Midroc Ethiopia Undertakes 8 bln birr Expansion

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May 2015 011-5155221 2458 E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.addischamber.com
Private Sector Issues
Identified for GTP-II
Inclusion
Although the government says the private sector is
the engine of economic growth it failed to reflect that
line of thinking in its just wounded up five year plan
(GTP-I) as well as at various levels of government
endeavor including implementation.
4
Chamber Idol!
On March 9, 2015, Ethiopia has lost one of its
dearest son and career bankers that has given distinguished and iconic service to Addis Ababa Chamber
of Commerce: Ato Taffara Deguefe Belayneh.
7
Approaches to monetary
policy: Ethiopia’s case
considered
Monetary policy in its narrow sense refers to the
controls of credit and hence money supply by the
central bank. In its broad sense, it means all those
monetary and non monetary measures which influence the cost and supply of money is the monetary policy, too.
6
Hotel Development in
Africa Accelerates to
50,000 Rooms
A recently released news by Bench Events
(organizer of Africa Hotel Investment Hotel, AHIF) indicates that Hotel Development
is showing a surge in Africa accelerating to
50,000 rooms, but where is Ethiopia ranking as it is preparing to host Africa Hotel
Investment Forum in September 2015?
5
Export Diversification, Manufacturing
Role in Structural Change Low: workshop
By Mesfin Zegeye
Ethiopia export sector, comprising
primary products and developing
through manufacturing, has faced
challenges. Ethiopia lags considerably behind many countries in starting a business, getting credit, and
trading across borders, it was indicated in a study presented on Ethiopia’s Export Performance Review at
luncheon organized by Addis Ababa
Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral
Associations in Saro-Maria Hotel, 4
June, 2015.
The researcher, Ato Awet Tekie, presented his findings to members of
the business community present on
the day. Export seems to be a driver
of economic development in Ethiopia
over the past decade but it is lagging.
Since 2008 export earning has increased by an average of 14% - driven
in large part by increase in price. However, the export volume has grown
only by 4% on average since 2008 in
response to price movements.
A recent decrease in export prices,
however, has exposed underlying
vulnerabilities in export structure.
(Cont’d on page 6)
Midroc Ethiopia Undertakes 8 bln birr
Expansion
By Mesfin Zegeye
Midroc Ethiopia Technology Group announced it has
completed preparation for an eight billion birr expansion
project in mining and agro-processing and has entered
implementation. Midroc Ethiopia has been deprived fair
media coverage, the management declared at the launch
program of the expansion project attended by Federal
and regional government officials as well as invited
guests organized at Sheraton Addis on 7 May, 2015.
Midroc Ethiopia is managed by Dr. Sheik Muhammad Hussein Ali Al-Amudi as chairman and Dr. Arga
Midroc is deprived of balanced media coverage
- Midroc official
Yirdaw as Chief Executive Officer. Midroc Ethiopia has
21 companies under it with 6000 employees and 5000
birr annual sales, it was indicated.
Press conference was organized for various media outlets on the day and a presentation of the strategy for the
expansion project designed. Implementation has already
been started in 2015 and will cover 15 to 20 years, the
CEO said in his presentation. Gold mining and processing
agricultural products are priority sectors for implementation in the project. Manufacturing, construction, and trade
service sectors come in the second phase according to the
study for the project.
Gold will be focused on from mining sector while
coordinated modern poultry, irrigation supported
animal feed [ALFAALFA] development, and coordinated milk and meat development will be the areas of
in agro-processing.
(Cont’d on page 3)
Networking in Clothe Value
Chain Said Problematic
By Mesfin Zegeye
Absence of network among women and small producers engaged in traditional clothe business caused a break
up of the value chain resulting in problems of input and
market as well as other gaps. This in turn caused many
problems to women and small businesses engaged in the
area, it was indicated at a workshop in Tsionat Hotel on
30 April, 2015.
Addis Ababa Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral Associations Secretary General, Ato Getachew Regassa,
in his welcome remark said, since the support extended by European Union Civil Society Fund II project
last year the Chamber accomplished better in its focus
on cultural clothes. The first conference was on 28
October, 2014 and deliberated on problems in cultural
clothes value chain. The purpose of the discussion on
the day was starting forging network in accordance with
the agreement reached in the last conference.
A study was presented in which the presenter indicated problems in the sector. Quality, the traditional problem in working together, networking, access to finance,
market, and policy implementation problem have been
indicated.
