieving it is long and sometimes difficult. My office is working on various initiatives to achieve its vision of making Addis Ababa a peaceful, harmonious and green city, but we cannot do it alone. We ask the support and cooperation of all our residents and the international community in our endeavor. Together, we can achieve this vision of a city that is the beacon of hope and prosperity for all.

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Ensuring

Land of

Origin Blessed with mesmerizing historical, natural and cultural values, Ethiopia still remains one of Africa's most beautiful countries and a nation to be visited by both local and global tourists. Here is a place where visitors can trek more than 3000m above sea level (the Simien and Bale mountains) or visit the lowest place on the African continent, the Danakil Depression. In between, there are lush highlands and stirring deserts, vertiginous canyons and sweeping savannah, vast lakes and high plateaus. If one looks hard enough, one can also find landmarks of great significance, from the source of the Blue Nile to, again, the magnificently desolate Danakil Depression, peppered with an astonishing 25% of Africa’s active volcanoes.

Ethiopia, the only African country to have escaped European colonialism, has retained much of its cultural identity and its story, is one of Africa's most fascinating. It all begins with Lucy, one of our most celebrated ancient ancestors, moves effortlessly into the realm of ancient Aksum with its obelisks.

The Ethiopian Ministry of Culture and Tourism now seems to be committed to ensuring the fact that Ethiopia is the origin of various historical, natural and cultural heritages the whole World is proud of.The Ministry responds to the following ABN questions on current tourism activities in the city and other related issues.

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Hirut Kassaw / PhD / Ethiopian Ministry of Culture and Tourism

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ABN : What is your impression about tourism projects such as Unity Park, Entoto Park and Sheger project in Addis Ababa? What significances can these projects contribute to the city’s tourism development in particular and the overall tourism development in the country at large?

Dr. Hirut: The tourism projects which have been initiated, developed and implemented by H.E Prime Minister Dr. Abiy Ahmed, namely, Unity park, Entoto Park and Sheger Project are marvelous tourism products that help to better position Addis internationally and fuel domestic tourism activities.

I personally appreciate the Prime minister’s initiative to move tourism to the next level by making the sector one of the pillars for Ethiopian prosperity in general and leading the way for tourism destination and product development like the aforementioned ones and upcoming projects planned to be carried out in Gorgora, Wonchi and Koisha in particular.

The significance and role of the tourism projects built in Addis are manifold. Firstly, these projects have helped to widen the product 24

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range of Addis Ababa’s tourism and add values to the country’s tourism offer. Secondly, they will play an important role in lengthening the duration of visitors’ stay in the capital city leading to more tourist expenditures and tourism revenues.

Thirdly, these projects open the door for stopover tourism and MICE tourism development as Addis is the hub of international flights and political center of Africa which entitles the city with abundance of opportunities for the two sub-sectors of tourism.

Fourthly, they help to expedite domestic tourism; a form of tourism that is thought to be under developed in Ethiopia. This can easily be understood from the proliferation of the city dwellers and those who come from other towns queued and visiting the attraction sites from the very onset of the projects inauguration. This helps to promote the culture of travel and enhance domestic tourism in the country.

Finally, important lessons are learnt from effective planning and efficient execution of the tourism projects.

The three projects, namely, Unity, Entoto and Sheger Parks evidently showcase how a tourism product can be developed and managed.

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ABN: How do you evaluate the current status of infrastructure and tourist facilities of Addis Ababa? What segment of the infrastructure you think need upgrading to enhance the tourism’s potential in Addis Ababa?

Dr.Hirut: Public infrastructural development is an essential component of tourism and destination development. Tourism is an industry that essentially requires sufficient infrastructure and tourist facilities. There are core and support infrastructures assisting tourism activities in and around destinations. The establishment of necessary public infrastructure at major tourist destinations and routes to enhance connectivity is believed to be very instrumental for Ethiopian tourism development. The development of public infrastructure, which includes transportation (Roads, railways, water and airports), Power supply, Water supply and sewerage, ICT, Waste management systems, foster the competitiveness of a given destination for both tourism and investment.

Similarly, tourist facilities which mainly include accommodation

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getting Image

establishments and, food and beverage service providing organizations are considered to be the heart of tourism development without which tourism would never happen at all.

When we look at Addis from tourism perspective, there is a huge potential for tourism development in light of the multifarious resources the city is endowed with. However, these resources need to be transformed to in competitive tourism products which can support the overall growth of tourism in the metropolis. Among the challenges hindering tourism in Addis is availability and quality of infrastructures, quality, quantity and scale of tourist facilities.Basic infrastructures such as main roads, walkways, sewerage systems, health facilities, telecom, water, electricity and the like are artery of tourism activities. Furthermore, tourist services and facilities including standard

hotels, international restaurants, traditional restaurants, recreational sites, tourist villages, parks and other superstructures are equally essential for any tourism activity to occur.

In this respect, despite improvements over the last couple of years, infrastructures in Addis Ababa are not as efficient and competitive as other capital cities. Although the city is among the top diplomatic centers like Brussels and New York, in terms of infrastructure it is far below the global average.

This situation compromise, the overall competitiveness of the city. Therefore, both core and supporting infrastructures (ICT, power supply, water and sewerage system, waste management system) are necessary to make a developed tourism destination and

to enhance the visitor experience.

Therefore, the supporting tourism infrastructure should be addressed in an integrated approach.

ABN: How do you plan to help local communities through tourism?

Dr.Hirut: Tourism is known to benefit local communities and any form of tourism development in Ethiopia is geared toward involving and benefiting the local communities. Guaranteeing Community Participation and Benefits is one of the governing principles of our tourism development policy.

Efforts have been made to ensure community benefits albeit significant gaps are still observed in Ethiopian tourism with respect to community engagement.

Communities’ participation

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in tourism can be unveiled in protection and conservation of tourism resources, tourist service provision, safety and security of tourists. In this respect, tourism development plans have put community participation and benefits at the epicenter of every endeavor. Community based tourism, eco-tourism projects, supporting micro and small business enterprises, training and capacity building programs, grant programs and other community empowerment schemes are some of the mechanisms local communities can benefit from tourism activities.

ABN: How do you plan to attract investors in to Ethiopian tourism sector? What favorable conditions are there for investment?

Dr.Hirut: There are vast opportunities for tourism investment in Ethiopia.

Availability of tourism resources in quantity and variety, Reforms being made to ensure ease of doing business and favorable investment climate, investment incentives and increasing volume of tourism workforce. In spite of this, different initiatives are thought to be designed and implemented to attract more tourism investments.

to increase investment and include identifying investment needs, creation of a positive and transparent investment climate, establishment of special tourism investment zones, encourage lending institutions to support tourism infrastructure development, organise regular regional, national and international tourism investment forums, encourage cooperation and an integrated approach to promoting tourism investment in the country and initiate strategies to involve Ethiopia’s diaspora in promoting investment in tourism.

In line with this, executing asset mapping and investment profiling, investment promotion, business to business forums, basket of investment incentives and facilitation of loan facilities help to attract FDI and domestic investments into tourism.

and is a key to enhance destination competitiveness.

Therefore, noting that tourism product development contains such components as attractions, facilities at the destination, accessibility of the destination, the image of the destination and the price to the consumer, Ministry of culture and tourism has planned considerable initiatives in the coming years. In this regard, our programs focus on enhancing the quality of the existing tourist products and the development of new products to enrich the visitor's experience in the country.

According to our 10 years strategic plan, 59 destinations will be developed through coordination and partnership with the private sector, communities and other development forces. We will adopt a mixed product development approach, integrating both product-oriented and market-oriented approaches.

These initiatives mainly focus on enhancing the country’s existing tourism products, expanding and diversifying the country’s tourism product, create a framework for tourism product development and develop inter-regional tourism products.

Moreover, model destination projects will be carried out.

ABN: What can we expect in relation to destination and product development projects? Is there any intention to launch a huge project that helps to provide integrated tourism experiences, other than current mega projects? The primary step to undertake destination and product development is to profile Dr.Hirut: It is known that and map existing tourism potentials of destination/product development the country. Some of the products that entails both the development of will be enhanced and developed include; UNESCO World new products and revitalization enhancement of of existing ones. Tourism product Heritage sites, improvement of natural development consists of enhancing and cultural heritage assets, promotion of These initiatives which focus on the physical, experiential and cultural events and festivals, development the destination of activity based and special interest creating a conducive environment appeal of 26

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tourism and expansion of MICE tourism.

ABN: What initiatives are planned to improve quality of tourist services and strengthen competitiveness of the tourism sector?

Dr.Hirut: One can easily understand the fact that service provision in Ethiopian tourism industry is quite poor. Low level of service quality is one of the challenges hindering tourism competitiveness in Ethiopia and in Addis Ababa in particular.

To tackle such challenges ministry of culture and tourism has made significant efforts including but not limited to implementation of internationally acceptable hotel classification systems, provision of capacity building support for the sector especially of hospitality establishments, cultivation of professionals in tourism and hospitality through CTTI (Catering and tourism training institute) and strengthening linkages between training institutions and the industry actors.

However, there is still a huge gap in quality service provision and a lot is planned to further curb the problem. The ministry has planned to develop a comprehensive quality management systems; a national system of quality standards through grading, classification and codes of conduct across the sector. This initiative necessitates the need to adopt management practices based

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on internationally recognized standards and processes such ISO guidelines.National QM Systems will be developed according to international best practice in the fiscal year.

Our second priority to improve service competitiveness is human resource development which is a key to enhancing the competitiveness of the tourism sector. High quality of human resources is a winning edge in international competitiveness.

Therefore, a holistic approach will be made to develop the human resource at all levels. The whole effort is sought to achieve such results as improvement of quality of management and service provision throughout the sector, enhance the image of tourism as a sector of career choice, establish a framework for tourism human resource development that will produce competitive workforce sustainably.

To these effects, human resource needs of the sector will be assessed and identified, supply of relevant training provision will be assessed, human resource development plans will be defined and implemented, CTTC is being upgraded to national centre of excellence in tourism training (will be upgraded to university level), professional certification systems will be established and management awareness of the importance of continuing skills training will be enhanced.

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Addis Ababa

City of Meetings, Events & Entertainment getting Image

ABN: Give briefs on Addis Ababa tourism & share of national tourism?

Sileshi: Well, tourism development mainly focuses on heritages, attractions & activities available in destinations. So far, though most of the world heritage sites exist in rural Ethiopia, yet the city of Addis Ababa has a significant share of Ethiopian tourism. Addis Ababa is a city of surprises featured by good weather, historical places, museums, architecture, colourful diversity and contrasts of people.

Service, particularly tourism has become the back bone of the economy in the city. In the past years, there have been remarkable interventions & efforts from both the federal government and city administration in developing new tourism destinations. Foreign & domestic visitors and receipts have shown dramatic increments. as a result, above 70% of tourists coming to in Ethiopia are also estimated to visit or pass through Addis Ababa for different purposes.

ABN :What attracts visitors to Addis?

Sileshi: Addis Ababa is rich in cultural and historical tourist attractions.

Hospitality of the people & these features attract people and contribute much to the overall experience of visitors. Some of the reasons for travel by foreign & locals include;

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Public parks Museums Art galleries & studios Palaces Cafés - traditional coffee in coffee houses, bars and restaurants Dinning - Traditional food & drinks, foreign dishes in major hotels.

Spa & wellness services Music - traditional restaurants and disco clubs

Shopping- in Merkato/ Africa’s largest open air market/, souvenir shops, craft centres/ Bike & Hike in streets of the city Camping in the surrounding mountains Historic places, Monuments & Statues

Fashion - Ethiopian designers combine the old with the new & exhibit creative works.

Sports & events - Such as the 10000m Great Ethiopian run attract a number of prominent runners and it’s the most exiting race in the world in sports.

According to CNN Travel, in testimony of these features Philip Briggs stated that

"Perhaps the highest praise one can direct at Addis Ababa does feel exactly as the Ethiopia capital should feel singularly and unmistakably Ethiopian".

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ABN

ABN: Do you have a roadmap for Addis Ababa tourism or tourism in cities?

Sileshi: The Government of Ethiopia Tourism has designated tourism a priority growth sector. We have national tourism marketing strategy, which is essential and positive step forward in directing Tourism Ethiopia’s marketing efforts and supports our vision of ranking Addis Ababa among the top five cities visited in Africa. Besides, we have crafted MICE tourism strategy and set a vision to see Addis Ababa to be one of the top 3 Africa’s meeting destination of choice by 2030.

ABN: What are the competitive grounds to focus on MICE /Meetings, Incentives, Convention & Exhibitions/?

Sileshi: Like I said Addis has a glorious weather. Most importantly, the city is a major international and continental airline hub and gateway to Ethiopia and Africa. Moreover, taking advantage of the fact that MICE in the globe is growing at a faster pace than leisure tourism, the goal is to increase the number of delegates and exhibition participants coming into the country and Addis Ababa is wise.

