Top Stories of the Week
Ethio Telecom Reels from 70pct Dip in Profit After Tax
Ethiopia Bets on Cluster Farming Again as ATI Launches New Expanded Phase
Land Reclamation Pressures Push EIH to Request Parliamentary Intervention
Standard Bank Pioneers Direct China Payments for African Businesses
How Guaro’s Micro-Factories Might Become a Scalable Model for Ethiopia’s Spice Heritage
Your Partner for Audience Engagement, Storytelling, Data, and Insight
At Shega, we do more than tell stories. We help you make an impact. Our platforms, data, and expertise connect brands, organizations, and investors to the audiences, insights, and information that matter most.
Shega Brand Studio
Build strategy, media, and storytelling that move people and drive results.
Shega Media Advertising
Put your brand in front of more than 2 million engaged readers, listeners, and viewers monthly.
Shega Research & Advisory
Turn data into decisions with tailored studies and market insights built for action.
Shega Insights
Explore Ethiopia’s markets through our AI-powered intelligence platform.
Reach, engage, and grow with us.
Ethio telecom Reels from 70pct Dip in Profit After Tax
Ethio telecom saw its profit after tax plummet by nearly 70 percent to 5.8 billion Birr in the 2024/25 financial year as the government’s currency and forex market reforms took their toll on the state-owned enterprise.
A financial statement audited by the Audit Service Corporation and signed by Ethio telecom chair and deputy PM Temesgen Tiruneh reveals the company’s drastic profit drop was largely driven by a 1,825 percent jump in foreign exchange losses tied to the government’s decision to float the currency in July 2024. Read more.
NBE Launches Ethiopia’s First Full-Fledged CSD and Investor Portal
The National Bank of Ethiopia launched the Central Securities Depository (CSD) and the National Investor Portal, Ts’ega, on 22 November 2025. The CSD streamlines post-trade processes, while Ts’ega gives investors real-time access to holdings, advancing Ethiopia’s digital and transparent capital market infrastructure. Read more.
Ethiopia Bets on Cluster Farming Again as ATI Launches New Expanded Phase
Ethiopia launched the second phase of its Agricultural Commercialization Clusters (ACC2), spearheaded by the Agricultural Transformation Institute, aiming to reach 6.5 million farmers, including IDPs and refugees.
While clusters have expanded farmland under management from 0.6 million to nearly 12 million hectares since 2019, persistent gaps in mechanization, improved seed access, and fertilizer supply continue to limit productivity.
ACC2 seeks to scale quickly, improve yields, strengthen market linkages, and create 50 farmer production and agribusiness share companies. Read more.
A State-Backed Health Platform Enters Ethiopia’s Digital Space, Startups Fear Tilted Field
A government-backed all in one health app is shaking up Ethiopia’s digital health sector having onboarded nearly 1,900 health service providers, a few weeks into launch. Startups brace for impact. Read more.
Land Reclamation Pressures Push EIH to Request Parliamentary Intervention
Ethiopia’s overarching sovereign wealth fund faces obstacles as regional and city administrations move to appropriate land that has been kept idle for extended periods of time by state-owned enterprises under Ethiopian Investment Holdings (EIH).
EIH executives called on lawmakers to intervene in what they describe as growing pressure from city and regional administrations while presenting a first-quarter performance report to Parliament earlier this week. Read more.
Patchy Lenses: Ethiopia’s Film Industry Plays Catch Up to Streaming, Digital Distribution
Ethiopia’s movie distribution is evolving, with free YouTube channels dominating and a few subscription platforms emerging. Some services integrate production, distribution, and mobile payments, but high delivery costs, low revenue per user, and abundant free content limit growth for paid streaming. Read more.
Standard Bank Pioneers Direct China Payments for African Businesses
Standard Bank, South Africa’s largest bank by assets, has become the first African bank to directly integrate with China’s Cross-Border Interbank Payment System (CIPS). The move unlocks a faster route for African companies to pay Chinese suppliers in Renminbi (RMB), China’s currency, instead of the US dollar.