Experience sharing was also part of the program on the
day. Manager of fikerte design PLC said that earlier they
used to do all the work in clothe value chain but that was
not advisable for them to grow.
(Cont’d on page 3)
Addis Ababa Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral Associations Over 65 Years of Dedicated Service to Business
May 2015
ADDIS BUSINESS ANALYSIS
EDITORIAL
Strong Private Sector
Engagement Crucial
in GTP II
Companies Are Missing Opportunities
for Growth and Revenue
by Randall Beck and Jim Harter
by Yesuf Ademnur,
Story Highlights
• 59% more growth in revenue per employee is doable
• Critical strategy: selecting and deploying the right managers
• Some companies are seeing 147% higher EPS than their rivals
When Ethiopia put the Growth and Transformation Plan (20112015) in place, one of the prime objectives set to be met in the
strategic period was to improve the participation and engagement of the private sector in the national economic development.
Taking the private sector as such a priority and real engine of economic growth in the GTP period was indeed valid a good gesture
by the government.
Despite encouraging signs of private sector participation during
the past growth and transformation period, the envisaged
remarkable engagement and participation of the sector was not
at all achieved. This entails the need to seriously consider private
sector engagement while Ethiopia is currently embarking into the
second phase of the National Growth and Transformation Plan II
(GTP II). The initiative taken by the Ethiopian government to validate the plan with all stakeholders including the private sector is
highly appreciated.
As representative of the organized private sector, Addis Ababa
Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral Association, is very much
pleased to have been invited in the stakeholders’ meeting that
validated the growth and transformation plan. While consulting
stakeholders in such crucial national development agenda is
important, what is probably more important is the inclusion of the
critical comments and recommendations given from participating
Researchers have made huge strides in understanding human behavior and motivation
over the past decade. But few businesses are
actually applying these discoveries to finding -- and keeping -- star employees. As a
result, companies miss opportunities for
growth and revenue because they don’t understand the impact of human nature in the
workplace.
Gallup has spent decades studying human
potential and how it can be harnessed to
build better companies. We’ve learned that
certain solutions, when implemented together, can have a more powerful effect than that
of each in isolation. And -- as we report in
the State of the American Manager: Analytics and Advice for Leaders -- this is called
the “additive effect.”
The term additive effect, which comes from
biological and chemical research, refers to
combining multiple elements so that the
results equal the sum of each element’s effects. In other words, each element plays a
unique role and has an added scientific value
in predicting the outcome. Elements that aren’t additive don’t matter, work against the
intended outcome or are redundant, leading
to wasted time and resources.
Gallup has discovered that four human capital strategies combine in a powerful way to
add up to 59% more growth in revenue per
employee. Each strategy has been widely
tested and proven effective on its own. By
studying these strategies in various combinations across thousands of workgroups and
organizations from many different industries and countries, we’ve found that using
them together leads to gains that more than
double the effect of using any single strategy in isolation. What follows are the four
strategies.
stakeholders.
Addis Ababa Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral Associations
has critically reviewed the growth and transformation plan document and identified key issues that need to be revisited. It is the
chamber’s belief that the identified issues will get the attention of
the policy makers and be included in GTP.
The chamber strongly believes that the government will show
its real commitment and exemplary partnership with the private
sector by seriously considering the issues and recommendations made by the chamber that otherwise would have adverse
effect on the implementation of the plan unless they are properly
addressed.
Addis Ababa Chamber of Commerce & Sectoral Associations
External Relations and Media Department
Monthly Newspaper
May 2015
 011-5518055 ፣ 011-5519713, 0115-155221
Fax፡ 011-5511479 
PAGE 2
2458
Select Managers With Natural Talent
The most critical of the four strategies is
selecting and deploying the right managers
at all levels of the enterprise. Naturally talented managers are important -- and rare.
Gallup’s research has discovered that only
about one person in 10 has the natural talent
to be a great manager.
For companies, deciding who should be
named manager has a ripple effect on
everything else. Talented managers attract
and engage talented employees. They have
a natural gift for developing employees’
strengths and getting the most out of each
person.
But Gallup’s research has revealed that
companies pick the wrong manager 82% of
the time because they use the wrong criteria. The key to hiring the right managers is
selecting candidates based on their specific
talent to manage others, not their years of
seniority or standout performance in their
current role as an individual contributor.