Addis Ababa today has the major facilities and elements to develop MICE Tourism. For instance, hotels with conference facilities, air connectivity, good weather, ECA, Millennium hall, the upcoming Addis Africa convention centre, and experienced event planners ready to host MICE. Above all, the city being headquarter for AU and the leading diplomatic city in Africa is evidence to its enormous tourism potential for MICE. So, that’s why we name Addis Ababa as Meeting Capital of Africa.

Sileshi Girma

Chief Executive Officer /CEO/

Tourism Ethiopia

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National museum, Entoto tourism, upcoming Adwa culture center, opening of the national palace for visitors, and the giant shopping facility development at Legehar are also additional competitive grounds to convert conference attendants in to leisure tourists during spare times.

ABN: Any of the developments from tourism Ethiopia to put MICE vision in to action in Addis Ababa?

Sileshi: In tourism Ethiopia, we have established Ethiopian Convention Bureau /ECB/ and assign dedicated expertise & management. The mission of the bureau is to increase global awareness of Ethiopia as a competitive MICE destination, and in so doing secure an increased share of regional and international MICE business, thus growing economic impact to Ethiopia for the benefit of our stakeholder communities.

The bureau also offers impartial 30

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advice, guidance and support to international meeting and event planners / buyers through every stage of planning. We are having a technical assistance from WB/IFC, event organizing associations & ECA. So far we have achieved the MICE Ethiopia brand development and preparation of meeting planners guide. In whole this thinking Addis Ababa is at the centre and a primary market to pull meetings & exhibitions.

ABN: What are the opportunities beyond tourism to invest in the city?

Sileshi: The city has huge investment opportunities. In each of the sub-cities investors can take part in tourism related infrastructure & facility developments; such as opening of tourism schools, transportation, souvenir shops, Greening & recycling, import and export trade, technology, MICE, Arts, entertainment, tour operation, hotel business, and other segments of tourism investments.

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ABN: If you want to invite people to visit Addis Ababa city.

Sileshi: Visitors can marvel at Unity park, Entoto hills, the historical buildings, monuments, churches and mosques in the city seeing as they all symbolize not only the ageold multilateral relations cemented between Ethiopia and the rest of the world but also the colourful power of unity among nations when they get together to bring about long-standing positive impacts on mind-sets and actions of humanity.

Remember, there is a conviction that visiting Addis Ababa is worth, there by appreciating the extraordinary cultural, linguistic and ideological diversity and peaceful coexistence of Ethiopians, Africans and other nations by the guests of the city is most welcomed.

I cordially invite everyone to visit Addis,to visit every part of Ethiopia, the Land of Origins.

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ABN

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SHARED VISION

TO MAKE ADDIS

A MICE HUB

By Daniel Tiruneh

Though Ethiopia has recently been showing progress in the tourism and hospitality business, there is still a long way to go in terms of availing facilities and infrastructures that can further expedite this progress. In fact most cities of the country lack modern convention and business centers to host various global and continental events. At the given moment, there is one on the pipeline in the Capital-Addis Ababa, named Addis Africa International Convention and Exhibition Center (AAICEC), which is under construction with capital raised by a number of shareholders.

The Addis Ababa Chamber of Commerce and Sect Oral Associations initiated the idea and developed the Project of AAICEC a little more than 15 years ago as a way to attract investment and business into the country and promote trade. Construction of AAICEC is scheduled to be undertaken in three phases and 40% of the first phase, which involves the construction of multi-purpose halls, an exhibition hall, a bridge restaurant and a shopping mall, has already been completed and the other structures would be finalized in the two subsequent phases which will commence immediately following the completion of the first phase.

ABN Managing Director, Daniel Tiruneh met Chairman of the Addis Africa International Convention and Exhibition Center/AAICEC/ Board of Directors, Ato Mohamed Nur Sani and discussed issues on the objective and significance of the project for the nation’s economic development and has captured his thoughts as below:

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Fast economic growth/ development in Ethiopian made imperative the availability in the country of a facility that could help in business promotion, business networking, exchange of trade information, technology transfer, attraction of foreign direct investment and the likes.

All meant to further expedite the fast unfolding economy of the country.The business community and the Addis Ababa City Administration took the initiative to coin the idea of such a facility and subsequently embarked on the construction of a world – class convention center in Addis Ababa, named “Addis – Africa International Convention and Exhibition Center– in short AAICEC”.

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Ato Mohamed NurSani, Chairman of the Addis – Africa International Convention and Exhibition Center Share Company Board of Directors, testifies that AAICEC is, indeed, the brain child of the far sighted leadership of both the City Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral Associations and the Addis Ababa City Administration.

According to him ,AAICEC is the first of its kind both in Ethiopia and East Africa, designed in a way that fulfills the required standards of an international convention center.

Ato Mohamed further argues that the rationale for having an international convention center in Addis Ababa emanates from the reasoning that economic modernity and success of emerging market economy in Ethiopia are inconceivable without adequate venues where firms and businessmen can converge to in confer on their business pursuits. Therefore, the quest for having a worldclass venue in Addis Ababa is nothing but the natural expression of economic modernity and derivation of the ongoing multi - faceted initiatives to make Addis Ababa the top African tourist destination.

Ato Mohamed also informs that the construction of AAICEC is currently underway on 11 hectares of land in CMC area.He further has disclosed that Estimated current value of birr 3.5 billion is required for the Center’s total investment cost.Since mobilizing such a huge investment capital in one go is found to be challenging, the Share Company opts to undertake the construction in different phases;of which the first phase is currently underway and 40% is completed so far,Ato Mohamed explains.

Mohamed NurSani

Chairman of the Addis Africa International Convention and Exhibition Center/AAICEC/

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• Exhibition pavilions (over 20,000 m2 total floor areas) • Multi – purpose hall (over 5,000 guests hosting capacity) • Conference hall (over 3,000 seating capacity) • Auditoriums (over 1,000 seating capacity) • Modern shopping mall • A five – star hotel • Amphitheatre Locus The national significance of AAICEC is immense, Ato Mohamed argues. Realization of AAICEC in Addis Ababa shall bring a huge number of event organizers and visitors from different corners of the world to the Capital; this in turn shall create a solid market for our hoteliers, transporters and tourist destinations, such as Sheger and Entoto public parks. The financial sector is also one of the direct and immediate beneficiaries.

Ato Mohamed is also confident on AAICEC’s great contribution to trade and investment expansion in the Capital; its operation is believed to bring a huge contribution to the national foreign exchange earnings; it also facilitates flow of FDI and technology transfer in the country. AAICEC shall as well contribute to the improvement of the international image of Addis Ababa as well as that of the country at large, unveiling there of the multitudes of virtues vested in this grand venue.

It is being cognizant of such great contributions of the named venue that the City government successive leadership has been extending its unreserved support to the development of the understood facility starting from the very inception of the Project. The City Government allocated 11 hectares of land at a prime location against a special lease 34

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AAICEC

Facilities to be made available in AAICEC includes, but not limited to;

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rate; contributed more than birr 650 million for implementation of the project and also takes a leading role in the leadership of the Project.The Commercial bank of Ethiopia and other financial Institutions ( Dashen bank, Wogagen bank, Abay Bank, Abyssinia Bank, Awash Insurance, Tsehai Insurance, the Ethiopian Reinsurance Company and many more others) are also contributing a great deal both in terms of injecting capital in the form of share holdings and in that of the regular leadership of the company. A good number of Ethiopians residing in the Republic of South Africa formed a share Company of their own named Ethio – South Share company,and have subscribed AAICEC shares valued at over 100 million birr and are currently represented in the Board of Directors of the Company. They are, therefore, not only buttressing our efforts in the implementation of the understood mega project but as well discharging their citizenry duties there by playing a magnificent role in the development of the national economy.

Needless to reiterate the fact that the city Government of Addis Ababa and the Private sector of the country have been toiling to make AAICEC real and enable it commence operations in a period envisaged in its constructional schedule.

However, despite the continued and relentless efforts, contributions and endeavors of the private sector and the city Administration to make AAICEC an operating real Venue, bringing the venue into real existence has been checkmated by a number of stumbling factors.

Global experiences show that concerted government and private sector contributions, collaborations and involvements have always been the solid reason behind successful implementation of not only as grand a center as AAICEC but even medium sized Exhibition and Convention Center development projects. Nor can the private sector single handedly develop such a facility without resorting to various other supports. In most other countries development of a facility of AAICEC’s kind

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were made possible only being buttressed by governments or concerned government agencies such as municipalities. AAICE’s project successful implementation, likewise, can only be realized if such supports are relentlessly secured. The combined support of the private sector, the City Government and individual citizens is the only panacea that can yank AAICEC’s project implementation out of its current staggering as construction of the Center now is not moving as fast as the intention stipulated in the construction schedule and hence requires a prime mover.

This is, therefore, the right moment for me to remind such renowned Companies as the Ethiopian Airlines, banks and insurance companies and the well to do individual privateers and enterprises to come forward and do their part to bring this Center into reality. All they need to do is, buy the Company shares and partake in the company’s leadership. The timely completion of the construction of this mega venue is just for our common good and the good of the country at large, nothing less than this.

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Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE).

One of these eye-catching and the most distinct landmarks in Addis skyline and becoming the grace of the city is the skyscraper which is being erected by Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE).

The glamorous edifice is visible from distant locations towering all the medium ones surrounding it.

This 198 meter stall and 52-storey world-class HQs which rests on a total floor area of around 147,692m2 is expected to be the tallest structure in Sub-Saharan Africa. The construction work of the building which is under execution with an outlay of 5.3 billion Birr on Ras Desta Damtew Road, behind Ethiopia Hotel began in April 2015 and scheduled to be finalized in July 2019.

However, due to various reasons the construction is still going on, undertaking curtaining and other installation works.

The building designed in diamond shape consists of a high-rise office tower and two low-rise building volumes. The office tower of over 48 floors (4B+G+48) comprises the major departments of the Bank. The two low-rise buildings (4B+G+6 and 4B+G+8) are mainly conference centers, shopping center and parking garage.

Besides, the edifice will also have four parking lots with a capacity to hold 6,000 vehicles at a time. One of these parking lots will be outfitted with a mechanical parking system which makes use of magnetic cards and can hold 1,500 vehicles at one time. In order to transport their vehicles automatically inside the parking lot, drivers are required to insert the coded cards into the system.

Moreover, the building will consist of eight conference halls, out of which one will have the capacity to hold 2,000 participants.

Inside the structure, there will also be an emergency waiting area where individuals can seek refuge at times of disaster. The top two floors will house two restaurants and a sightseeing tower.

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Ethiopian: Global Embodiment of

Aviation Resilience Ethiopian Airlines has been a key player in connecting Africa and the rest of the world. The Airline greatly contributes to the economy of the country as well as the continent by providing tourists and business travelers with quality air transport services. Ethiopian carries more than 12 million passengers annually across the globe, with over 125 destinations in five continents.

Addis Ababa is the gateway to Africa and a major transit hub for those flying in and out of Africa.

What’s more, Addis is home to the largest Pan African Airline, Ethiopian Airlines, that has played a prominent role in boosting the economic and political significance of the city.

In line with its diversified business model development plan, Ethiopian has built Addis Ababa’s ultra-modern, five star and tourist standard hotel-Ethiopian Skylight Hotel. The hotel has an excellent grand kitchen restaurant, a lobby lounge, Africa’s biggest Chinese restaurant and high tech fitted ballrooms that can accommodate more than 2000 guests at a time. With the second phase of the hotel construction in progress, the hotel provides end-to-end service for tourists and transit passengers.

Ethiopia has emerged as a destination and a transfer hub for long-haul travel to sub-Saharan Africa implementing relaxed visa rules. In fact, Ethiopian Airlines has collaborated with national immigration office to ease entry to Ethiopia incorporating online visa into the airlines’ website. Addis Ababa Bole International Airport has overtaken Dubai as the leading gateway to the region.

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Miretab Tesfaye Director of Digital Ethiopian Airlines

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Ethiopian Airlines global network and the passengers transiting through Addis Ababa have given rise to the growth of Addis Ababa city at large. Conference tourism is becoming a major blooming segment in the tourism sector. Given its comparative advantages and strategic location,Ethiopia is using the opportunity.

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Addis Ababa is the third largest city in the number of diplomatic missions in the world, next to New York and Brussels making Ethiopia hub of conference tourism.

Ethiopian Airlines is a Star Alliance carrier with a global nonstop Network to Addis Ababa.

