Issue 174: Dangote's Bet & AGOA's Impact

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Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, has announced a $400 million plan to revive a second production line at the Mugher cement plant in Ethiopia.

Meanwhile, a new report by the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) reveals the extent of the damage caused by the AGOA suspension.

Our weekly roundup also includes the slight slide of the birr against the dollar, a new payment solution from Nib Bank, a $14.7 million modern farming center, an ambitious project that looks to tokenize Ethiopian coffee, and an analysis of regulations on digital lending in Ethiopia.

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Over the past decade, USAID’s Development Innovation Ventures (DIV) invested more than $100 million in Kenyan startups, supporting innovations in healthcare, agriculture, and clean energy. With the shutdown, that opportunity is now lost for many promising ventures. Read more.

Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man announced a $400 million plan to revive a second production line at the Mugher cement plant in Ethiopia, aiming to double the facility’s annual capacity to 5 million tons. Read more.

The central bank views digital lending as a tool to achieve basic financial inclusion on a scale. Since 2022, when the first digital lending platform was launched in Ethiopia, more players have followed suit, and the country now has around a dozen such platforms. Read more.   

An ambitious startup is working on tokenizing coffee in Ethiopia powered by Ethereum's blockchain. Waga looks to leverage smart contracts and IoT in the endeavor. Read more.

Ethiopia’s economy has taken a significant hit since its suspension from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) in January 2022, with 18 foreign companies leaving the country, over 11,500 jobs lost, and industrial parks suffering a combined revenue loss of USD 45 million. Read more. 

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Nib International Bank is forging its digital footprint through two new payment solutions launched over the past week. Read more.

The Ethiopian Capital Market Authority (ECMA) and the World Bank have begun accepting applications from businesses looking to make an initial public offering (IPO) after a stint at an incubation hub under the Authority. Read more.

Ethiopia’s birr has hit record lows at private forex bureaus, where the U.S. dollar is now selling for 148 birrs well above the official rate of 126.4 birr. Read more.

Ethiopia-exports is piloting a portal where industry players can access a long list of agricultural commodities, trace their source, and assess quality before conducting a transaction. Read more.  

The Agricultural Mechanization Centre of Excellence, built in the Qaliti area with collaboration from South Korea was inaugurated last week. The center was constructed in seven months at a project cost of 14.7 million dollars funded by the South Korean government. Read more. 

STEMpower, a Sub-Sahara-focused Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) is building science kits to expand access to affordable education materials for STEM fields. Read more.