If there was any brand that has suffered from the electoral fall-out of 2005 and the subsequent call by the opposition that its supporters boycott products and services associated to the ruling party, it is Pepsi-Cola. The Ethiopian bottler of the beverage, MOHA Soft Drinks S.C., is a company exclusively owned by the Sheikh and his wife. Many of CUD’s supporters shunned away from consuming Pepsi in retaliation to the owner’s public support for the ruling EPRDF.

The legacy of this effect is still fresh in the memory of many, although there is clear indication that the distribution and consumption of Pepsi is growing across the country; just count the number of bottle caps in any small café or kiosk.

However, the challenge that comes from its global archrival, Coca-Cola, remains high. At some point in the past two years, its local bottler, East Africa Bottling, has experienced shortages of trucks, unable to satisfy an ever-increasing demand. It had to rent 50 trucks in order to transport its products from plants in Addis Abeba and Dire Dawa. It was indeed a bonanza to its owners, including SABCO, the South African firm that owns the majority share in the company. The plant in Ethiopia is one of the seven SABCO controls in Southern and East African and five Asian countries, serving more than 240 million consumers.

It is a late-comer to the Ethiopian company, after a group of local businessmen acquired the factory from the state for 10 million dollars, in the mid-1990s. The company has expanded immensely since then, with the South African company controlling over 60pc of the shares.

This is bound to change soon, according to gossip corridors last week.

Two of the Sheikh’s most trusted confidents are now in hot pursuit of acquiring shares in East Africa Bottling, a negotiation anticipated to be finalized next week, according to gossip. Confounded by hyper confidentiality, this deal has been accorded so much care in order not to give the impression that it is the Sheikh himself that will have a control, indirectly. According to gossip, there is a fear in both camps this may spark protest from Coca-Cola international over a potential conflict of interest in owning franchises for competing brands.

Gossip claims, however, Derege Yessuwork, fondly called Jambi, and Abinet G. Meskel, a partner to the Sheikh in some of his business interests in Ethiopia, including Pharmacure, are closing deals to buy part of the shares Negussie Hailu owns in East Africa Bottling, and all the shares held by Hussien Kassim; the latter is the son of Shadia Hussien.

This may not sound like an outright acquisition of shares in East Africa by the Sheikh, though gossip corridors see the apparent link. After all, the Sheikh may not have direct ownership of the Dashen Bank - the country prohibits non-national ownership in the sector – but doesn’t everyone know who really calls the shots there?