Photo Ethiopian Airlines file

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In order to accommodate the increasing number of passengers and deliver high quality service to its customers, Ethiopian has made substantial investment in aviation infrastructure expansion as one of the core pillars of its Vision 2025. A portion of the expansion project has been operational years back with enhanced features while the newly launched airport terminal was built with biosafety and biosecurity in focus.After the outbreak of COVID 19, passengers travel confidence depended on the biosafety and biosecurity measures through out customers’ journey. The new terminal has incorporated various digital options to make travel hassle free and safe.

The terminal has check-in hall with sixty check-in counters, thirty self-check-in kiosks, ten self-bag drop/SBD/, sixteen immigration counters with more e-gate provisions and sixteen central security screening areas for departing passengers. In addition, it has three contact gates for wide body aircraft along with ten remote contact gates with people mover - travellator, escalator, and panoramic lifts.

It can house thirty-two arrival immigration counters with eight e-gate provisions at the mezzanine floor level.

The realization of the new terminal will play a key role in cementing Addis Ababa Bole International Airport’s position as the

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largest gateway to Africa.The new terminal infrastructure is unique in that it is the first terminal in the world to be completed after Covid-19. Safety is always Ethiopian’s top priority and the amenities installed in the terminal are ready to provide customers with guaranteed safety and extra convenience.

Ethiopian has been chosen as official carrier for different international and regional conferences held in Addis Ababa.

The Airline carries high-level officials for the annual AU conference and other UN meetings which are held in Addis Ababa.

Ethiopia is endowed with more than 10 UNESCO registered tangible and intangible heritages. The influx of tourists from around the globe has been increasing, as many undiscovered stories of Ethiopia become known to the world. Ethiopian Airlines has a dedicated office dubbed Ethiopian holidays- to help promote Ethiopian tourism.

Ethiopian holidays has been providing transit passengers with numerous benefit packages such as free city tour in Addis Ababa.

Overall, the role of Ethiopian Airlines in the evolutionary growth of Addis Ababa has been pivotal. The city’s growth is inextricably linked to the advancement of the Airline that has brought about the influx of passengers to and from Africa through Addis Ababa.

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ABN

Ethiopian Skylight Hotel Photo Ethiopian Airlines file Being the largest African carrier and SKYTRAX four-star Airline, Ethiopian Airlines has been struggling to stay afloat because of the impact of COVID-19. In fact, several airlines across the world have gone bankrupt and ceased operation while several others took different measures that include layoffs and furloughs of employees, as well as cutting salaries and downsizing of fleet. Ethiopian has stayed afloat by being agile and squarely focusing its operations on Cargo and special evacuation charter flights as well as providing MRO services to other operators.

Ethiopian played crucial role in the fight against COVID-19 by transporting medical supplies and reuniting families. Ethiopian delivered medical supplies to African countries and received recognition for its efficient delivery. The UN chose Addis Ababa as a humanitarian air hub from which medical supplies are distributed.

The Airline applied different strategies to cope up with the effects of the pandemic and it is still surviving without government bailout. Ethiopian

has never stopped its passenger and cargo operation due to COVID-19.

Ethiopian Airlines has been there for the people in a dire need of help implementing all safety measures as per the IATA, ICAO and WHO guidelines and recommendations.

According to IATA, it will take two to three years for the airline industry to come to the level it was in December 2019. However, Ethiopian plans to reach to 50% level of operation in the first quarter of 2020/21 and 70% in the second quarter.

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Hibret Bank: Gaining Momentum

By Aklile Tsige Officially began its operation in 1998 with 5 billion birr subscribed capital and 4.1 billion birr paid-up capital, Hibret Bank currently has 350 branches across the country, embracing more than 4600 staff members and over 5600 shareholders. The existing branches of the bank render all types of banking services with the uncompromised commitment of service quality to the utmost satisfaction of the customer. The operation of the bank is, therefore, fully conducted through its branches.

ABN Editor-in-Chief AklileTsige speaks to Hibret Bank Chief Executive Officer, Melaku Kebede, who has been working in the bank for the past 15 years. Melaku’s entire engagement was on digital platform and strategy until he was appointed the Bank’s CEO in December 2019.

Hibret Bank was incorporated as a Share Company on 10 September 1998 in accordance with the Commercial Code of Ethiopia of 1960 and the Licensing and Supervision of Banking Business Proclamation No. 84/1994. The Bank obtained a banking services license from the National Bank of Ethiopia and is registered with the Trade, Industry and Tourism Bureau of the Addis Ababa City Administration.

Over the years Hibret Bank built itself into a progressive and modern banking institution, endowed with a strong financial structure and strong management, as well as a large and ever-increasing customers and correspondent base. Today, Hibret Bank is a full-fledged service Bank that offers its customers a wide range of commercial banking services with a network of 350 branches, and a number of additional outlets on the pipeline.

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Hibret Bank is rendering Universal banking services, predominantly Trade Finance or International Banking Department (IBD), lending or credit facilities.

Melaku noted, “Our bank is famous for being pioneer in providing quality mobile and internet banking services besides launching Islamic banking or interest-free banking.”

He further explained that the bank has more than 1.2 million customers who have opened up bank accounts with the bank, and over 12,000 borrowers.

What makes peculiar is, as its its foundation; and stakeholders Addis On The Rise 2021

Hibret Bank name implies, its founders are interested

Ethiopians from all corners of the country regardless of race, color, ethnicity, religious and other backgrounds. Moreover; bringing innovative products into the country’s banking industry could be taken as the bank’s peculiarity.

“Such a planned high rise building is public property. It symbolizes the urban setting and life. Ensuring such an urban character needs to be born from competition. As it’s nearing completion we plan to move to the new HQ in March 2021.”

Ten years back the bank broke the traditional practice of the most tiresome and traditional transfer of local remittance locally known as ‘hawala’, and launched a time and cost efficient money transfer product

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Photo Hibret Bank file called Broadband Local Money Transfer (BLMT).

Hibret Bank has also close business tie with the Ethiopian Airlines, particularly in selling E-ticket. It has so far sold out more than 800 million worth of flight tickets with the company. Furthermore, the first co-brand card with logos of both companies and used for those Shebamile members to earn a non-flight mileage for each purchases that they make at merchants using their co-brand card, has been launched by cooperation between ET and the Bank.

Hibret Bank is one of the most profitable private banks in the country, closing the last financial calendar year (2019/20) with 1.21 billion birr in gross profits. For the last eight years the Bank has been showing a surge in profit growth, and could be seen in the table revealing its profit before tax.

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Melaku Kebede

“

Hibret Bank Chief Executive Officer

In 2030 we want to be one of the top five private banks in East Africa based on asset size. That’s our vision we are working to achieve Abyssinia Business Nework // ABN

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Following the Bank’s management decision to erect a state-of-the-art headquarters building, Hibret Bank S.C. managed to secure a 3,338sqm plot of land for the construction project, located across the street from Addis Ababa University College of Commerce at the developing financial district aka Mexico Square, and later signed a headquarters construction agreement with a Chinese company- Jiangsu International Economic-Technical Cooperation Corp (CJIETCC) in May 2015.

The 32-storey plus four basements headquarters includes eight elevators, an employee lounge, conference rooms, and a parking lot that can serve up to 250 vehicles, among others. Currently the Bank is undertaking fabulous interior design and furnishing works with superior quality shields and curtaining products imported from manufacturers working abroad.

The realization of the plan is expected to boost the bank’s revenues and image besides creating a well-situated environment for its operation.

“Such a planned high rise building is public property. It symbolizes the urban setting and life. Ensuring such an urban character needs to be born from competition. As it’s nearing completion, we plan to move to the new HQ in May or June2021.”

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strategy is concerned, the newly introduced logo of the bank is developed in a simple and eyecatching manner. It goes well in line with the bank’s new strategy entitled Strategy 2030; its motto: hand-to-hand depicts a transition from generation to generation, its stakeholders working hand-andglove, and socio-cultural trend of working and standing in unison in the Ethiopian context.

Hibret Bank’s contribution to the socio-economic development being undertaken in Addis Ababa in particular and across the country in general appears to be very significant. The bank has recently donated a total of ten million birr for Gebeta lesheger and another ten million birr for Gebeta lehager project initiated by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD).

In dealing with Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), the bank has been the first to donate five million birr to the Federal Ministry of Health to support Addis On The Rise 2021

its effort in combating COVID 19 pandemic across the nation, even some management staff members each have donated a one-month salary for the same cause. Moreover; in amidst of the Corona Virus pandemic Hibret Bank has cut interest rates that is estimated to be nearly 50 million birr for some companies that have been negatively affected by the pandemic.

“In 2030 we want to be one of the top five private banks in East Africa based on asset size. That’s our vision we are working to achieve” Surprisingly enough, COVID-19 has brought both negative and positive elements in the banking sector. It has pushed policy makers to draft some directives and laws. Thus, the CEO indicated that the Ethiopian Government has recently launched a strategy document called Digital Strategy 2025 besides another most important directives initiated by the central bank entitled Payment Instrument Issuing Directive and Payment System Operating Directive.

This, according to him, will pave

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Hibret Bank

ways to smooth operation of banks in the country.

Although the financial institutions in the country are exerting relentless efforts to make use of appropriate technologies, there are still bottlenecks that hamper the development, efficiency and effectiveness of the service. “It is obvious that ICT in the nation’s banking industry lags behind the time but I am very much optimistic that those disappointments, disputes and glitches will be alleviated while improving the technology in the country.” He said.

Sources reveal that in order to prevent mistakes in the system of financial security, banks should use and improve mathematical methods of forecasting the dynamics of customer requirements, take the internal training programs of personnel, send workers for training in foreign banks, use financial incentives (bonuses to wages) to encourage employees to improve their own professional skills For early detection of existing and potential shortcomings in the area of integrated financial security of the banking sector it is necessary to define the relevant indicators and carry out constant monitoring in order to take the necessary precautionary and preventive measures strengthening.

Hibret Bank, in this regard, does have Technical IT Department and E-banking Department in addition to a separate wing which focuses only on cyber security. Specialized experts in cyber security and various banking security and safety fields are engaged in ensuring the overall bank’s security.

Speaking of the bank’s future plan, the CEO noted that the bank’s

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Photo Hibret Bank file Strategy 2030 lies on seven pillars out of which six of them deal with organic growth of the bank, including mobilizing deposit, giving loans, mobilizing foreign exchange and giving that foreign exchange facility for import and export purposes, opening up many branches, developing innovative and digital products, and doing much on marketing and branding.

The inorganic growth encompasses acquisition, merging and the like.

Most importantly, Melaku disclosed, “in 2030 we want to be one of the top five private banks in East Africa based on asset size.

That’s our vision we are working to achieve” In sum, Hibret Bank's priority in the coming years is to strengthen its capital base, maximizing its return on equity and benefiting from the latest technology in order to keep abreast with the latest developments in the local and international financial services industry.

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Zemen Bank:

Commendable

12-year Journey

By Aklile Tsige Banks play a crucial role for the development of a country. It expedites investment activities which are considered as the back bone of development. A bank is an institution which accepts deposits from the public and in turn advances loans through creating credit. Through this function, banks are vital components of the economy which takes the lions share in the economic developments.

The origin of banking sector in Ethiopia goes back to the early 1990’s. It was started in the monarchial regime followed by the Dergue regime in which the financial institutions were basically executing the economic plans outline by the central planning organ. Following the demise of the Dergue regime a new market economy was launched which has increased the size of the market drastically as private banks were established.

The Ethiopian banking sector is currently comprised of a central bank (The National Bank of Ethiopia or NBE), one state owned development bank, and a government owned commercial bank as well as seventeen private banks.

The country allows local banks to borrow from foreign banks, opens banking business for foreigners with Ethiopian descent, and lifts the mandatory 27% bond purchase policy. Moreover, the banking industry seems to be promising in the face of adversity while new banks are on pipeline to enter into the market.

Currently, Ethiopia has also allowed a small number of foreign banks to open liaison offices in Addis Ababa to facilitate credit to companies from their countries of origins. Chinese, German, Kenyan, Turkish, and South African banks have opened liaison offices in Ethiopia. Nevertheless, there are still fears and doubts amongst some bankers who strongly believe that the industry needs to be treated in a very meticulous wayand far-sighted leadership.

Aklile Tsige sat with Ato Dereje Zebene, Zemen Bank S.C. President and CEO to discuss about the 12-year Journey of the Bank, Bank’s contributions to City development and overall banking environment in Ethiopia.

Ato Dereje Zebene earns MBA from Lincoln University, BA in Management and LLB from Addis Ababa University. Prior to his current position, he had served Awash International Bank as Corporate Strategy and Transformation Chief Officer, Banking Operations Vice President and International Banking Vice President.

Furthermore, Ato Dereje had also been representative of Commer bank AG for Ethiopia and Eastern Africa,Wegagen Bank, National Bank of Ethiopia and Ministry of Foreign Affairs in different capacity.

