Dashen Bank, which has secured its spot as the number one private bank in profit for the fiscal year of 2005-2006, has selected HaileGebriel Consult as winner for the design the company did for the Bank’s headquarters, which will be built in Addis Abeba.

On November 9, 2006, Dashen announced its annual net profit for the year as being 133.6 million Br. During the dinner it hosted at the Sheraton, the Bank also announced the winner of its headquarters design. Choosing between designs submitted by Saba Engineering and HaileGebriel Consult, the latter was picked and awarded a 50,000Br cash prize for its work.

The 15-storey headquarter that Dashen intends to construct will rest on a 2,000sqm of land on Sudan Street, on the road from the National Bank to the Ministry of Health. The Bank leased 1,600sqm of the land from the Addis Abeba Land Development and administration Authority for 50 years for 2.6 million Br. The remaining 400sqm was purchased from a neighbouring privately owned land.

Dashen, which plans to construct its building for 120 million Br, has currently been spending nine million Birr per year renting the Garad Plc building on Aba Sebsibe Avenue, on the way from Meskel Square to Gotera.

During its 10th shareholders annual meeting, Dashen disclosed its annual performance. The report showed that the Bank’s profit showed an 88pc growth since 2004-2005. According to banking experts, of all the private banks in the country, Dashen Bank is at the top and best position.

“Every year, the number of depositors and borrowers at the Bank increases,” the expert explained. “Moreover, its capability of increasing its annual profit and revenue indicates that the Bank is growing non-stop.”

In 2004-2005, Dashen had 279,095 depositors with 2.8 billion Br in deposits. In the same year, the Bank provided 2.2 billion Br in loans. During the last fiscal year though, Dashen loaned 3.1 of the 3.7 billion Br that it had collected from 337,887 depositors.

“We made our profits by paying extra attention on our customer focused services,” said LeulSeged Teferi, president of Dashen.

Although Dashen claims that its growth comes from their proper customer handling service, their customers complained that sometimes the Bank has payment delays. 

“We have an infrastructure that sometimes tests our customers’ patience,” said Dashen’s President.

LeulSeged admits that although they would like to install a network that will connect all their branches, their broadband internet connection has sometimes failed, frustrating customers.

“If the connection improves, we intend to provide better services, which will increase our customer numbers,’ he said.

A few downsides have been picked by experts that applauded Dashen’s performance this past year. For instance, the Bank has more debts in litigation in 2005-2006, 97.8 million Br, than it did the previous year, 89.9 million Br. Moreover, Dashen’s provision for doubtful loans has increased from 71.5 million Br to 83.8 million Br.

“Considering the amount to which our lending has reached, it is not surprising that our litigation and doubtful loans have increased as well,” a member of the Bank’s Board of Directors told Fortune.

He explained that in comparison to the amount of safe loans that Dashen granted, the doubtful ones only cover single digit per cent of the overall quantity.

LeulSeged stressed the Board member’s argument by pointing out that the Bank’s non-performing loans were only 6.2pc.

When Dashen was established in 1995, it had 40 shareholders and a paid up capital of 14.9 million Br. Currently, both figures have increased with its paid up capital reaching 156.1 million Br and the number of its shareholders hitting 109.

Despite its success, there are some sectors where Dashen did not show progress. When looking at their cash flow from investing activities and the net cash received in 2004-2005 it was at 287.2 million Br. In 2005-2006, it went down to a stunning 13.1 million Br.

Dashen has 37 branches around the country and has 1,379 employees working under it. The Bank also has four forex bureaus and has decided to pay 75 million Br of last year’s profit for dividends. In 2004-2005, it paid 46 million Br for dividends.

To a statement made by some Dashen customers that the bank has worse foreign currency shortages than other private banks, LeulSeged responded that it is a challenge faced by each bank in the country at large and not only Dashen.