The best managers have the natural ability
to inspire employees, drive outcomes, overcome adversity, hold people accountable,
build strong relationships and make tough
decisions based on performance rather than
politics. When companies systematically
pick the right managers, they can achieve
27% higher revenue per employee than
average.
Select the Right Individual Contributors
Though 27% is a lot, it’s less than half of
what companies could achieve by combining the other elements. In addition to hiring
the right managers, companies that select
and develop employees based on their natural talents have an opportunity to accelerate
business growth. The problem is that companies tend to concentrate on candidates’
education, skills and work experience while
overlooking whether each candidate has the
right natural talent to excel in a role.
By using a scientific, systematic approach
with each hire, companies can reduce
variance and make performance more
predictable. This process streamlines decision-making, increases productivity, removes bias, improves diversity and enhances customer and employee engagement. The
additive effect of selecting naturally talented
individual contributors is 6% higher revenue
per employee, for a combined gain of up to
33% higher growth potential.
Engage Employees
Naturally talented managers play an essential role in creating an engaged workforce,
explaining at least 70% of the variance in the
engagement of their teams. Companies that
select and develop a critical mass of these
managers achieve substantially higher levels of engagement and growth. This doesn’t
happen by chance.
Engaging employees begins with asking the
right performance-based questions. Gallup’s
12-item employee engagement assessment,
the Q12, measures employees’ involvement
in and enthusiasm for their jobs and workplace, which link directly to their willingness to go the extra mile for the company
and its customers.
But creating a culture of employee engagement requires much more than a survey. It
demands a strategy, accountability, great
communication and manager and employee
development plans that are aligned with scientifically tested metrics and performance
outcomes. By using the right employee
engagement approach, companies see improvements in productivity, profitability, retention, safety, quality and customer ratings.
Currently, most U.S. companies are a long
way off from these gains. In 2012, less than
one-third of American workers were engaged, compared with 52% who were not
engaged and 18% who were actively disengaged. We estimate that actively disengaged
workers alone cost the U.S. between $450
billion and $550 billion per year. Worldwide, the situation is even worse: Among
the 142 countries included in Gallup’s 2012
global study, only 13% of employees were
engaged in their jobs, while 63% were not
engaged and 24% were actively disengaged.
Still, several companies have bucked the
trend and engaged their workforces, seeing
up to 147% higher earnings per share(EPS)
compared with their competitors. These organizations held their own in a down economy, and then outpaced the competition as
the economy improved. With the additive
effect, a culture of employee engagement
can lead to up to 18% higher revenue per
employee, for a total of 51% higher growth
potential when combined with selecting the
right managers and individual contributors.
Focus on Strengths
When businesses select the right managers and employees and build workplace
engagement, they gain a serious competitive
advantage -- but there’s still more they can
do to maximize their human capital. Companies get the most from their workforce when
they help employees identify and use their
strengths. All employees have strengths -the unique combination of talents, knowledge and skills that help them do what they
do best every day. These strengths serve as
employees’ -- and the company’s -- greatest
opportunities for success. Employees who
use their strengths every day are six times
more likely to be engaged at work.
Building on employees’ strengths is more
effective than trying to improve their weaknesses. Weaknesses shouldn’t be ignored,
but a strengths focus offers managers a better chance to develop individuals in the context of who they are, instead of attempting
to change their personalities. In a study of
(Cont’d on page 9)
Editor-in-Chief - Mesfin Zegeye
Designer
- Tenaye Kebede
Photographer
- Anduamlak Tamiremariam
ADDIS BUSINESS
Reporters
-
Roman Tegegne
Editorial Board
Ato Yayehyirad Abate
Ato Yohannes Weldegebriel Ato Mengistu Dargie
Ato Mesfin Zegeye
Ato Tekeste Girma
Ato Kassahun Mamo
- Chair
- Member
“
“
“
“
PAGE 3
ADDIS BUSINESS May 2015
Midroc Ethiopia Undertakes...
Midroc Gold has already been operating
gold mining in Legedenbi and Sakaro [Oromiya] as well as Shakiso and Reji in Guji
zone.
Elfora agro-industry PLC, which is engaged
in poultry, animal breeding and crop production, has planned three projects. Coordinated modern poultry farming is one of these.
In the last 15 years it has been at the top in
poultry production in the nation, it was indicated. In these years it supplied 30 million
eggs and 500 tons of chicken meat on average every year. Around 20% the production
is exported to Djibouti.