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We are obviously witnessing the fact that the Ethiopian Government has currently made promising efforts to ease constraints in the banking industry

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Established in 2006 with Birr 149 million subscribed and Birr 87 million paid up capital, Zemen Bank commenced commercial banking services in 2008 under the National Bank of Ethiopia’s Licensing and Supervision of Banking Business Proclamation No 592/2008 and the Commercial Code of Ethiopia 1960, by introducing a one-branch banking services in the country with a main focus on providing services to corporate, high net worth individuals and institutional clients. Headquartered in Addis Ababa, the Bank operates in four segments, namely Personal

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Dereje Zebene

Zemen Bank President and CEO Banking, Corporate Banking, International and Multi-Channel banking services across the country.

Among commercial banks working in the country, Zemen Bank, uniquely provides professional banking relationships with its customers supported by state of the art technologies and outstanding levels of services in 56- Banking Centers it has opened. The Bank's operations are based on multiple branch outlets whose activities are supplemented by several service points such as ATMs, POS terminals, Foreign Exchange

Bureaus and Banking Kiosks. This is part of its distinctive Multi-Channel Banking models allows customers to gain various opportunities of choosing different banking services that suits with their particular needs and wants of customers.

One of the Bank’s peculiar features counted is its highly dedicated and experienced staff, where the Bank’s staff are committed to meeting and/or exceeding the needs and requirements of its clients. All working Units, in this regard, are working towards providing unparalleled banking services and the financial benefits

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Photo Zemen Bank file

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Photo Zemen Bank file what customers are expecting from the Bank. This, it was affirmed by the President/CEO that would be one of its distinguishing features the Bank had than other competing banks.

“Resting on 2,304sqm of land, the Zemen Bank HQ project is a 32-storey building and expected to be one of the few tallest buildings built in one of the financial district areas of the capital, Addis Ababa.”

Also distinctive about Zemen Bank is its focus on delivering technologically-based banking services. All cash deposits, withdrawal services and all other transactions at all Banking Centers are operated using computerized system. Opening of accounts is processed in less than 10 minutes by processing customers’ personal information via applications, pictures, and signatures by securely and digitally recording.

Throughout its 12-year-journey, Zemen Bank has built a very strong presence as a preferred corporate / institutional Bank in the country’s banking business, and has not made change in its unique business models that can be catered to specific requirements of each client, who are engaging in various activities.

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Raising its paid-up capital to Birr 2 billion, the Bank has currently embraced over 4,800 shareholders and more than 1,000 professional and non-professional staff members. The Bank, since it is principally deals with corporate clients, by many it is regarded as wholesale Bank, despite it is also providing full-fledged services to all segments of the economy.

“Since the societies inclination in the usage of cash is still extensive, it was said by the President/CEO that, it needs a long way to go in canvassing large number of users to make use of technologically innovative products. Apart from this, it was said inefficient telecom services along with the low level of awareness in the usage of banking services are also hindrance factors in getting more and more customers in the banking systems.”

Zemen Bank S.C Years Gross Profits (in millions of Birr)

2010/11

133.38

2011/12

136.51

2012/13

137.88

2013/14

178.09

2014/15

225.59

2015/16

297.85

2016/17

388.52

2017/18

372.39

2018/19

671.53

2019/20

1,047.84

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Five years back as a young Bank, Zemen Bank commenced to build a magnificent and welldesigned Headquarters at the heart of the metropolis. Resting on 2,304sqm plots of land, the Zemen Bank HQ project is a 32-storey building and supposed to be one of the few tallest buildings in one of the financial district areas built in the capital, Addis Ababa.

The Zemen Bank headquarters, erected in front of Addis Ababa University School of Commerce is estimated to cost about Birr 1.2 billion. This fabulously designed smart building has its own unique features such as full-fledged building management system, eight elevators, out of which two are for transporting goods and materials only and the first six floors of the building are specifically designed for car parking.

This astonishing building is expected to be completed and begin operation in the coming April 2021 since all the finishing works it was said are being undertaken as per the schedule.

Dereje, President/ CEO of the Bank said that “We strongly believe that this building and buildings we aspire to build in the City will have their own contribution to City’s image building, greater value in terms of developmental endeavors and creation of investment opportunities.”

Further more, Zemen Bank has made considerable efforts to continue to streng then the greening campaign being undertaken across the nation.

It is substantiated with facts that; the Bank had donated five million Birr for Beautifying Sheger Projects, and also donated Birr 10 million for the Gebeta Lehager Project to be carried out at three regional states.

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Zemen Bank

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Photo Zemen Bank file In its annual humanitarian assistance initiative, The Bank has provided supports to different disadvantaged groups such as people with physical disabilities and people undergoing dialysis. In addition, it has plan to extend assistance to about 100 students drawn from low-income families, and also undertaking identification processes for identifying future beneficiary segments.

“Currently many private banks are under formation, following similar trends of the existing ones the majority of which are established and/or motivated by either religious, ethnic and/or other group interests.

This has to be discouraged for it, if we opt to build and serve the diverse and larger community".

Enhancing its relations with various development partners, The Bank, it was said facilitates and provides Abyssinia Business Nework // ABN

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support to companies working on hospitality and tourism sectors.

“We do have significant number of clients engaged in hotel and tourism sector, and apart from financing of these projects, the President/CEO said that, The Bank had consulted, and created an opportunity for some companies in getting foreign loans.”

With regards to government financial policies and regulations, Dereje noted that every financial or banking directives or provisions have their own purposes, but they should be amended in line with the objective reality. The muchtrumpeted 27% bond purchase directive, for example, was not lifted timely for the bill has caused more expenses than its purpose.

“We are witnessing the fact that, the Ethiopian Government has currently made promising efforts to ease constraints in the banking industry. We have to be very optimist to pave ways for smooth operation of the sector,” he added.

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Although the financial sector in Ethiopia has grown remarkably in the 1990’s and 2000s, it was commented that it is still in its infancy stage. Some of the problems are the high and persistent rate of inflation, illiteracy in technological usage, significance on unstable internet and network connections, lack of trained man power, the non – performing loans banks carry in loan books of accounts, the dominance of the state owned banks in the market, sometimes the government uses them to implement its policies, and they are also to a certain extent vulnerable to international economic and financial crisis.

Indeed, the banking industry in the country has to pursue meticulous path in order to successfully and efficiently contribute to the overall development of the nation. An increase in the number of banks doesn’t bring about the desired economic impact or financial intermediation. But, it was said would be through enhancing their capacity in human resource, technology and capital remains vital for their survival and for productively run its aforesaid businesses.

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Establishing, and naming of private banks in Ethiopia with the name of a specific ethnic group, many argued that these kinds of trend have adverse consequences. The President/CEO of the Bank, Ato Dereje emphasized that the need to depoliticize the formation of private banks in the country, saying that when private banks are established, they should consider and should neither be ethnic nor religiously based establishments. This, it was claimed would speed up introduction of a wellorganized financial system in the country.

“Currently many private banks are under formation, following similar trends of the existing ones the majority of which are established and/or motivated by either religious, ethnic and/or other group interests. This has to be discouraged for it, if we opt to build and serve the diverse and larger community.” Dereje stated Operationally commercial banks, he explained are financial intermediaries, which mobilize funds from surplus units and channel them to deficit units in the society. With such view, banks mobilize funds in terms of deposits which can be used to finance different projects and to provide loans apart from commercial debts financing or equity shares financing. Similarly, due to the nature of the operation, banks are subject to more unique set of laws, regulations and supervisory issues to both locally and international business operations.

The uniqueness of bank capital structure is also contributed with fact that bank debts includes deposits from smaller depositors who may not have any motive or expertise to monitor bank operation which limits the disciplinary roles. In this regard, Dereje reiterated that banks in Ethiopia appear to be very weak in

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terms of capital, technology and human resources to merge and form strong banks competing in the international market.

The Bank is expected to strictly abide by the laws and regulations of the jurisdiction where it operates, and observes the guidelines and rules issued by regulatory authority, particularly to the National Bank of Ethiopia.

It also keeps its corporate governance system under constant review to ensure that it is in line with international and local best practices since the first day of operation October 2008.

Envisioned to being "Ethiopia's Five Star Bank", The Bank delivers its clients the most distinctive banking services in the country through a mix of Local Knowledge and International Standards; providing the staff with an engaging, rewarding,

and attractive work environment along side a best-in-industry compensation schemes.

Forwarding recommendations on existing gaps in the sector, Zemen Bank’s President and CEO, Dereje Zebene said that, the National Bank of Ethiopia and the government should work towards creating enabling environment to establish globally competent and strong banks with Ethiopian identity, and build the capacity of existing banks.

Moreover, the President, stated that introduction of Diaspora banking service that allows Ethiopians overseas to have deposit in foreign currency, use of credit cards as well as the participation of Ethiopian Diasporas in the country’s banking sector, are the major activities being taken to ease restrictions imposed on the industry.

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Recent data witness that, the Bank’s 12year journey has experienced a trend of growth in profitability alongside positive trends related to balance sheet expansion.

As of June 30, 2020, The Bank’s gross profit was Birr 1,047.8 million, remarkably grew by about seven-fold in the past 10- years vis-a-vis the year 2010/11 record of Birr 133.4 million.

Similarly, in its 12-year-journey, the Zemen Bank’s total asset has reached Birr 18.5 billion (about $ 523.51 million at Average exchange rate of 30/06/20 at the end of June 30, 2020 indicating more than a thousand percent growth when compared with the year 2010/11 (a decade ago).The last fiveyear average record of earnings per share performance showed that Zemen Bank’s performance is above the private banking performance by 3.37 percentage points.

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NIB: Celebrating a 20-Year Successful

Journey

By Daniel Tiruneh

Established in 1999, Nib International Bank, as the sixth private commercial bank in Ethiopia has a total of 1,207,995 customers, total assets valued at ETB 42 bn and 302 branches, 5,934 employees as of June 30, 2020.Currently our bank offersfull-fledged banking services such as domestic banking, international banking, mobile banking, internet banking, card banking and Interest Free Banking (IFB).Daniel Tiruneh speaks to the Bank’s President on various issues.

ABN: You have already completed the stunning and magnificent NIB International Bank’s Headquarters Building at the heart of the city. How long did it take to be completed? Tell as a little bit about its design, cost, its peculiarity and other features.

Genene Ruga As part and parcel of striving to achieve its vision of becoming one of the leading commercial bank in Ethiopia, our Bank constructed its magnificent head quarters building with a unique design equipped with state of the art technology located around Senga Tera area.

The building is 4B + G + M + 32 + Utility floors (37 Storey) and is expected to be completed within 6 months.

The total project cost of the building is estimated to be Birr 1.6 Billion; so far the building has consumed Birr 1.1 Billion.

Scholars and known engineers of the country witnessed the 52

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exclusivity of the design quality of the building.

The building has peculiar features that makes it unique.

Such as: Air conditioning system, high capacity stand by Generator, Six elevators, Fire sprinklers and fire suppression system, Garbage Chute, access control system at required spots, public addressing system, modern sound system, heat and smoke detectors, CCTV camera, Building Management System(BMS) and Modern LED screen are some of the features of this marvelous Building.

ABN: Do you have other buildings? If so, describe them.

Genene Ruga Currently, including the Headquarters Building our Bank owns 6 buildings located in different parts of the country like: The iconic Arat Killo building which created beauty and changed the image of this area of capital Addis On The Rise 2021

city has already been completed and started providing service. It is a 10 storey building costing the Banka total cost of Birr 880 million.

Hawassa Twin building is with 2 basements in common and independent Two towers, the first one is a 10 storey and the other 12 storey building. It is a Birr 304 million project and is now currently under construction.

Hossaena building is a 5 storey building with a total cost of Birr 55 Million.

Dukem building a 6 storey costed the Bank Birr 65 Million.

The other building owned by our bank is Wolkite Building, which is4 storey building with a total costof Birr 21.78 Million.

From these buildings; Hossaena, Dukem, Wolkite including 4 Killo building have already been completed and started generating rental income forour bank.

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Head quarters building with a unique design equipped with state of the art technology

ABN: Do you have plans to add beauty to the city? If so, how?

Genene Ruga The Bank has the aim of beautifying its existing buildings and own more buildings to support the city in creating good image in the eyes of the public and international community as well.

ABN: Nowadays Addis Ababa, the capital is getting more and more attractive by developing tourism sites like the Unity Park, Entoto Park, Friendship Park and other public spaces. What is the contribution of NIB in this regard?

Genene Ruga As per the initiation of the Prime Minister of Ethiopia;NIB has donated for Sheger Building construction project birr 5,000,000.00, Gebeta Lehager project birr 10,000,000.00 and Unity Park birr 10,000,000.00.This shows the Bank’s solidarity with the city government corporate plan of beautifying the metropolis.

