Issue 29: LocalBitcoins Sees a 500% Growth in Ethiopia 

Hello, Welcome to this week's edition of Shega Weekly Newsletter ( Issue # 29 ) - Here is a recap of major stories from Ethiopia's Innovative ecosystem.If this email was forwarded to you, subscribe here so that you don't miss the next editions.

LocalBitcoins Sees a 500% Growth in Ethiopia 

LocalBitcoins says its users in Ethiopia grew by 500% in 2020 compared to 2019. 10,000 new users from Ethiopia have signed up to use LocalBitcoin last year.

Local bitcoin is a person-to-person bitcoin marketplace where people can buy and sell each other bitcoin in their local currency. Users advertise their offer and set their own exchange rate while LocalBitcoins provides a wallet and a protection mechanism when buyers and sellers start engaging.

There are no cryptocurrency exchanges in Ethiopia that work with Birr. To buy Bitcoin or another cryptocurrency in Ethiopia, traders opt to peer-to-peer trading through informal channels or use the likes of peer-to-peer platforms like Local Bitcoin. Anyone who has access to International payment channels can also use cryptocurrency exchange platforms like Binance.

Other countries from East Africa are also growing on LocalBitcoins. Kenya grew by 100%, Uganda  and Tanazania grew by 30%. Last year,  a $35 million worth of transaction happened on LocalBitcoins across the continent while Kenya appears to be the second-largest market for LocalBitcoins in Africa after Nigeria.

Cryptocurrency and Blockchain seem to be getting momentum in Ethiopia. In April, IOHK, a company behind the Cardano Blockchain announces a partnership with Ethiopia's Ministry of Education to create a blockchain-based student and teacher ID and attainment system that will be rolled out to 5M students. Recently, Twitter CEO and Bitcoin enthusiast Jack Dorsey was seen highlighting the efforts of a community that are requesting the Ethiopian government to allow Bitcoin Mining and to consider holding Bitcoin in its reserve.

Unleashing the Market Potential of Ethiopia’s Bamboo

Aklill is an Ethiopian lifestyle brand that uses bamboo as its fundamental raw material. It creates handcrafted lifestyle items and accessories that are inspired by Ethiopian culture and heritage. Read more about how Aklil is unleashing the market potential of Ethiopia’s Bamboo. 

iceaddis’s 10 Year Journey and What the Future Holds 

iceaddis celebrated its 10 year anniversary last month. Here is a brief look into iceaddis's 10 year Journey as the pioneer innovation & startup hub in Ethiopia. Read more.

Gebeya Launches A Revamped Pan-African Freelance Talent Marketplace 

Gebeya, a Pan-African Freelance talent marketplace, announced the launch of its revamped marketplace Gebeya.com. Gebeya operated a manual marketplace model before acquiring a seed investment in February 2020. The $2M seed investment co-led by Partech and Orange Ventures and followed by Consonance Investment Managers has enabled Gebeya to automate & fully digitize its services. Read more.

DFC Didn't Release the USD 500 million Financing to  Ethiopia Consortium

It's remembered that U.S. International Development Finance Corporation has announced to finance the Global Partnership for Ethiopia consortium which includes Vodafone, Vodacom, Safaricom, and others.

GPA was awarded the Telecommunication license and paid USD 850M license fee. However, according to the reporter who spoke to the CEO of Vodacom, the deal with DFC is not finalized yet and the license fee deposit came from consortium members. Read more about this.Also read License, Operation and Structure Details of the Safaricom Led Consortium

Legal structure details of the Safaricom led a consortium that won Teleco license in Ethiopia

From the Archives

Guide : How to Get Started As A Payment System Operator in Ethiopia

   Here is what we've been reading:

The fraught rise of Silicon Valley-style development projects in EthiopiaIf you are here because someone forwarded you this email, you can subscribe here to get future newsletters.