MOMENT OF REFLECTION - REELECTION AT AWASH BANK 

Unable to stop petitioners’ challenge of his reelection to the board chairmanship of Awash International Bank, Hambissa Wakwaya was at the Sheraton Addis on Saturday, December 15, 2007, speaking to shareholders. He was seen taking a more conciliatory approach, and abandoning his combativeness observed in the past eight months. He and seven others (a.k.a G8) elected to the Board in April 2007, including Brehane Abate (seated next), have tried to stop the external auditor, A. A. Bromhead & Co., from calling an extraordinary meeting of shareholders, taking the case to court alleging that the auditor has no authority to set the agenda for the meeting. Read More

Central Bank Discovers 96.5m Br in Gold Bricks Only Gilded

Gold bricks the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) bought for close to 100 million Br from Kefyalew Umeta Import Export Plc were discovered in a random check to be gold painted stones and steel, prompting the arrest of four government employees last week, Issayas Mekuria, Staff Writer, reports.

EEPCo Closing in $400m Deal with JP Morgan

The Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo), the state-owned monopoly, is getting close to finalizing a deal with an international investment bank to obtain a 400 mln dollar loans, sources disclosed to Fortune.

NBE Forces Access to Change to Zemen Bank

Access Bank S.C. is now Zemen Bank SC. The embattled start-up that aspires to be Ethiopia’s only single-branch bank changed its name this week in the latest of several delays to its opening.
 

The bank, which before two months had been told by the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) to re-christen itself, submitted its new name last week on Friday, December 14, eight months after it began its campaign to court investors.

Cross-Country Buses Ordered to Help with City Transport

The Federal Transport Authority (FTA) instructed owners of cross-country passenger buses to use their idle vehicles to help alleviate a shortage of inter-city transportation in Addis Abeba.

FTA officials called the heads of 15 transporters associations, which are comprised of bus owners, to a meeting at the FTA's offices two weeks ago to ask them to provide 600 buses for municipal transport as early as next week. They have also been instructed to arrange deployment sites in coordination with the Addis Abeba branch office of the Authority.

Director of United Insurances S.C. Reelected

Eyesus Work Zafu, managing director of United Insurance S.C., has been re-elected as the president of the Addis Abeba Chamber of Commerce and Sectorial Association (AACCSA). The chamber, which earned net revenue of 3.6 million Br in this past financial year, will be headed by Eyesus Work for the next two years.

Italy’s Pizzarotti Seeks Ethipian Road and Dam Contracts

One of Italy’s largest construction companies, Impresa Pizzarotti & Co. SpA, is seeking to win contracts for two of Ethiopia’s largest infrastructure projects: the Addis Abeba-Adama (Nazareth) highway construction project and the Genale III hydropower project.

Strengthening Ethio-Italian Business Relations

The Italian Trade Commission (ICE), a governmental agency in charge of strengthening Italian business relations with international markets, is organizing an event called “Ethiopia- Country Presentation” to be held in May 2008 in Italy. The presentation aims to promote business opportunities that exist in Ethiopia to the Italian business community.

Ethiopian Power Acquires Country’s Largest Computer Server

The Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo) procured a X3950 server with 32 Gigabytes of RAM memory at a cost of 3.1 million Br. The server will be the largest in Ethiopia.

Anbessa City Buses Loses Third Manager in Six Months

Anbessa City Buses Enterprise (ACBE) lost its general manager for the third time in the nine months. Mulugeta Bogale, who was hired as general manager just two months ago, tendered his resignation on December 11, following disagreements with Board Chairman Tenager Yismaw, sources disclosed.

The Ethiopian Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral Association (ECCSA) is about to embark on a capacity building project for the nine regional chambers, six sectorial associations as well as itself for a projected cost of 18.3 min Br. The national chamber expects to get the financing from the Development Assistance Group (DAG), a collection of US and western donor agencies.

Ninth African Union Summit in Addis 

The Ninth African Union (AU) summit, which will be held from January 29 to February 3, 2008, in Addis Abeba will host over 2,500 guests.  African millennium day will also be celebrated with 44 heads of states that will be in attendance for the summit, according to the Ministry of foreign Affairs.

Garment Makers Raise Concerns with PM

Investors in the garment industry have coalesced for a meeting with Prime Minister Meles Zenawi on Saturday, December 22, 2007. When the investors sit down with Meles in his office, they are expected to raise concerns that have been plaguing the sector. Sources disclosed to Fortune that the Prime Minister will see these investors in the garment sector in the presence of Girma Birru, minister of Trade and Industry and other senior government officials.

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