Genene Ruga

Nib International Bank President Photo by Nib International Bank

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ABN: Does NIB have planned to contribute to the greening effort being undertaken in the city?

Genene Ruga Our country is working on planting five billion trees this year (2020) which is part of an ambitious plan to plant 20 billion seedlings by 2024 to help build a green climate resistant economy.

Accordingly, NIB have put effort for the past consecutive Eight years and donated Birr 100,000.00 yearly to support the Green Legacy Challenge project that claimed to plant a record of 353 million seedlings on a single day.

Additionally, the management and staff members of the Bank were also engaged to support the plantation program challenge around Haile Garment area.

ABN: What social responsibilities have you discharged in the development of socioeconomic activity in the City?

Genene Ruga NIB has been donating different sectors in the aim of supporting socioeconomic activity of the city.

To support economic sectors 54

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which are highly affected by the pandemic“Covid-19�, the Bank supported more than Birr 113,000,000.00 by reducing various charges & interest rates on loans and supporting the needy.

As a result of COVID-19 pandemic;which resulted in over 40,890,712 confirmed cases and over 1,126,351 deaths globally, NIB donated Birr 5,000,000.00 to the Ministry of Peace and support Birr 100,000.00 for campaign to mitigate Covid-19 in all sub cities of Addis Ababa. In addition to this, the Bank opened an account for any concerned organ to donate money and mitigate Covid-19.

For student feeding program the Bank donated Birr 1,200,000.00 to Addis Ababa Students Feeding Agency to help the campaign being undertaken by the agency with the aim of boosting enrollment, reducing absenteeism and dropouts among school children. This year, the Bank also showed its continued commitment to help the needy students by donating Birr 2,000,000.00.

On the other hand, the Bank also donated for Ethiopian Heart Addis On The Rise 2021

Case patients for construction building, supporting emigrates to settle at their native region, and donation of money to Red Cross as well as engagingits staff members in blood donation program were the main ones.

ABN: How about loans and saving services you have been rendering, do you provide support to stakeholders working on hospitality, tourism and construction activities? If so, how?

Genene Ruga To support stakeholders working on hospitality, tourism and construction activities, NIB provides loan and saving services.

For example, as of the financial year of 2019/20, our Bank presented an outstanding loans & advances for hotel & tourism and building & construction of Birr 2,906,168.00 and Birr 4,499,527.00,respectively.

From the saving services rendered by our Bank,Birr 33.3 billion deposit was mobilized as of the financial year 2019/20.

Besides, our bank have been selected as one financial institution by the Ethiopian Tourism Authority to brief delegates coming from Japan to study tourism investment opportunities in Ethiopia and our bank provided

constructive inputs to the delegates to enhance these economic sectors.

ABN: Are the financial rules, regulation and policy put in place, conducive for your operation?

Genene Ruga The macroeconomic reform that is being undertaken by the government; particularly by National Bank of Ethiopia, has relaxed the stringent pressure on financial rules and regulations and this made it to be highly conducive for conducting banking operations particularly in the electronic banking services.

Genene Ruga From the challenges faced by the Bank;Covid-19 pandemic and shortage of hard currency problems put an obstacle to smoothly run the construction project and Banking operation of the bank as well, to mention few.

ABN: What are the possible solutions for those challenges?

Photo by Nib International Bank

ABN: What do you think are the challenges impending your operation?

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Genene Ruga The Bank has developed a well-organized action plan to mitigate the challenges of Covid-19 and the shortage of foreign currency which is implemented by all concerned units and by doing this we have registered a remarkable result during the financial year which ended on June 30, 2020 making the Bank one of the leading private banks in Ethiopia.

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Hadero is a premium homegrown brand that literally evolved from frustration with complacency over the years of Coffee not being marketed properly from Ethiopia, the country of origin. Ethiopia is the birthplace of Coffee and a major player in the green coffee production and origin of Arabica coffee.

However, most of the added value that occurs through processing, branding, and distribution to consumers, takes place within the consuming regions and markets. As a Pan-African, Bean-to-Cup, Coffee Solution Company, hadero aspires to become Africa’s Global Coffee Brand and to forever change the role of Africa’s value addition from its current marginal state to a more significant level.

Since our inception in 2019 we have been crafting the finest Ethiopian Coffee. From Farmer to Producer in the country of origin, the perfect cup of Ethiopian coffee is not only a supreme taste sensation, it acknowledges the passion and dedication from grower to brewer and the countless people involved in between. We roast every batch of coffee daily for a fresh and perfect cup, each time. Our iconic and carefully roasted medium profile signature blend is slowly roasted for a smooth, well balanced, and complex flavor. And our Arabica varieties are regarded as the holy bean among the global coffee community with light to medium body and floral tasting note.

Hadero strongly believes that, coffee should be celebrated for the contribution it has to our cultural, social, and economic contribution. Coffee has the power to bring people together in the good, and the not so good times. It is also one of our prime export goods and a major source of earning for over 25 million Ethiopians (including 5 million farmers and their family).

At hadero we are committed to delivering an Exquisite Coffee Experience through offering a High-Quality Product with Exceptional Customer Care.

Hadero is a small town located in Southern Ethiopia and our brand is inspired by the craftmanship of remarkable smallholder coffee cultivators of the region.

Raise your cup to a promising future!

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Riding High Transport is considered a critical element that links communities with factors that facilitate their economic and social development (UN Economic Commission for Africa, 2009). It is the medium by which rural and urban communities access jobs, education, healthcare, recreational/tourism activities and facilities.Additionally, transport facilitates the connectivity between businesses and raw materials, and between businesses and other businesses and between businesses and their markets promoting both internal and external trade.

However, public transport services including Taxi services in developing countries are fraught with a number of problems which compromise the quality of services. Public transportation in most Ethiopian cities is characterized by over-crowdedness, excessive waiting times, and long and inconsistent travel times coupled with poor and unreliable services. Many argue that the challenges minibus and 3 or 4-passengers taxi commuters in Addis Ababa, is growing alarmingly. Safety and security is the biggest problem people suffer in the taxi transport sector in the capital, Addis Ababa.

Currently some Uber-like taxi service providers are getting into the transport market with a view to rendering safe and reliable transportation service to the residents. A Pioneering company RIDE has gone through different bureaucratic and aggressive project implementation process to reach where it is now. It’s also paved ways to other similar companies that follow its suit in the sector. Samrawit Fikru, RIDE Founder and Manager tells ABN readers how she has been moving forward to realize her dream and what should be done by concerned government institutions to modernize the sector and promote innovation across the country.

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Photo by RIDE

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Samrawit Fikru RIDE Founder and Manager

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As a young Ethiopian entrepreneur and visionary woman, Samrawit Fikru had gone through different hustles and bustles until she got what she aspired to see. Two proposals, one featuring policy and the other focused on technology, have been ignored and refuted by some government institutions.Convincing local investors to engage in innovative businesses was hardly possible since many of them need immediate return, not a return that comes after four or five years. Moreover, securing loans and financial service was another bottleneck that obstructed her brilliant idea for some time.

Being optimist, Samrawit continued to go with her third proposal that currently makes her create job opportunity for over 480 citizens and bringing together more than 25,000 vehicles to render efficient and reliable taxi services to residents of Addis Ababa.

“The most challenging partin my friends’ and my life was getting safe and reliable transport service especially during night time. The issue of security was on our day-today agenda for no one knows the driver, the plate number and other descriptions of any contract taxi one takes.” Recalled Samirawit.

This was the moment the idea of RIDE was born through brainstorming among friends of her.Eventually RIDE the first to launch the service on December 17, 2014.

RIDE is the first RIDE hailing and booking platform in Ethiopia. Passengers can call company’s dispatch center at 8294/taxi, or use RIDE FREE Passenger App to book/hail passengers next trip on the streets of Addis Ababa. NO surge pricing. Whether someone needs a ride to/from the airport, or a quick RIDE service to get there on time, RIDE is the fastest and safest option in the city. Tens of thousands of vehicles are on standby, on every corner, to serve needs of passengers, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including Holidays.

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Thanks to God! We managed to realize our project despite lots of hurdles. I am very grateful to the former City Mayor Takele Umma who has shown me unreserved and profound support at that difficult moment.

Anyone who wants to visit different parts of Addis Ababa can pre-book a RIDE days 60

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ahead. A well-vetted RIDE member driver arrives outside one’s stay, on time for a pickup.

Instead of waiting on a hotel shuttle to fill up, one can use RIDE Passenger App to get a cab in minutes from anywhere in the city.

According to the Founder and Manager, in addition to company’s call center facility (8294), company’s service features encompass Passenger App/ online booking features and online platform.

Many argue that the number of people using RIDE in the metropolis has been dramatically growing. So many people choose this Uberlike transport provider due to various reasons.

Customers typically get where they are going faster or cheaper than they would by taxis, partygoers can rely on being able to find available RIDE drivers through their apps late at night, and the combination of RIDE and expanding online grocery delivery is making it more practical to live without a car.

Photo by RIDE

Moreover, Public transportation doesn't run around the clock, and not all taxi companies run 24 hours a day. People who work or party late at night often use Uber to get home quickly when bus and metro train lines are shut down.Passengers also choose RIDE over other transportation methods for safety reasons.

Although types of vehicles and methods of regulation, hiring, dispatching, and negotiating payment differ significantly from country to country, many common characteristics exist.

Disputes over whether ridesharing companies should be regulated as taxicabs resulted in some jurisdictions creating new regulations for these services.

With regards to this, RIDE has passed through several challenges that impeded its forward move. Concerned government institutions were not willing to react to the company’s proposal positively since there was no regulation or legal policy on such new

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Our ultimate aim is to introduce Ethiopian transport technology to the rest of the world like we do in athletics.

innovation. Enabling policies and directives need to follow innovation; project ideas should first be examined whether they are important and timely before neglecting them due to absence of legal framework, according to Samrawit.

“Government offices don’t welcome young innovators and entrepreneurs who come up with new business ideas; this has to be changed.” continued Samrawit, “thanks to God! We managed to realize our project despite lots of hurdles. I am very grateful to the former City Mayor Takele Umma who has shown me unreserved and profound support at that difficult moment.”

The manager lamented that her team members were compelled to work under difficult situation when their office was shut down by people from a government office. “Had I and my fellow team been fragile and weak, we would have left our country and gone into exile.” Samrawit noted.

Over the past few years RIDE has been receiving mostly constructive comments and feedbacks from its customers, and helps the company improve service quality and expand its scope very significantly to maximize their satisfactions.

In times of COVID 19 pandemic, RIDE has been mainly working on taking precaution measures against the spread of the virus to protect RIDE families as a whole. The company has managed to provide employees and staff member with appropriate and available sanitary materials, and provide trainings on how to prevent all from the pandemic.

RIDE also plans to stretch its wings to regional states, East Africa and gradually to European countries. In connection with this, Samrawit said, “Our ultimate aim is to introduce Ethiopian transport technology to the rest of the world like we do in athletics.”

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This renowned taxi service provider RIDE, over the last few years alone, has dealt with various social responsibilities in order to contribute its share to the ongoing socioeconomic development in the city.

This include participation in Green Legacy campaign spearheaded by Ethiopian Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed (PhD) by planting and taking care of over ten thousand tree and fruit seedlings on a land the company has secured from Gelan City Administration, supporting Sile Enat Children Care Center, and supplying hundreds of vehicles to the police during eves and holidays.

The company has also extended its support for COVID 19 prevention campaign being conducted by Addis Ababa City Administration, and donated pens and exercise books for school children in the city. Currently it is building 30 traffic police posts at different sites in the city, and plans to work more on personal development of the youth.

Samrawit strongly believes that Ethiopia is blessed with genius and innovative minds that really requires proper cultivation and support from all citizens. Nevertheless, there are challenges we all need to combat and create enabling environment for participation of the young in the nation’s development process.

Hence, she recommended that concerned financial institutions should finance vibrant and innovative ideas, expand the capacity, quality and coverage of ICT and reduce internet cost. Start-ups working on information communication technologies have to be supported through reduction or exemption of taxes so that the country could enjoy technologically-driven economy.

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Beautifying

Addis Ababa Real estate development in Ethiopia is one of the most profitable, and high in demand sectors. The sector mainly resides in Addis Ababa, one of the top fastest growing cities in Africa, which makes the city the right destination for real estate companies in Ethiopia to invest in to build luxury homes.

Real estate sector has been one of the fastest growing sectors of the Ethiopian economy and it is contributing a large sum to the nations GDP. Metropolitan Real Estate is proud to be part of this growth story which is contributing to the nation’s economic development.

The sector has gone through several phases from its emergence in 1990’s to where it has gotten now.

The primary destination of the real estate industry in Ethiopia, of course, is Addis Ababa. The fuel for real estate in Addis Ababa has been and will always be the enormous housing demand which seems to be ever growing.