Taking into account the growing demand
for poultry meat it has been planned to start
modern technology supported poultry farm
this year in Chefa Weldi wereda of Oromiya
zone in Amhara region on the land owned by
the company, in addition to the poultry farm
in Bishoftu town.
The second project to be undertaken by
Elfora Agro-industry is Alfalfa animal feed
supported by modern irrigation. Ethiopia
has a huge population of cattle on the one
hand, while there is the big problem of diminishing grazing land due to farming, human settlement and construction on the other. Also, Ethiopia is frequently hit by feed
shortage. More importantly, compared to
the potential the country has in the sector the
benefit being obtained from it is negligible.
The market in Ethiopia and the Middle
East shown by the study is a primary reason for Elfora to go into the production of
the unique Alfalfa animal feed. Six varieties
of Alfalfa were brought in from the US and
Australia and experimented on. Two have
been selected for use.
Alfalfa is called king of feed globally and
in two months of planting it becomes ready
for harvesting. It is harvested for four years
without interruption. Taking this high yield
potential into account production will start
at full capacity using what is called Center
Pivot technology. Trials have shown encouraging feedback from local and foreign
customers. Thus, 600 tons of Netene would
be produced on 300 hectares of land starting
from June 2015.
The third expansion project is milk and meat
development. Implementation of this project
started with 500 Borena calves, which were
housed in Wenji Kuriftu and fed Alfalfa and
other feeds. An increase of 50% milk is obtained. Artificial insemination and working
on productivity will be a focus.
As a second step, up to 3000 foreign breed
cows would be brought and semi-modern
milk cow breeding will undertaken.
As a final phase, 10 000 milk cows will be
deployed for breeding and modern technology will be extensively used. On top of
modern breeding packaging of cheese, butter, curdle, cream, and others will be done.
Milk powder would also be produced and
supplied to the market, and efforts will be
made to save the foreign currency spent by
the nation on the importing of these products
entirely if possible or partly at least.
Dr. Sheik Muhammad Hussein Ali Al-Amudi speaking on media coverage of Midroc
endeavours said that the media lack balance
in coverage. Midroc has been working in
Ethiopia for the last 23 years and this has
a lot of positive implications for the nation
and the society. Yet the media focuses on
companies that came to the nation just recently. Viewed from various angles, this media conduct is unbalanced and inappropriate
behavior, he said at the press conference.
CEO of Midroc Ethiopia Technology Group
PLC, Dr. Arega Yirdaw, has a presentation
on the eight billion birr expansion project.
Before going into that directly, he shared a
birds eye view of the property owned alongside Midroc Ethiopia. There are three categories, he said. Solely organized companies
make up one group. The second take the
form of groups and the 21 companies making up Midroc Ethiopia Technology Group
PLC are one such group. The third work in
partnership with others.
Recognizing the difference among these
groups is important. Because when something occurs in one of these, people will
be able to tell where the issue belongs and
where it does not; rather than associating everything with all of them.
Regarding foreign currency the CEO said,
import substitution has been deprived proper attention in the country. The government
focuses on those that bring in foreign currency by exporting. But the logic is not
sound. Producing products and making them
available to the local market saves foreign
currency otherwise would have been spent
on importing them. This is an undertaking
that saves foreign currency for the nation.
This fact seems to elude the government.
On media coverage of Midroc investment
performance, there are people who still
think gold is produced the traditional way;
this view is also the case among some government officials, the CEO illustrated the
level of gap in awareness and the limitation
among media houses in reporting.
Dr. Sheik Muhammad Hussein Ali Al-Amudi on his part said, it is only fair that the media show the developments in the country,
dig into the details of what is being done and
bring this to public attention. It is necessary
to show the public what it takes a nation to
develop. When the media do this, investors
will be encouraged.
Networking in Clothe...
For instance, they provide better services in
designing while others perform better than
others in another stage of the work. Thus, it
would be advisable for all to engage in areas
where each has comparative advantage and
can deliver better and leave other aspects of
the work in the value chain to others. This is
good both for the service provider and recipient and facilitates the situation for the value
chain to operate smoothly.
In the discussion on the day participants
shared their thoughts and comments. Problem with shortage of supplies, difficulty in
networking with small producers, quality
problems and its implication for global market, and failure to go to work after attending
the training to start work, are some issue
raised.
Participants inquired how cotton of the right
quality could be found and which body
should address this, what should be the role
of the government in it, and there is a need to
look into the issue in depth, they said.
