The new garden fence posts on Africa Avenue (Bole Road) seem to be getting a feel for the extremely reckless driving of the metropolis. On February 18, 2010 the pictured Toyota Corolla station wagon hit four fence posts before being halted by a fifth one in front of the Oromia Cooperative Bank, Finfine Branch Office. Though the cause of the accident is not yet known, people around the area were stating that the station wagon made a sudden lane drift to dodge a minibus taxi.

Lidetu Ayalew, president of Ethiopian Democratic Party, launched his new book, “Medelot,” at the cocktail function he hosted in the lobby of the Intercontinental Hotel on Wednesday, February 17, 2010, at 6:00pm. The event opened with an introductory speech by Getachew Belete, president of the Ethiopian Authors’ Association, welcoming the invited guests whose numbers reached roughly 150. The illustrious guests hailed from the world in politics, arts, media and business, some of whom gave their insights on the book during the function. Pictured above Lidetu (centre) is signing a book for a customer (left) who purchased it from the salesperson also pictured. The books, originally 60Br, were priced at 100Br if it came inclusive of the author’s signature.

The Ethiopian Coffee Exporters Association (ECEA) hosted the last day of the Fourth Ethiopian Coffee Roundtable and Exhibition with the support of USAID Agribusiness and Trade Expansion Program (USAID-ATEP) on February 19, 2010, at the Hilton Addis. The African marketing manager of GRAIN PRO Plc, Daniel Haileselassie, is seen explaining the new plastic bag that will be used for exporting coffee at the exhibition.

Jan Jongbload, (middle) IntEnt director seems to show his excitement while announcing the arrival of 10 Ethiopian Diasporas Mission that came to invest in Ethiopia. He is seen standing next to Hans Blankenberg (PhD), ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Ethiopia and Wondosen Tamrat, founder and president of St. Mary’s University College.

Hilina Enriched Food Processing Centre Plc inaugurated an additional building equipped with new machineries for food production on Wednesday, February 17, 2010.

The new building that cost over 40 million Br for construction and 15 million Br for the installation of machinery will be fully functional after March 15, 2010.

The centre plans to supply its produce for eight East African countries, including Sudan, Kenya, Uganda, Somalia, Rwanda, Djibouti, Eritrea and Ethiopia.

“The machinery was installed by foreign trained employees and also by French mechanics; the machines were imported from France, Turkey and South Africa.” Hilina Belete deputy general manager for operations told Fortune. 

The centre started expansion before a year ago to produce Plump Nut and other nutritious products, with a capacity of 300 tonnes which has doubled to 600 Tonnes. Its products are supplied to children affected by starvation throughout international organisations.

The Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR) is to inaugurate, in early March 2010, the biotechnology centre which was constructed in Holetta Town west of Addis Abeba in the Oromia Special Zone at a cost of 10 million Br.

The construction which started on May 9, 2005, includes offices, laboratories, and a greenhouse, which was constructed by local construction companies Flintstone Engineering and Yirgalem Construction Plc.

Flintstone Engineering handled the construction of Lot One which includes an office building with 106 offices, two guesthouses, one generator house, and one greenhouse while lot two which was constructed by Yirgalem Plc. includes laboratories and other buildings

“The construction which required over 10 million Br was finalised in December 2009,” Biruk Shimeles, deputy manager of Contracts and Marketing at Flintstone Engineering, told Fortune.

The bid for the construction was made in the same year the construction started. As the external part of the construction was completed, the last task was veneering internal parts of the biotechnology centre with the equipment needed.

United States Senators visited St. Peter’s Specialised Tuberculosis (TB) Hospital on February 17, 2010.

During their visit, the senators pledged to donate 12.3 million dollars on behalf of the American Senate to Ethiopia for the care of people affected with resistant TB.

Second Senior Senator Richard J. Durbin and Senator Sherrod Brown visited the multiple drug resistant (MDR) TB patients and the newly constructed three story building built at a cost of 6.5 million birr that was received from the World Bank.

Abdusemen Adem (MD), medical director of the hospital, gave the tour and briefed the group.

The hospital started service with 100 beds, 3 physicians, a matron, two nurses, and 11 patients. At present, the hospital laboratory on average handles 75 to 100 suspicious TB test each day.

It has a 200 bed section to handle MDR TB patients and one ward each for general internal medicine and paediatrics. It has treated 80 MDR TB patients so far out of which 35 of them now are in out patient follow up.

The Addis Abeba Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral Associations (AACCSA) launched a Quality Management Certification Service this February.

This certification support service was established with the conviction that a quality certification unit would help raise the awareness and quality of the business community to international standards, according to AACCSA's press release on February 19, 2010.  

