Issue 33: Digital Financial Players Join Hand & Safaricom Seeks $2 Billion For Ethiopia Operations

Hello, Welcome to this week's edition of Shega Weekly Newsletter ( Issue # 33). Read through our newsletter and catch up with what you might have skipped from Ethiopia’s innovative ecosystem.If this email was forwarded to you, subscribe here so that you don't miss the next editions. 

Digital Financial Players Come Together to Form Group, Appoint Leaders A new joint initiative in digital finance that aims to bring together digital financial service players in Ethiopia and improve digital financial inclusion was formed this week, on May 10, 2022.  Dubbed the Digital Financial Services Working Group, the endeavor is comprised of members from financial service providers, Fintech companies, Mobile Network Operators, Remittance Service Providers, Pension, and Insurance Providers.The working group that pushes for the wide-scale adoption of digital financial services (DFS), a range of formal financial services that can be accessed through digital channels, including payments, credit, savings, remittances, and insurance, will operate with a leadership committee as well as a memorandum of understanding.  Read More at Shega.

Coffee Trafficking System Put in Place to Fight Theft (Kisheba)

Officials of the Ethiopian Coffee & Tea Authority (ECTA) have deployed a tracking system to monitor the transport of coffee through the increasingly popular vertical integration scheme. They hope the measure can effectively deter what industry insiders say is growing theft, causing a five-million-dollar annual loss.

The tracking system allows the Authority's administrators to follow up on shipments from beans at the primary coffee transaction posts to processing centres. It registers and monitors the volume and type of coffee, the exporter, and the truck's plate number transporting the cash crop to the ports. Officials say the system is designed to combat the pilfering of coffee, known as "Kisheba", an illegal practice where beans are taken off of trucks while in transit.

The Authority experimented with the tracking system beginning last September before launching it two months ago.

Read More.

Ethiopia’s Startupper of the Year Challenge Announces Winners

The 2022 edition of Ethiopia’s Startupper of the Year Challenge by the oil giant TotalEnergies concluded yesterday, announcing Natnael Alemayehu, Hoheyat Berhanu, and Mihiret Redi as its winners.

The Challenge that aims to identify and reward the best innovative and sustainable projects developed by young entrepreneurs, recognized the three individuals in three categories, awarding each of them 370,000 birr, and giving them a chance to compete for the Challenge at the continental level.

The Award for Best Startup under the 3 Years category went to Natnael from 

Haleta Tutors

, a web-based tutorial service platform where parents can search among 400+ tutors. Click

here

to know more about the other winners.

Addis Alemayehou & Samrawit Fikru Listed among Top 100 Global Tech Changemakers by ROW

Ethiopia's Addis Alemayehou, founder and chairman of Kazana Group, and Samrawit Fikru , founder and CEO of Ride, have been inducted into this year's list of top 100 global tech changemakers by RestofWorld, an international nonprofit journalism organization that documents technology. 

The list, which focuses on exciting innovation outside the Silicon Valley and the Western World, featured the two Ethiopians calling Addis "one of the biggest cheerleaders for Ethiopia's nascent tech ecosystem" and Samrawit "a role model for generations to come." Click here to find out more about the list. 

Safaricom seeks $2b to bankroll Ethiopia operationsKenyan publications have reported that Safaricom Ethiopia, is seeking to raise up to $2 billion from local banks and development finance institutions (DFI) in five years to fund its operations, which is set to start commercial operations within the next few months.So far, the telco, has invested $850M for license acquisition and other hundreds of million dollars for operations and launch. Part of the proposed funding will also be raised internally and through rental financing from equipment vendors. Read More. 

Cardano Says its Reaching to Launch Blockchain Educational System in EthiopiaThe Input Output Global (IOG), the team behind Cardano, said in a recent announcement on YouTube that it is set to launch the blockchain project being built for the Ethiopian Ministry of Education in two months.The blockchain-based educational system for the Ethiopian government targets to bring over 5 million students and 750,000 teachers to the Cardano blockchain.The initiative that’s in delay was first revealed in April 2021. Read More. 

Here is what we've been reading:

These are the jobs that are most likely to disappear – and South Africa’s plan to address automation 

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