Many express their hopes over promising real estate investment in Ethiopia for there exist encouraging government policies, advancement in the technology of construction and growing housing demand. ABN takes up the story of Sewite PLC in the sector.

Sewite PLC has been at the forefront of marketing and managing the most successful real estate brand in Ethiopia, Noah Real Estate. ROC Spaces on the other hand has been highly involved in property management for over two years. Spearheading different trendy and impactful marketing campaigns, commercializing the prime product of Noah Real Estate and efficiently promoting the need for comprehensive property management services,Sewite64

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ROC has spurred the marketing sector as it adherently believes the substantial importance of its value.

Since the turn of the Ethiopian millennium, the infrastructural shift witnessed in Addis Ababa, the beating heart of Ethiopia, has been considerably significant.

Comfortable weather, suitable landscape, attractive potential and inflow of population from every direction of the country necessitated and invited influx of investment Addis On The Rise 2021

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on construction, both from private and governmental entities. This allowed the country to have an economy that has high performance over the last decade, both in the continent and in the world.

As one of the prominent actors in the sector, Noah Real Estate has delivered multi-purpose projects since its inception over 10 years ago. However, the mere construction of infrastructure and buildings doesn’t necessarily imply developed urbanization and growing economy. It must equally be met with robust marketing and commercialization of these infrastructures that will yield sustained monetary income and productive financial system. That is where Sewite-ROC comes in.

Sewite-ROC has been engaged in marketing Noah Real Estate through driven sales team andcreating an attractive and profitable market-oriented marketing campaigns.

Moreover, its focus on promoting the property management service, a service which sparsely existed before, has been a welcome boost for the sector. Its firm belief in having a well-structured, planned and visionary marketing campaigns that go parallelly with the building of infrastructures enabled it to boldly and aggressively delve into the neglected part of the industry.

Rateneh Fassil Sewite PLC, CEO

Addis Ababa is widely branded as a global city. It serves as the headquarters for the African Union, has the largest market in Africa in Merkato, and possesses various other professional institutions. Its ability to make these areas and other parts of the city marketable has been ineffective at best and non-existent at worst.

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Photo file In its peak, Addis Ababa, is becoming a vibrant city.

Its local inflow of people to public gathering spaces like restaurants and malls has been huge for the service sector.

and during night times. Most commercial places are closed on Sundays and recreational spaces are far and few in between to provide their services so that people would prefer to stay at home.

What makes a city tick is the activities, be it economic or social, that flourish within it. Without these activities, investment returns hit a snag and city succumbs to slow business decline. As the middle and upper middle class is growing at an increasing rate, the city itself presents precious opportunity for investment.

With the right marketing plan, it is very plausible to create a formidable economic return for investment. To achieve this however, there are certain aspects that need to be looked at closely and carefully.

During the later parts of the night as well, the city goes into complete hibernation. Vibrant night life attracts consumption and is one source of income. Sundays account for almost two months worth of days through the year. As such actively commercializing and monetizing them along with night life will provide an important boost to the economy.

Another captivating feature of Addis Ababa that needs proper marketing is its diverse cultural places.The city lacks well-thought out and structured entertainment centers. With colorful and vibrant public spaces and sites, the city has Global cities have plenty the potential to become a travel of commercialization and destination for many with slight recreational activities that run changes or improvements. almost 24/7. Addis Ababa also needs to be aware of that, as For instance, the location around it seems to sleep away during Kebe Pastry invites considerable the later parts of the weekends revamp in order to bring an 66

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organized business community.By making various service providers along with appealing cuisines available,it can be guaranteed that aninvestment in the area will yield a profitable return. Currently, unplanned businesses make the area difficult to be an appealing entertainment destination.

The area around Avante Bar and Restaurant is also another location worth looking at. With various buildings and apartment complexes being built, it presents a good opportunity to attract sustained consumption. It needs organized and well-planned entertainment design. In addition to the apartment complexes and buildings, it is possible to build restaurants, malls and cinemas where it can attract continuous consumer consumption. For this to happen, however, it is imperative that the developers of the buildings must finish their project in time. This will allow the influx of consumers to be very smooth.

There are various locations in the city that need like these that can be revamped to make them appealing and income generating. Unity Park and Entoto Park can serve as prime examples on how, given the right direction and proper investment, revitalizing the already existing spots can be done.

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On the other hand, creating multiple entertainment and recreational centers in different parts of the city is also important.

The commercial and business district (CBD) that is being developed around National Theatre, for example, can be a hot spot for service providers through studied and informed investment. The CBD area must be dealt with caution. Similar endeavors have resulted in damaging economic results.

Financial districts can become solely professional and lose their attraction of consumption, as observed in New York and Chicago. To avoid the same fate, it is important that entertainment spots are opened around the CBD and try to make it not only a place to work but also an inviting

place to hang out. This will also make the area to be active 24hrs a day, instead of dying out during off-work hours.

Making the city conducive to frequent events and entertainment will require responsible parties to realize the immense local and international tourist attraction potential that can be created for from within the city itself. Monetizing the city and encouraging consumer consumption can be done by utilizing the resources within the city and it is an aspect that needs to be perused sternly.

Sewite-ROC understands this shared responsibility. Its promotion of the infrastructural works developed by Noah

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Real Estate reflect its commitment in making Addis Ababa a hub for investment and entertainment. It understands the marketing side of the sector plays a pivotal role in ensuring sustained economic growth.

It strongly believes that making Addis Ababa attractive proposition for continuous consumption and sustained investment is still a long way off from its desired point. But with a thinker mind and through proper commoditizing and marketing it is possible to harness and unleash the potential the city possesses.

That is why, it is more determined than ever, to create a sector that is not only focused on delivering the infrastructural part of the city, but also the marketability and promotion of the African capital, Addis Ababa.

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Solyana: Sticking to Quality,

New Tactic

By Aklile Tsige

Furniture plays an important role in people’s lives. It is closely involved in people’s work, study, and entertainment, as an evergreen industry in human society. The furniture industry is an important part of the ecological industry in the whole wood industry chain. As a final product, furniture involves the integration of material, technology, art, function, and culture.The style and cultural characteristics have become the main parts of the furniture.

The number of furniture suppliers in Ethiopia has been rising with the development of housing, construction and real estate developments for the past few decades. Nevertheless, many argue that furniture supplies are not to the required quality and standards that customers or end users are not satisfied with.

How can you get furniture that’ll survive pets, kids, spills, and normal wear at a good price? Start by choosing a store with high ratings for advice and reliability. But it helps to know how to assess the goods on your own.

One way to start honing both your knowledge and style? “Visit high-end furniture stores, and leave your credit card at home,” says Amy Azzarito, a design expert and trend consultant who recently published her second book on furnishings, The Elements of a Home: Curious Histories behind Everyday Household Objects, from Pillows to Forks.

Solyana Furniture, in this regard, seems to respond positively to this challenges and gaps being witnessed in Ethiopia’s furniture supply and manufacturing sector. Our Editor-in Chief Aklile Tsige sat with Eskindir Habte, Solyana Trading and Investment Managing Director and founder, and discussed the company’s move in the business climate.

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Established in 2011 with the sole purpose of providing quality products and services with international standards, Solyana Trading and Investment firm is a privately owned limited-by-liability company first registered and incorporated in South Sudan, and gradually stretched its wings to Kenya and Ethiopia. Having an extensive network, operating in more than three countries, it was formed as a world-class provider of innovative logistics and supply-chain services and solutions.

The company has been engaged mainly in three business sectors: trading which deals with furniture, electrical and finishing material supplies, real estate development and construction in various East African nations, including Uganda, Kenya, South Sudan and Ethiopia.

“We provide advanced customeroriented solution through our valuecreating services. Our dedicated and experienced professionals always

provide customers with tailormade solutions that are specially designed to satisfy clients’ needs.” said the Managing Director.

Solyana Company Ltd focuses on serving customers with global sourcing and supply- chainmanagement needs, creating value through innovative endto-end delivery. It’s also a leader in providing sophisticated transportation, hotel, and warehousing and distribution services in South Sudan, offering professional and efficient solutions.

“The company also partner with institutions and organizations under the Finance-Build-Transfer (FBT) model. This arrangement is a project delivery method that allows one contractor with expertise in design, construction and financing to be appointed to design, construct and arrange financial resources for the works.”

Said Eskindir.

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“We consider features such as modernity, durability, Eco friendliness, conformity to favorable working environment, attractiveness, easy space management and simplicity.”

Switching the FBT model from South Sudan to Kenya, the company, in line with a proposal submitted to it, has successfully completed an expansion project of a renowned university campus with all required facilities at a-5800 sq. meters of land in rural part of Kenya.

Solyana Trading and Investment has submitted a proposal for the implementation of the FBT approach to government institutions, including the Ministry of Innovation and Technology (MINT) with the view to introducing and promoting the model to the growing construction activity throughout the country.

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This approach appears to be very important for countries where corruption and embezzlement are rampant. It directly involves an agreement between two parties: the construction company and the client,executing projects in a transparent and cost effective manner.

“Our marketing strategy is based mainly on making the right information available to the right target customer. We can't afford to sell people on our expensive products, because most don't have the budget. What we really do is make sure that those who have the budget and appreciate the product know that it exists, and know where to find it.” said Eskindir.

Holding a vision to be a dynamic company delivering complete high international quality products and services in the African market, Solyana Trading and Investment Company has been making attempts to provide peculiar and quality furniture supply services. Eskindir states, “we consider features such as modernity,durability, Eco friendliness, conformity to favorableworking environment, attractiveness, easy space management and simplicity.”

“We have already begun to pave ways to the establishment of the assembly firm, and make our company African furniture hub.”

Solyana imports all its furniture elements from a well experienced Chinese company for the Chinese furniture industry constantly promotes the development of the wood industry by means of the international industrial transfer, integration, and world trade improving people’s living standards by a stable national macro policy.

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It can accelerate the export and stimulate domestic consumption to meet the domestic investment as a leading industry and become a pillar of the domestic employment demandtype consumer industries. That is, the furniture industry has the power to guide the development of the wood industry in China.

“Honestly speaking, our focus is not on profit-making; we want to make a difference in our furnishing system to be applied in governmental and private institutions.” Eskindir notes. Solyana is currently undertaking new furnishing and interior design works at some three sites, which will be a milestone to keep going with huge furnishing works in the country.

It has plan to quit importing finished furniture from China and establish its own assembly plant within a few months’ time, and deals are underway with the company but delayed due to COVID-19 pandemic. “We have already begun to pave ways to the establishment of the assembly firm, and make our company African furniture hub.” Eskinder discloses.

Obviously the Chinese furniture market to Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and other African countries is more expensive than it is from Ethiopia. Hence, Solyana’s intent to assemble quality furniture and export them to these countries could undoubtedly be cheaper, efficient and effective.

In the more than 30 years since its beginning in 1980, the Chinese furniture industry has developed rapidly. Due to use of advanced equipment and the high technical level of workers, the

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Solyana Trading & Investmen quality of products has been improved, and sales In such realistic Chinese conditions, it is very important to consider how to improve the quality of the furniture industry, allocation of global resources, improve production efficiency, and gradually realize development from a “labor-intensive” to a “labor + technology-intensive” industry.

According to Eskindir, Solyana’s product offerings focus on the executive level customer who has an appreciation for quality craftsmanship and materials, and wishes to integrate technology in to their office environment. Our market segments within the office furniture context include the corporate executive, small business owner, and home office.

We don’t actually target these markets through a variety of media including the Internet, catalog distribution, and word of mouth advertising. Because we offer products at a high cost level, we do not wish to mass market. Rather our strategy is to make our product information readily available to those seeking quality office furniture with specific technological needs.

With regards to maintaining good reputation of being honest, the companyis also known to possess a high level of integrity and transparency as well. To be honest means one can take pride in the work one does, he or she believes in the service being provided, and he or she doesn’t try to be something he or she is not.

Solyana Trading and Investment company has been participating in various national

and global trade fairs that include Dubai Index Trade Fair, Big Five (a revolving fair in Africa), USA and many more These helps the company gain global and local exposure and knowledge transfer in the sector.

Cognizant of the pivotal role modern and quality furnishing and design play in creating magnificent look of buildings and the capital city, the company aims to establish a ‘Total Office Solution’, providing every element of housing, building, hall, room and related construction activity.

The company has also been extensively involved in real estate development activities in two countries that Solyana operates in: Kenya and South Sudan. It has also finalized preparations such as securing lands, project office and different professionals to go operational in Ethiopia. It also managed over 8,200 square feet and has handled more than 21 real estate transactions in the 3 countries.

“Our goal as we develop a piece of real estate is that we shall give value and beauty to the client and that by making our client happy, we shall have maximized returns for the company.” said the Managing Director.