The main targets of the certification service are the medium and small enterprises (MSEs) which are engaged in the export market or in producing commodities which can be used as substitutes for import commodities.

This ISO Standards Quality Management Support Service is launched to counter the problems that AACCSA recognised as difficulties faced by exporting companies in the international arena due to their inability to meet quality, safety and environmental standards began the press release.

The British Embassy and the Eastern Africa Association (EAA) organised a trade and investment mission to Ethiopia on February 23 to 26, 2010.

The mission, supported by the UK’s Trade and Investment Agency, will comprise nearly 40 British and international companies from a wide range of sectors including finance, consumer products, agriculture, security and trade.

During their visit, delegates will attend the opening session of the 14th Addis Abeba Chamber of Commerce International Exhibition and meet a number of ministers and institutions like the Ethiopian Investment Agency.

“This will be the largest British led investment mission to Ethiopia in the 170-yearlong history of our bilateral relations,” Norman Ling, British ambassador to Ethiopia said.

The EAA was established over 40 years ago to represent the interests of foreign investors in the region. It is funded entirely through subscriptions paid by its 300 plus members. The main countries covered are Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Ethiopia.

The first Ethio-ICT and Other Technology Touring Exhibition Bazaar and Symposium organised by New Line Advertising and Promotion Plc commenced Saturday, February 20, 2010.

The exhibition will be held in the four regional states of Tigray, Amhara, Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples (SNNP) regional states, Addis Abeba and Dire Dawa.

The exhibition will stay open for three to five days in the respective capitals of the regional states for a total of 28 days.

The aim of the regional exhibition is to create awareness in the society at large about the current status of ICT and its developments. Moreover, new technological innovations will be promoted to encourage the community to use ICT.

The exhibition is expected to attract 1.5 million visitors. It is also expected to have 200 representatives and direct exhibitors to showcase their products and services on the stated exhibition days. The organisers have also planned to distribute about 1,000 to 3,000 free tickets specifically to student and other members of the society.  

The new package of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), concessional facilities, to support low-income countries, became effective as of January 7, 2010.

This far-reaching reform more than doubles lending resources, provides exceptional interest relief, and offers new lending instruments that are more flexible and responsive to individual country needs, according to an IMF press release.

Key elements of the reform include three new lending instruments, interest relief, and permanently higher concessionality.

The Extended Credit Facility will provide flexible medium-term support; the Standby Credit Facility will address short-term and precautionary needs; and the Rapid Credit facility will offer emergency support with limited conditionality.

The Fund has also relieved developing countries from paying interest on outstanding IMF concessional loans until the end of 2011 to help low-income countries cope with the global crisis. Permanently higher concessionality of Fund financial support refers to regularly reviewed annual interest rates so as to preserve a higher level of concessionality.

People rushed to Miki's Fashion attracted by a big sale that involved 15 to 70pc discounts starting from Wednesday, December 23, 2009. Women enjoyed "broad selections at bargain prices" while some male shoppers were heard complaining of "lack of size options, selection varieties and next to zero discounts." The sale is expected to last for a month unless Miki's runs out of stock by then. It is in all its branches in Addis Abeba. Miki's shop at Getu Commercial Center was overwhelmed by large numbers of eager shoppers.

Meaza Ashenafi (left), founder and former executive director of the Ethiopian Women Lawyers Association, is now the chairperson of the committee which initiated the idea of starting a women's bank, currently under formation. Last Friday evening, November 13, 2009, the initiators invited prominent businesswomen to a consultation meeting held at the Belgium Embassy. Rahel Zewde, wife of Gunther Sleeuwangen, Belgian Ambassador to Ethiopia, is one of the ten women initiators who are involved in different business sectors. The initiators, who submitted their application to the National Bank of Ethiopia more than a week ago, are waiting for its approval to open a blocked account and start selling shares to the public. They expect the approval to come within a week or two.

The Ethio Poultry Expo was held at the Addis Abeba Exhibition Centre from November 4 to 6, 2009. The expo was organized by a Sudanese company, Expo Team Services Co. with an Ethiopian partner Prana Promotion. The organizers expressed their hope that the expo would be a springboard to attract international companies to enter the poultry markets in Ethiopia and other African countries. Culture and Tourism State Minister, Mahmoud Ahmed Gass, visited the expo where various poultry technologies were displayed.

The construction of the condominium houses of the Gergi site were completed six months ago. Since then, residents have started moving in. Nonetheless, the houses have no electricity and the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo) was only able to provide power to some of the residents. Consequently, residents with no access to power are sharing with those who have power by using cables which they have extended themselves. Some of the cables extend for 400 metres, Abebe Daneo, a resident, told Fortune. The cables cost about one Birr per metre and the selling residents could charge the buyers up to 50 Br for a month's share of electricity.