The issue of networking has been a major
discussion point in the previous discussion
and it was a central issue in the discussion
on that day too. There is a need for a concrete action to be taken in that regard, it was
agreed.
Conflict resolution should also be looked
into, participants said.
(Cont’d from page 1)
An issue of serious consideration on the day
had to do with people found at lower levels,
economically and in capacity. These people
deserve to be supported also because one’s
own business would benefit out of that, it
was said. This facilitates the smooth functioning of the value chain. An indicator of a
healthily functioning chain is when all in the
chain manage to stand with their own feet.
Attempts to benefit at the expense of another
would be a danger to the sustainability of the
business. Such behavior does harm to others
and gradually to oneself. The value chain
would be disturbed.
It is important that solutions be recommended and put to use for problems that have
been identified. Otherwise, the same problem would be raised again and again in each
succession session. And doing that would
not make sense.
A government office representative coming
from one sub city said, the government has
made available G + 4 buildings and other support in the ten sub cities. But a very
small number of the people are aware of the
kind of support available and do not come to
make use of it. A participant of the discussion on the day presented a different picture
from this.
“We hear of support being given but it is
not there. I am sitting idle at home out of
desperation. It is said shops to sell products
and many other things would be given, but
it is difficult to see one of these come true.
It is confusing to hear of such support being
talked about. The situation is exasperating! I
have begun to hate the profession because of
this situation,” she said and went on to add,
“I am designer of clothe and have received
a month and half training at federal level.
When an opportunity to go abroad came,
people with only 15 days of training were
given the opportunity. We could not even
talk to higher officials about it.” Taking
part in bazaars also involves a very difficult
screening process; people who do not deserve it get that opportunity too, she added
wounding up her points.
May 2015
ADDIS BUSINESS PAGE 4
Private Sector Issues Identified for GTP-II Inclusion
By Mesfin Zegeye
Automation of customs procedures, simplifying
them, implementing the new proclamation, laying
down modern logistic service, preparing business
information portal, and transparency in business
information are recommendations forwarded in this
connection.
Although the government says the private sector is
the engine of economic growth it failed to reflect that
line of thinking in its just wounded up five year plan
(GTP-I) as well as at various levels of government
endeavor including implementation. The purpose of
the workshop is to identify important areas for interests of the private sector so as to make sure the government includes them in the upcoming plan (GTPII), it was said at a workshop organized at Harmony
Hotel on 19 May, 2015.
The legal framework within which Chamber operates
is problematic. Chamber system is handicapped by a
legal provision which resulted in weak and scattered
private sector structure. The law deprived Chamber off the teeth it needs to realize its mission. For
instance, membership is voluntary and Chamber is
shackled to mobilize resources, he said.
Representatives of the private sector took part in
a half day workshop on identifying private sector
themes to be included in the upcoming government
plan (GTP-II). A study was presented in which the
presenter said are findings of previous studies. The
purpose is to make sure that unlike in GTP-I the government gives appropriate place for the private sector
in its plan.
The presenter started by indicating what he said were
focus of his presentation, which are creating a conducive environment for the private, modern farming,
and support for manufacturing
Justifying the need for creating conducive environment for the private sector the presenter said, although the government says the private sector is engine of growth it does not have strategy for it.
The weak public-private consultation is yet another area of challenges and for this the legal frame is
merely a Memorandum of Understanding. For this
legal frame to be of real asset needs to be upgraded
to proclamation level or regulation level. Reorganization of the private sector and strengthening it as
an association should be one of the key tasks of the
government, he said.
The presenter said there are economy good governance problems as well. Laws regarding the private
sector are made without sufficient consultation with
the stakeholders, he said. And frequent changes in
the law is a further handicap. He recommended that
there should be genuine participation of the private
sector for a meaningful addressing of the gaps in this
connection.
Shortcoming in exhibiting national orientation is yet
another aspect seen in the laws. Failing to predict
the burden the laws bring and failing to evaluate that
Following the presentation participants of the discussion commented on the findings of the study and
shared their reflections.
have resulted in complicating the situation instead of
simplifying it, he added.
To substantiate what he called problems in business
and investment the presenter raised some points.
Problem with tax collection, poor business coordination and logistic service, problem with good governance in the economy, problems in making land
available and get license to undertake construction,
problem with market competition system, contract
enforcement gaps, book keeping and reporting problem as well as problem in access to information for
companies, absence of modern capital market, and
problem in contract enforcement.
