Issue 226: Apps & Agreements

Digital Financial Services (DFS) are rapidly expanding in Ethiopia, but language barriers and cultural nuance still limit understanding and adoption. Shega, as part of the AKOFADA Project, has been working on the localization and translation of Digital Financial Services (DFS) terminology into Amharic and Afaan Oromoo.

This work is about turning complex finance and tech terms into clear, culturally relevant language that helps improve financial literacy and makes DFS more accessible for everyone.

We are sharing some of these translated Afan Oromo terms to get your feedback. We would appreciate it if you could give them a review and tell us what works, what feels off, and what you would say instead.

ShrinQ Limited, a Ghanaian software company, has entered the Ethiopian market through a strategic partnership with BRUH Finance, an investment consultancy and financial capacity-building firm.

Under the agreement, BRUH Finance will serve as ShrinQ’s exclusive representative for all current and future technology products deployed in Ethiopia, including digital insurance, banking, and ESG platforms, as well as identity verification systems. Read more.

When a former financial risk manager left the trading floors of global investment banks to build a business around teff, Ethiopia’s ancient grain, the decision seemed improbable. A decade later, Lovegrass Ethiopia is supplying European markets with teff-based products and was recently backed by a $5 million commercial loan to scale its operations. Read more.

Eight years after African leaders signed the world’s largest free trade agreement, the African Continental Free Trade Area remains more aspiration than lived reality.

Intra-African trade still accounts for only about 15 percent of the continent’s total commerce, constrained by weak infrastructure, high logistics costs, and persistent non-tariff barriers.

As policymakers finalize long-delayed protocols on intellectual property and digital trade, private-sector platforms are testing whether technology can succeed where decades of fragmented markets have fallen short. Read more.

The Ethiopian Investment Commission has secured 2.3 billion dollars in investments during the first half of the fiscal year, marking a more than 20pc increase from the same period last year. Read more.

If your job touches cybersecurity, software, cloud, or IT operations, staying informed isn’t optional.

IT Brew is a free, four-times-a-week newsletter covering the trends shaping business tech—from infrastructure and strategy to the tools teams actually rely on.

Clear context. Focused coverage. Built for professionals running IT—not just talking about it.

Check it out

China has decided to implement zero-tariff treatment for imports from 53 African countries, a move that comes amid lingering uncertainty over the renewal of the United States’ African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and continued trade tensions between African nations and the European Union over Economic Partnership Agreements.

Until now, duty-free access had applied only to selected African countries. Beijing had granted zero-tariff treatment on 97% to 98% of tariff lines for 33 African least developed countries (LDCs), before expanding that coverage in 2024 to include all products originating from African LDCs. Read more.

From TikTok tutorials to app-based wellness platforms, Addis Ababa’s fitness sector is evolving rapidly. Entrepreneurs are blending physical training with digital offerings, showing how attention, content strategy, and technology are reshaping even the most traditional industries.

Digital platforms now function as advertising, credentials, and entry points, shaping who joins, what they pay, and how trainers build reputations. Read more.

The Ethiopian Capital Market Authority (ECMA) has granted a Capital Market Service Provider license to BDO Consulting PLC under the Securities Investment Advisor (Corporate) category.

The investment advisory service will be led by Million Kibret, Managing Partner of BDO in Ethiopia. Alongside the corporate license, ECMA approved three (3) Appointed Representatives and the appointment of five (5) board directors within the firm. Read more.

Last week, as African leaders gathered in Addis Ababa for the annual African Union summit, a half-day side event focused on one of the continent’s most enduring challenges: escaping a historical role as a supplier of raw commodities and building durable industrial capacity.

Organized by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network alongside the African Union, the forum brought together policymakers, business executives, and development partners, including Jeffrey Sachs (Prof), president of the SDSN and Professor at Columbia University. Read more.

To accelerate digital adoption in Ethiopia, we must rethink transaction fee models for micro and small transactions. Our latest report proposes actionable models to make digital micro-transaction affordable, inclusive, and sustainable.

The report highlights how redesigned micro-transaction pricing models can accelerate Ethiopia's shift to digital finance by focusing on:

-Updating the fee structure
-Re-designing who should bear the cost to encourage adoption among low-income users
-Creating incentives that reward frequent digital transactions

Read the full use case report here.

Yigermal Meshesha states that digital wallets in Ethiopia are no longer consumer tech products but have become core monetary infrastructure.

Tens of millions now hold digital balances, and billions of transactions flow through wallet-based channels each year. At this scale, a wallet balance is not a feature but a claim on value that must be safeguarded and reliably settled.

In his commentary, he explores how banks, telcos, and fintech issuers operate under distinct economic models and why operational resilience, interoperability, and regulatory clarity will determine whether Ethiopia’s payment ecosystem matures with strength. Read more.