As a diversified, full service real estate firm, Solyana is active in the marketing, development, asset management and facilities management of office, medical office, industrial and retail properties. The firm’s industrial, retail and office brokerage divisions have consistently ranked among the most active in the region with consistent growth being achieved each year Abyssinia Business Nework // ABN

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Established in 1997, theAddis Ababa Hotels Association (AHA) is a nonprofit employers association under the name Ethiopian Hotels and Restaurants Employers Association. Its founders' goals was to establish an Association that would support the industry with the highest quality services and resources available. However, due to the enormous changes of the past decade, the Association members felt the need for it to revamp, anticipate and meet the growing and changing needs of its members and the city.

For this specific reason, the Association is reenacted and rebranded in the year 2012. The new Addis Ababa Hotels Associations governed by a 7 - member Board of Directors. AHA is set to represent the collective industry interests of member hotels in Addis Ababa on a variety of public affairs and governmental matters.

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In addition, in the last few years, the Addis Ababa hotel industry has witnessed a remarkable period of growth. With the opening of the new Millennium Hall in 2007 and the new African Union Headquarters compound in 2012, the city is becoming a major player in the Meetings, Incentives, Conventions, and Exhibition tourism (MICE) segment in the continent. With this in mind, the Addis Ababa Hotels Association is committed to helping our members by providing services and programs that encourage and streng then the logging industry across the city.

To transform our Tourism through the development our Destinations, Human Capital and develop a sustainable tourism by managing our resources through proper planning, controlling,and implementation. To position our city as a MICE hub through creative and unique approach Piggyback

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HOTELS FLOURISHING IN

ADDIS “

Addis Ababa as a destination aimed specifically at the big World Travel Trade Shows, such as the ITB in Berlin, Germany and WTM Brasil, LA and Newyork-B2B event in USA

”

Benyam Bisrat

Addis Ababa Hotels Associations /AHA/ Chair man Abyssinia Business Nework // ABN

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with a global player who already has that reach in a way that benefits both parties.AHA is devoted to be a vital resource for our member hotels to protect their rights and interest.

As the voice of our member hotels we advocate to build a favorable business climate and influence policies for their success.

AHA represents the collective industry interests before policy makers and legislators, lobbies for better recognition of the hospitality industry within the country, creates a program to serve the industry and member hotels, provides a website and other platforms for members to secure relevant information on the industry, protects and supports the members of the Association in matters that are related to their trade or business, and plans a series of informative networking sessions, board meetings and general assembly.

AHA envisions to transform our Tourism through the development our Destinations and the Human Capital, develop a sustainable tourism by managing our resources through proper planning, controlling and implementation, position our city as a MICE hub through creative and unique approach Piggyback with a global player who already has that reach in a way that benefits both parties.

AHA is also devoted to be a vital resource for our member hotels to protect their rights and interest.

As the voice of our member hotels we advocate to build a favorable business climate and influence 74

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policies for their success.With its 156 member hotels that have created job opportunities for more than 18,000 employees in Addis Ababa, AHA realizes the star standards of its member hotels out of which 13 of them are 5* rated,27of them 4 * rated,62 of them are 3* rated, 18 of them are 2* rated, 9 of them are 1 * rated hotels and the rest 27 of them are new and some of them are on process.

The construction of latest mega projects will create new impression to attract tourists to rediscover Addis Ababa.It will be ecotourism attraction significantly changing the landscape of the city and also it will increase urban tourism this will have a positive economic impact to our hotels because their occupancy rate also increase at same time. Itintroduces a framework for a destinationdesign-driven approach to tourism governance.

By escalating urban tourism it can combine sustainable development, smart hospitality and resilience.The project will open up new investment opportunities for tourism development and also create huge employment opportunities for youth with various professional calibers. In general it is a good opportunity for development of hotel and tourism industry.

It is already known implausible change in industry in the world many changes in the Addis On The Rise 2021

that an tourism brought field of

hotel business. This means, the enlargement and development of travel has contributed a lot for the development of hotel industry. So traveler’s needs quality service, in our city Addis Ababa the hotel business and service standards are changed time to time. There are around 10 global chain hotels in the city;this has a contribution for the development of the service standards of hotels. All this development has great impact on city image building and economic improvement because the development of hospitality creates an investment opportunity for the other sectors.

Since Addis Ababa is the capital city of Africa the increased number of hotels and the improvement of their service standards increase the business traveler’s move to the city, many organizations select the city for meetings and conferences and this is practically changing time to time al this change is comes because the number of hotels and their service standards also improved .so it has the contribution for image building and economic development for the city. Hotels also create job opportunity for many employees and they are actively participate on community based activities / corporate social responsibility roles such as, feeding programs ,clean city initiatives , climate change programs, blood donation and other voluntary services .

Actually our member hotels are always participating on the # green legacy .The association is

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planting trees annually on different areas. In addition hotels beautify their environment through gardening their compounds. So by greening and cleaning their environment and surroundings they are always a means for the attraction of the city. As an association at this budget year we are planning to participate aggressively on cleaning and greening activities by coordination our member hotels.

Obviously the primary victims of covid 19 are hotel and tourism sectors. as much as possible the government tries to support the industry especially by facilitating soft loans for hotels through national bank. We are gratefully appreciating this, but when we compare the problem and the government support still there are many limitations specially hoteliers expecting tax relief, postponing existing bank loans and some other economic motivations.

We have strong relationship/ partnership with our member hotels, tourism government offices and other stakeholder companies. We work in

partnership with them specifically under the hospitality industry. The association is planning to build/ strengthen its partnership with different stakeholders who can help/support the association to step forward and fulfill its major objectives. These partnerships are;Forge various local private/ private partnerships, Forge various international private/ private partnership, Strengthen local private/public partnership and Strengthen international private /public partnership.

Tourism industry is very crucial sector in the economic development in the world specifically in our country Ethiopia it is the neediest sector for its economic, socio-cultural and environmental development.

The hotel industry is the essential subsector in the growth of tourism industry since without hotels it may be difficult for a guests and tourists to travel to a particular preferred destination. by taking account this fact we

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will work to promote our hotels and the city by participating international tourism expos and meetings and also through digital platforms.

The Association promotes member hotels by producing annual Hotel and city guide magazine .we are ready to produce the 4th edition.

AHA Hotel and City Guide is the most comprehensive print and online guide to Addis Ababa as a destination aimed specifically at the big World Travel Trade Shows, such as the ITB in Berlin, Germany and WTM Brasil, LA and Newyork-B2B event in USA. This Exciting City Guide is a great way to discover Addis Ababa, featuring detailed information on more than 130 local and Global International Members Hotels, plus eye catching front sections devoted to the best in travel including a detailed industry supplier directory, covering sectors such as technology, airlines, car hire, etc...). By performing such related activities we are planning to promote the new face of Addis Ababa and the hotels aggressively.

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Hyatt Regency:

Uniquely Ethiopian

Hyatt Regency Hotel has gained reputation for its unique archtectural presenation, interior design, facilities and hotel related services. Cluster General Manager Heddo Siebs wants to share some of its features with ABN readers.

ABN:Tell us a little bit about Hyatt Regency Addis Ababa at a global level, and the reason it began operatingng here in Ethiopia.

Heddo : what makes the Hyatt Regency brand unique is that we are energizing. We are the go-to gathering place: a dynamic spot where guests can relax, meet, engage and recharge. We are insightful. Here, we do things the smart way, not just the way they have always been done before. We are always thinking one step ahead, satisfying guests’ needs in unique, delightful and surprising ways, as they go through their day.

We are confident. We are innovators in the hospitality business and experts at providing the experiences, care and amenities our guests want, all delivered with enthusiasm and pride.

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because we have got everything covered.

ABN: Can you describe the hotel in terms of size, location and peculiarity?

Heddo : Hyatt Regency Addis Ababa is located just 15 minutes from Bole Iinternational Airport, and centrally located on Meskel Square, connecting the large artery roads of Addis Ababa. The hotel stands within a short walking distance of the United Nations Conference center and within a 15-minute drive of the African Union Headquarters, with the largest conference facilities in the country. The presidential palace, government and business offices are also within short reach of the hotel.

Addis On The Rise 2021

The hotel building centers around a courtyard with landscaped gardens and water features while accommodating service areas from meeting venues, dining spaces to recreational areas. Hyatt Regency Addis Ababa is a service destination within Addis Ababa where our guests can confidently leave every detail to us so they can focus on what matters to them most during their stay with us.188 well-appointed guestrooms, including twelve Regency Suites, two Regency Executive Suites, one 125 sq m (1,345 sqft) Presidential Suite overlooking Meskel Square and one 450 sq m (4,843 sqft) Royal Presidential Suite with four bedrooms.

Hyatt Regency Addis Ababa is also a vibrant dining destination where guests can enjoy a range of international flavors and local cuisine without leaving the hotel.

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Heddo Siebs Cluster General Manager

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The spacious hotel lobby and its extended lounge area offers an integrated business center, a gift shop, flowers and a coffee area that serves freshly brewed, world famous Ethiopian coffee, delicious pastries and bakery items. At The Kitchen, a modern yet casual restaurant, guests can enjoy breakfast, lunch and dinner featuring authentic Levantine cuisine. At The Oriental, guests will experience a contemporary and lively restaurant featuring mouth watering barbecueue and authentic Asian cuisine complemented by attentive service.

involving many participants to discussions among only a few people, we present event spaces to share and stimulate ideas. The hotel has 1,700 sq m (18,300 sqft) of flexible and contemporary spaces with natural daylight. There is the spacious 468 sq m (5,037 sqft) Regency Ballroom as well as two beautifully appointed meeting rooms with spacious adjacent pre-function areas and an open area terrace in the main hotel courtyard. Finally, there is the 400 sqm (4,305 sqft) Meskel Terrace, overlooking Meskel Square, for dinners and social events.

Cascara Coffee & Cocktails, located in the beautiful courtyard of the hotel amidst landscaped gardens and water features, is the place to be in Addis for informal afternoon meetings and sundowners after a busy day. Recreation and relaxation are the “order of the day” at the pool and spa. After a workout in the 235 sqm (2,530 sqft) fitness center with the latest exercise equipment, pass by the pool bar overlooking the hotel courtyard for a light bite or sunset cocktail.

ABN: What do you think are the reasons customers prefer the hotel to other hotels with similar standards /grades?

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Heddo : I think guests like our vibrant social spaces as well as our cuisine. Also the wellness areasincluding the spa, gym and infinity pool are very much appreciated.

ABN : What safety measures are you taking now to prevent the spread of COVID-19 here?

Heddo : The safety and wellbeing of our guests and colleagues is always a top priority. Some of the measures include:

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• Colleague certification and training for hygiene and cleanliness • Increased frequency of cleaning with hospital-grade disinfectants on all high-touch surfaces, guestrooms and sharedspaces • Implementation of enhanced food safety and hygiene protocols for restaurants,room service and group meetings and events • Prominently placed hand sanitizer stations through out hotel’spublic and employee areas and entrances • Exploring purification and sanitization device installation in an effort to ensure enhanced airquality • Protective masks and other equipment for hotel colleagues • Physical distancing guidance in public areas across hotel properties • Guests and employees must wear face masks while they are on the premises

ABN :Would you please explain how modern technology is incorporated in the hotel’s operation?

Heddo : I truly believe that our colleagues are the most important asset in order to make a difference, and it is through them that we look after our guests.

Empathy and care are the most important tools to be successful. I always believe that the best service is always at home, since we naturally look after our guests with care and they can feel it is from the bottom of our heart, truly and naturally. If we manage to do that, and our colleagues look after our guests as they would look after friends and family at home, we are the winners.

Heddo : I believe we have to be optimistic rather than pessimistic and learn how to adapt and overcome the current challenges. As you may have already seen, Ethiopia has been featured in Forbes magazine as a rising star in travel and it is assumed that the nation will be one of the major destinations in a post-COVID world. So the ease of the lockdown and any further measures to aid the industry will be very helpful.

• Guests can book online via the World of Hyatt app and use their mobile phone as a digital key to check into their rooms • QR menus available in all outlets to avoid contact • Cutting-edge contemporary AV system • Automatic gate barrier / under vehicle scanning / face and plate recognition feature • GRMS system in place • AC system with heating and cooling features in all rooms and facilities ABN :What short-term and long-term plans do you have?

Heddo : We always strive to be the preferred hotel in Addis and a trendsetter in Ethiopia.

ABN : Nowadays the Ethiopian government seems to be planning to ease the partial lockdown of the hospitality industry very soon, and tourists across the globe are ABN:How would you describe the capacity of your expected to come to Ethiopia, how optimistic are you on that issue? employees in different departments?