Regarding tax collection problems, problem in efficiency, partiality in implementation [for example
some sell without VAT], lack of clarity in tax laws,
regulations and procedures opening door for corrupt
practice, existence of different and incompatible
income tax laws, and complexity in addressing tax
complaints and inaccessibility.
Some 75% of members of the business community
who took part on access to land survey consider the
issue of land a critical one. Lack of transparency in
lease bidding, and the sluggish way in which land
is transferred to investors – 1 to 2 years seem to be
common – is a serious problem. The sky rocketing
lease price and its becoming out of reach for medium and small enterprises is another. Time has been
reached where one cannot feel one can win in lease
bid, a participant underlined.
The lack of clarity between the income tax proclamation on the one hand, and income tax in mineral and
fuel has also been a source of problem.
The presenter has also recommendations side by side
the issues he raised and problems listed. For instance
regarding the confusion among the three income tax
provisions, he suggested clarifying it and bringing
about a uniform tax law applicable throughout the
country.
Other recommendations include uniformity in auditing and accounting procedures that will make them
understandable to all; making the tax complaint committee accessible outside of Addis Ababa; and reducing the 50% requirement to submit complaint.
In logistics he mentioned, business coordination and
logistics service weaknesses experienced such as in
the absence of service in transit and border crossing,
the tedious customs system – 29 processes known to
exist, weak border control and poor logistic strategy,
and business information problem.
Ethiopian Soil Information System
What are the origins of the Ethio SIS project?
Low productivity in Ethiopia’s agriculture sector is
caused in part by a range of factors related to poor
soil conditions:
• Severe land degradation;
• Nutrient depletion;
• Complete removal of crop residue from the
fields;
• Fragmented or not application of Integrated
Soil Fertility Management (ISFM) technology
• Little or no manure application;
• Imbalanced inorganic fertilizer use; and
• Lack of comprehensive soil fertility
information.
A number of soil-related studies and programs have
been carried out in the past to reverse the impacts
of such constraints. However, acquiring updated
and accurate soil-related information has remained
a challenge. Consequently, further scientific analysis has been hindered that could provide strategic
information for policy makers, researchers, extension
workers and smallholder farmers.
As such, soil health and fertility were prioritized as
key components of the Agricultural Transformation
Agenda, with potential to increase smallholder farmers’ productivity. The Ministry of Agriculture (MoA)
and the ATA thus developed the Soil Health and Fertility Roadmap and the Soil Health Strategy in 2011
and 2012 respectively. Both aim to address key soil
fertility bottlenecks and transform the agriculture
sector, by incorporating soil health, increasing yield
and ultimately doubling smallholder farmers’ incomes.
The systematic organization of soil-related information has resulted in challenging the use of DAP as
a blanket recommendation. A detailed woreda-level
soil fertility status atlas was therefore paramount to
tailoring fertilizer recommendations to specific soil
fertility conditions. Additional scrutiny of land features (vegetation, climactic factors, erosion risk,
etc.), physical and chemical properties of soil is
critical for acquiring knowledge on soil health and
fertility.
EthioSIS was devised to systematically collect
soil-related information, employing state of the art
methodologies, like remote sensing, and geo-statistical predictions, among others. Its goal is to build
and develop a central depository database to house
accurate soil information available for end users.
What is the current status of Ethio SIS?
Woreda Soil Survey
As of February 2015, soil fertility mapping has been
conducted in 375 woredas, using geo-statistical predictions to produce digital soil maps. Of these, fertilizer recommendations have been finalized for 316
woredas. The effort began in AGP-target woredas and
was later scaled up. Mapping was done by modeling
the relevant variables in relation to the soil analysis
results determined by wet-chemistry and spectral
techniques and other environmental variables called
“covariates”. Covariates can explain the landscape
and other features of a woreda. Modeling helps to
assess the soil nutrient status of individual woredas
and therefore identify their deficiencies. Preliminary
findings have led to the recommendation of 14 types
of fertilizer (13 blended and 1 compound) to modify
the fertility status of soil in 205 woredas.
EthioSIS has also developed a soil resource database
to serve as a base for the country’s resource mapping.
So far, 59 grid-based confluence point (CP) soil surveys have been completed. This CP approach takes
the intersection of latitude and longitude as a central
point, and collects samples within 1-degree intervals.
Samples were randomly distributed within 10km-by10km sampling blocks. A total of 60,000 soil samples
were collected with 160 samples from each CP with a
1m soil profile partitioned into 20cm intervals.