Until now, African businesses have typically routed trade payments through the US dollar, with risks of adding delays, fees, and exposure to exchange-rate volatility. Cutting out the dollar middleman means faster, simpler, and potentially cheaper cross-border deals with Africa’s biggest trading partner. Read more.
What’s on Our Mind
When the State Becomes the Start-Up
Three weeks ago, Ethiopia’s Ministry of Health unveiled a kind of all-in-one super app, an ambitious platform that promises medicine identification, reservations, health advice, and other services that, in many countries, would emerge organically from a competitive tech ecosystem. In less than a month, more than 1,700 pharmacies and 130 hospitals had joined. The app was swiftly integrated into Telebirr, the state-operated mobile money service with more than 55 million customers.
It would be a miraculous trajectory for any start-up. But this was not a start-up. It was the state.
Unsurprisingly, several young health-tech firms say the rollout felt less like innovation and more like encroachment. They are preparing a formal complaint to the Prime Minister’s Office, which championed the initiative from the beginning. Their message is simple: how can private companies compete with a referee that also plays the game?
Ethiopia’s much-touted homegrown economic reform program envisions a future of private-sector–led growth. But recent moves suggest the government is not ready to surrender the driver’s seat. In May, Ethio Telecom, already a giant with more than 70 million subscribers, launched an e-commerce arm, adding it to a portfolio of nearly 300 services. It enters a space where small entrepreneurs have long struggled for visibility and market access.
This pattern is familiar. Logistics, banking, and telecommunications remain dominated by state-owned enterprises. The Commercial Bank of Ethiopia holds nearly half of all deposits. The Ethiopian Insurance Corporation claims nearly a third of its industry. Ethiopian Shipping & Logistics controls much of the country’s import–export machinery. And across the 40 state-owned enterprises under Ethiopian Investment Holdings, the country’s sovereign wealth fund, government firms enjoy unmatched political access, regulatory favor, and economies of scale.
In such an environment, where exactly is the private sector expected to blossom?
To be clear, Ethiopia needs strong public institutions. But when the state behaves like a start-up, launching platforms, grabbing market share, scaling at speeds no private actor could match, it distorts the very ecosystem it claims to cultivate. The result is a market in which private firms survive not by innovating, but by avoiding sectors the government might one day take over.
A dynamic economy cannot be built on caution and fear. Nor can sustainable growth take root if the gains of the state’s ventures fail to reach the wider population. Ethiopia’s private sector will never compete on equal footing if it must contend not only with the market, but with the government’s vast regulatory and financial muscle.
The question facing Ethiopia now is not whether the state should innovate. It’s whether it should innovate at the expense of those it urges to lead the economy. If private-sector-led–led growth is truly the goal, then the government must decide whether it wants to be an enabler or a competitor.
Ethio Telecom, Awash Bank Introduce New Financial Service Suite Including Salary Loans Up to 1M Birr
Ethio Telecom and Awash Bank launch Tilla, a new micro-credit and savings service on Telebirr. Loans range from 15-day micro credit to salary loans up to 1M Birr. Read more.
How Guaro’s Micro-Factories Might Become a Scalable Model for Ethiopia’s Spice Heritage
When her small agribusiness near Yeka Hills was cleared for a development project, architect Kidist Amedie didn’t walk away from agriculture; she redesigned her path.
Today, her Agri-tech startup Guaro, co-founded with Hana Rago, is building micro-factories inside shipping containers to process Ethiopia’s backyard spices into high-value essential oils. The model is already serving more than 2,300 farmers across Addis Ababa and Sidama. Read more.
Gemstone Trade to be Regulated through ECX to Combat Smuggling
Ethiopia is preparing to channel its lucrative gemstone trade, including opals, sapphires, and emeralds, through the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX) as part of a strategic initiative to curb rampant smuggling and boost foreign exchange earnings. Read more.
Heads Up: What’s Coming & What to Catch
From Our Bookmarks