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The Cozy Mama’s Kitchen

By Daniel Tiruneh

E

stablished in 2010, Mama's kitchen remains one of the best restaurant franchises in the heart of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia!! Known famously around the world as being the capital's spot to dine, wine and dance the night away, Mama's Kitchen now has currently nine branches in Addis: The Baritone Lounge (famous for its fasting Lunch buffet service and sports bar), The Royal Lounge. During the fasting season, Mama’s vegetarian lunch buffet is the talk of the town and is reliably available from Mondays to Saturdays.

It's the last trendy place to go out and see a live concert.

To stay in, Mama's Kitchen has almost obsolete its last open address, which was the most prominent in Addis Ababa, to inaugurate an even more sumptuous one. High ceilings, luxurious atmosphere, padded armchairs, huge windows with wrought iron, but above all now no longer a place suitable for live music because it has a real stage for musicians.

“My dream has been to open and operate my own business. When the opportunity presented itself, I grabbed it. I had plenty of mentors who wanted to see me realize my potential and they were ready to assist me.”

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Owner and Managing Director of Mama's Kitchen Boutique Hotel chain in Addis Ababa, Girma Degu is a noted entrepreneur involved in the local hospitality industry. To him, the local hospitality sector is not just a business but rather helps make the capital a tourist friendly place. Realizing the significant quality service gaps in the food industry, Girma along with his wife decided to enter the business a decade ago. He reflects with ABN on his business, its growth and challenges including the recent COVID-19 pandemic, creating a local brand and other related issue.

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Girma Degu

“

Managing Director of Mama's Kitchen

It’s the passion and knowledge we hold that makes us successful

”

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Girma has always loved food and the hospitality industry in Ethiopia. From the get-go, he has seen much potential in it, and started working at a hotel in the early stages of his career. “My dream has been to open and operate my own business. When the opportunity presented itself, I grabbed it. I had plenty of mentors who wanted to see me realize my potential and they were ready to assist me.” Said Girma.

Girma opened his 1st branch of the Mama's Kitchen Chain, which soon grew to be popular for its unique dining menu, with the best customer service in town. Due to the growing demand for Mama's Kitchen services, a catering unit was derived to extend Mama's Kitchen facilities to the wider community. Shortly, Mama's Kitchen catering units also developed into managing huge events for big companies.

Also known as a Boutique hotel for its elegant and graceful ambiance, the first two Mama's Inn branches opened at 22 and Meskel Flower, out of the need to host Mama's Kitchen's international and regional guests. Each Inn has top notch features such as spacious rooms, Mama's Kitchen restaurant services, a fully stocked bar and a variety of Spa services, adding multiple quality services to the brand.

Since the Ethiopian New Year September 2012, we have also opened three new branches in 4 Kilo around the University, Entoto Park and Unity Park, accordingly. However, I did not stop there. The idea is to do something no chain in Addis has ever attempted to do before, which is to champion the local market and take the brand outside Ethiopia with its head office located in Ethiopia, adding plenty more benefits & value to Ethiopia's hospitality industry than today.

Now in its ten year of prosperous operations, the Mama's Kitchen chain currently employs and sustains over 360 professionals, who understands the company’s business concept and appropriate skills and knowledge in the hospitality industry.

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The hotels have local and international cuisines prepared by our professional chefs. They attract both local and foreign tourists and professionals looking for a wonderful and safe space, without having to pay a hefty sum of money. In the last few years, Mama’s Kitchen hosted tourists from all over the world and some of the comments it received are encouraging and they guide us to be and do better.

“We opened the new restaurant in Entoto Park at the start of this year. I am happy with its prospects and offer those that come to the beautiful park, to have an option of a good, home cooked food and receive an excellent service, while enjoying the new development of our city.”

The outbreak of COVID-19 is impacting all businesses, including the hard-working owners, operators, farmers, delivery drivers, staff, and just about everyone in the food industry. Government and social responses are changing at a rapid pace, and it is believed that it’s more important than ever to monitor what’s happening to rally support.

In this regard, Girma noted that there is no sector that has not suffered because of the pandemic. For the last few months,

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he said, “we had almost no tourists coming to our country. At the beginning, there were even very few people on the streets, let alone in public restaurants. We did suffer and I am sure our employees suffered as well.”

What makes Mama’s Kitchen unique? It is customer-oriented-‘customer first’ is their motto; it prepares fresh food that is likely to make a difference in food taste. Moreover; its restaurant set ups, and furniture design are natural, simple, attractive comfortable and always beautiful.

Although there are competitions in most business sectors, Mama’s Kitchen seems to have not entered competition in the food industry. Girma said, “We don’t embark on business race, we just compete with our own business and future service quality and standards.”

The company has also plan to maintain its existing standard and quality in its short-term while it wishes to franchise and stretch wings to different

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countries across the world in the long run. “As Mac Donald is available across the globe, so will Mama’s Kitchen.” The owner and the Managing Director stated.

In most businesses, the value of mentorship and the willingness to learn from others is very significant.

While the hospitality industry is great and attractive there has to be an institution that help grow the sector.

With regards to this, Girma recommended that "a restaurant association that guides, monitors and sets standards for the industry, needs to be established at city or national levels.”

The restaurant business, indeed, requires passion, management skill and knowledge so that one could be successful, and move in a consistency manner in the sector. “It’s the passion and knowledge we hold that makes us successful. We opened the new restaurant in Entoto Park at the start of this year. I am happy with its prospects and offer those that come to the beautiful park, to have an option of a good, home cooked food and receive an excellent service, while enjoying the new development of our city.” noted Girma.

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Addis Ababa:

Financial Hub of Africa Addis Ababa, a capital city of the second most populous country in Africa is in a significant economic improvement and rapid population growth.The city’s Amharic name translated as ‘new flower’ and the home to the African Union flourishing like a flower.

The cityrepresents the political and economic hub of the country and is the hub for most of the country’s trade and investment activities. Export and import trade of Ethiopia is routed through Addis Ababa on its way to or from the ports of Djibouti.The city is also the center of most of the big companies of the country and yet thecenter for much of the country’s internal trade.Most of Ethiopia’s service industries are also located in Addis, Banking and insurance services giving companies head office concentrated in Addis Ababa.

By Samuel Tekleyesus

By Staff Writer

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Addis is alwaysat the forefront of Ethiopia’s political and economic motives that probably doesn't come as too much surprise. As Firms seek proximity and access to the local government offices, the African Union, other international offices and bring in more jobs, construction, and tax revenues, Addis can act as powerful growth pole for the country and the

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ETHIOPIA ADDIS ABABA

continent at large. Addis is place for large share of public sector employment, and where trade, industrial and monetary policy is made for the country. In general, the city isa seat of power and administration that affect the lives and the future of the nation ruled, and the continent at large.

For a city like Addis Ababa hosting the federal government and the African Union always is no guarantee of a successful development, the government priority should be also to run an effective administration and build the foundation of a healthy local and continental economy. Because, if the economy is not adequately diversified, a capital city can resemble a company town, where a single industry dominates the labor, capital and property markets, and in turn retards the healthy diversification of entrepreneurship, labor skills and capital availability in other sectors.

It is known that, Addis Ababa is in a rapid social, economic and technology evolution. The city is also in the middle of a major construction boom with

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lots of construction and growing rapidly to modernity compared to other African cities.Huge skyscrapers are changing the whole profile of the city.With unique andeye catching architectural designs Hotels, shopping centers, real estate, business and office complexes make majority of the construction boom.

Tall, incomplete buildings are visible as far as the eye can see. In addition, infrastructure is improving to support construction boom,many of its roads are being expanded and rebuilt.

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ADDIS ABABA

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Addis Ababa is noted to be among the fastest growing metropolises in Africa. The dominant economic activity in Addis Ababa is trade and commerce. It also can be noted that there has been rapid economic development in the city over the years; and that the service sector continues to dominate the city’s economy.

Addis Ababa still continued to modernize and attract foreign investors, traders, and Ethiopians from abroad and the country side.

In addition, Small and Medium businesses are springing up everywhere. Despite many wellknown brands operate in Ethiopia including Maersk, Unilever, Wilmar and Diageo; the city couldn’t be able to capture the attention of some of the big service giving international company’s attention especially those engaged in the financial sector.

Ethiopia at the same time to promote foreign investment and international trade and yet still protect domestic capital and local markets, where its capital city is facing with the task of both maintaining the national pride and presenting an open, internationalist competitiveness.Addis Ababa has made significant progress in infrastructure, transport, health, and education, but yet the strong economic growth has not been accompanied by a real structural transformation.

Even though much has been done in attracting foreign direct investment, the country has a lot of homework and a long check list to complete

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in making its capital city an Investment and finance empire.To crown the city as a financial center of Africa and make it as a Capital and Investment hub,the country has to do a lot in allowing the leading financial institutions to come and operate and apart from that establishing a well-organized stock exchanges market as it will provide the public with investment opportunities and mobilizes savings, as well as international capital, for productive corporate financing.

The government should also have to equip the city with strong first-class communications, commercial infrastructure and financial professionals. In result a dense concentration of public and private banks and trading and insurance companies will make their presence and which in turn are the back bone of the financial operation.

In conclusion, the city can take the good practices of some of the World's Leading Financial Cities like New York City, Singapore, Hong Kong and London and use its strategic and historical influence over Africa in creating state of the art financial hub where a large number of international financial services institutions will headquarter Addis. In doing so the country can become financial centers for regional economies and become a convenient location for holding business meetings and conventions, which in turn drives tourism and related tax revenues.

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The 20-year journey of

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As well as being the home of ancient civilisations, the birthplace of coffee and a country of diverse and amazing landscapes, Ethiopia is also a running nation, and this - perhaps more than anything else - is how for the past sixty years the country has become known on the international stage.

Twenty years ago at the Sydney Olympics Ethiopia won eight Olympic medals across three longdistance races (5,000m, 10,000m and marathon), four of which were gold medals. Two of the gold medals were ‘repeat’ victories, since Haile Gebrselassie and Derartu Tulu had already both won an Olympic title at a previous Games. But back then there was no running event in the country that reflected both the talent of the country’s great athletes and the passion for distance running among the people of Ethiopia. And so, in the following year, in November 2001, the Great Ethiopian Run International 10km was born.

People with no previous running background or ability had the chance to take part in a mass-participation road race. Starting in 2001 with a field of 10,000 runners, within one year the race became Africa’s biggest road race with 16,500 participants in November 2002. That number now seems relatively small, as by November 2019 the total participation figure had almost trebled to around 45,000 participants in an event that was now more closely resembling a street carnival than a running competition.

As the years went by, the run became one of the most eagerly anticipated events in Ethiopia’s national calendar. Places to take part in the event went on sale some six months before race day and were snapped up within a matter of days – all 40,000 of them!

The event had also taken on national significance. Ethiopia’s Prime Minister HE Meles Zenawi attended the race in 2004 and within a few years Ethiopia’s national carrier Ethiopian Airlines had become the event’s headline sponsor – not surprisingly in many ways, since the race had started to attract hundreds of international running tourists, many of whom would then extend their stay for wider travels in Ethiopia.

The Ethiopian Tourism Organisation (formerly ETO and now ‘Ethiopia Travel’) has also been a close race partner, publicising the event at many of its international promotions.

Traditionally, Meskel Square has been the start and finish location for the race. Its’ 14-lane highway extending west towards Legehar Station has formed the perfect event backdrop from where spectacular images of thousands of runners making their way out of the square have been filmed and broadcast around the world.

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While most Addis Ababans think and talk about the race for its fun and carnival atmosphere, it shouldn’t be forgotten that at the race’s front end a fierce competition among Ethiopia’s elite athletes is the order of the day. In the race’s early years the winners tended to be already well-known athletes such as Haile Gebrselassie and Berhane Adere (winners of the race’s first edition in 2001), Tirunesh Dibaba, Sileshi Sihin and Gebregziabiher Gebremariam. But as the years went by, the race became a springboard for young aspiring athletes such as Tsegaye Kebede, Hagos Gebrehiwot and Netsanet Gudeta whose victory in the 10km in Meskel Square spoke volumes about their potential for success in international races.

This year as preparations were being made to celebrate the race’s 20th edition on 15th November 2020 the global pandemic struck and just as big international races in Europe and North America had to be postponed so too here in Ethiopia a decision was made to postpone the country’s flagship road race. Great Ethiopian Run will mark the date of its planned 20th edition with a smaller new event at Entoto Natural Park, while hoping that the 20th edition proper, albeit with reduced participant numbers, will go ahead on a new date set for January 2021.

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A Pioneer in Ethiopian insurance industry, providing quality service for the past 44 years with huge capital, high skill and high accessibility known for its fast response and reliable service! Ethiopian Insurance Corporation, at your service for all your insurance needs!

Your Reliable Partner!

Ethiopian Insurance Corporation 40

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