Soil Analysis and Interpretations
EthioSIS has completed Tigray region’s soil fertility
status and fertilizer requirement atlas. At least three
more atlases are scheduled for development in the
coming months.
Capacity Building
Massive national capacity building in technical
knowledge transfer has been done and will continue throughout the project life cycle. The focus is on
enriching local expertise in geo-statistical modeling,
database management systems, and soil sample anal-
When members of the business community go to customs for tax or other service needs, they go with a lot
of anxiety. Service seekers do not go with confidence
that their problems will be solved and their service
needs met.
A participant of the discussion said, one should not
forget the nature of government policy. A predictable
bad policy is better than an unpredictable good one.
Situations exist in which both developmental state
and free market ideas are forwarded by government
representatives in the same discussion platform.
The private sector is not noticeable in government
plan, in GTP-I or otherwise. The details do not seem
to support the government’s claim that it stands for
free market. Only a few sentences talk about the
private sector. There was a private sector situational
analysis; but it was not included in government plan.
Finally it was underlined that major points to be submitted to the government should be put in a suitable
format for the government to be able to incorporate
them easily. It was proposed that the private sector
issues be added as one pillar of government within
GTP-II plan at the end rather than be inserted in each
sector.
It was reiterated that the Chamber needs to put up
energetic efforts for the proposal to be incorporated
and the purpose in that regard is met, rather than just
submitting proposal.
yses using spectral and wet chemistry techniques. To
support long-term capacity building, the project has
been partnering with local universities and supporting 10 postgraduate students to carry out research on
soil fertility and fertilizer recommendations. Building capacity in regional and national soil laboratories includes improving physical infrastructure and
supplying high-tech laboratory equipment to seven
soil laboratories in five regions. EthioSIS also works
closely with MoA to further capacitate the MoA’s
ICT center.
What are the future directions for
EthioSIS?
EthioSIS is the result of contributions from numerous
private, public and governmental organizations. As a
sustainable exit strategy, the ATA plans to transition
the project to the MoA as a permanent program. Two
new directorates – Soil Fertility and Soil Information
– have been established under the Ministry. Soil fertility assessments and digital soil mapping will hence
continue under the MoA, and soil status and fertilizer
recommendations will be modified accordingly.
Five fertilizer blending plants located in the four
main regions of the country will produce blended fertilizer locally. One plant is already in operation and
four are under construction, with the expectation that
they will be operational by early 2015. The possibility of establishing other plants in the future through
public-private partnerships is being explored.
(Source: Agriculture Transformation Agency)
PAGE 5
ADDIS BUSINESS May 2015
Hotel Development in Africa Accelerates to
50,000 Rooms
A recently released news by Bench Events (organizer of Africa Hotel Investment Hotel, AHIF) indicates that
Hotel Development is showing a surge in Africa accelerating to 50,000 rooms, but where is Ethiopia ranking as it
is preparing to host Africa Hotel Investment Forum in September 2015?
By Mengistu Dargie
The findings of this year’s Hotel Chain Development
Pipeline Survey, produced by W Hospitality Group, a
vital strategic advisor to the Africa Hotel Investment
Forum (AHIF), show a surge in hotel development in
Africa, with a jump in the development pipeline to 270
hotels and nearly 50,000 rooms, and with sub-Saharan
Africa (SSA) exceeding North Africa by almost 70%.
The data reveal a modest recovery in North Africa and
increasing confidence in SSA - only two years ago the
number of rooms in the North African pipeline was the
same as that in sub-Saharan Africa. This year’s survey
is based on contributions from 37 international hotel
chains with 80 brands between them.
TABLE 1
2015 Hotel Chain Development Pipelines in Africa
Regional Summary
2011
Hotels
2012
Rooms
Hotels
2014
Rooms
2015
Hotels
Rooms
2016
Hotels
Rooms
Hotels
Rooms
North Africa
75
17,038
77
17,217
73
18,065
73
16,449
79
18,565
Sub-Saharan Africa
76
13,700
100
17,109
115
18,191
142
23,283
191
31,150
TOTAL
151
30,738
177
34,326
188
36,256
215
39,732
270
49,715
The SSA region has far more national
markets than
North Africa, 49 countries vs five[1] and these have historically been underserved with branded hotels. It’s now
time for them to catch up and they are: Mauritania, for
example, with no existing branded supply, now has three
branded hotels in the development pipeline.
Growth in the pipeline in North Africa has slowed considerably, impacted by unrest and political conflict. For
example, Libya, a country which many groups were
focusing on just two years ago, has seen no new hotel
development deals. Egypt, which has traditionally been
a major growth market, lost some projects to delays and
cancellations in 2014.
As a sub-region, West Africa has by far the greatest
number of rooms in the pipeline, more than double East
Africa. This is largely thanks to Nigeria, which became
the largest economy on the continent in 2014 after it rebased its GDP figures. It has the largest population and
the largest number of urban conurbations in one country,
with the exception of South Africa.
As in previous years, Southern Africa continues to lag
behind, with fewer rooms in development this year than
in Central Africa and with the highest number of countries with no activity at all – five, namely Botswana,
Lesotho, Malawi, Swaziland and Zimbabwe.
It is important to distinguish between deals which are
still in the planning stage and those which are becoming
reality, with construction started. Table 3, below, shows
the proportion of the deals (rooms) which are actually
under construction – sub-Saharan Africa has many more
signed deals than North Africa, but the latter has 78 per
cent of the pipeline rooms on site, compared to 55 per
cent in SSA.
TABLE 3
2015 Hotel Chain Development Pipelines in Africa
SSA vs. North Africa by Pipeline Status
Hotels
Total
Rooms
Onsite Construction
Sub-Saharan Africa
191
31,150
17,070
55%
North Africa
79
18,565
14,428
78%
Looking at individual countries, Nigeria has by far the
most rooms in the chains’ development pipelines, over
8,500 rooms in 51 planned new hotels. That is more
than the entire pipeline in Central Africa and East Africa
combined! Table 4 shows the top ten pipeline countries
by number of rooms:
each planned hotel in Nigeria is less than half that in
Egypt. New hotels in North Africa generally, and particularly in Egypt, are of a much larger size.
Egypt also has the highest “performing” pipeline in
Africa, with almost 5,500 rooms under construction,
TABLE 3
2015 Hotel Chain Development Pipelines in Africa
TABLE 4
2015 Hotel Chain Development Pipelines in Africa
Top 10 Countries by Number of Rooms
Hotels
Rooms
Average Size
1
Nigeria
51
8,563
168
2
Egypt
18
6,440
358
3
Morocco
31
5,474
177
4
Algeria
13
2,749
211
5
Tunisia
12
2,444
204
6
South Africa
13
1,662
128
7
Kenya
8
1,510
189
8
Libya
5
1,458
9
Ghana
8
10
Uganda
9
In 2015, all the countries in the top 10 (with the exception of Algeria and Libya) saw an increase in their
pipeline from the previous year. Kenya and Uganda saw
the largest increases, at over 100 per cent and 90 per cent
respectively, albeit from a much smaller base than the
four leading nations. Despite the continued difficulties
that the country has faced, Egypt recorded a substantial
compared to “only” 3,400 in Nigeria. Table 5 analyses the top 10 countries with the highest proportion of
planned hotels under construction.
Top 10 Countries by Pipeline Status
Rank
Country
Hotels
Rooms
Onsite Construction
Rank – All
Deals
1
Egypt
18
6,440
5,480
85%
2↑
2
Morocco
31
5,474
3,795
69%
3↑
3
Nigeria
51
8,563
3,369
39%
1↓
4
Algeria
13
2,749
2,494
91%
4↔
292
5
Tunisia
12
2,444
1,501
61%
5↔
1,399
175
6
13
1,397
155
South
Africa
37 per cent increase in its pipeline, indicative of returning confidence.
Nigeria, Egypt and Morocco have occupied the top three
slots since 2011. Whilst Nigeria has 33 per cent more
rooms than second-placed Egypt, the average size of
May 2015
ADDIS BUSINESS Approaches to monetary
policy: Ethiopia’s case
considered
By Shewaferaw Shitahun
Introduction
Monetary policy in its narrow sense refers to the controls of credit and hence money supply by the central
bank. In its broad sense, it means all those monetary
and non monetary measures which influence the cost
and supply of money is the monetary policy, too.
Monetary policy as an instrument of economic stabilization has been used by various countries to manage their economics. Such a policy involves influencing the level and composition of aggregate demand
by manipulating rates of interest and the volume of
credit. The traditional instrument of monetary policy
is bank rate, supplemented by open market operations and selective credit control, where necessary.
The purpose of policy is to bring about some pre defined goals.
Goals of Monetary Policy
Basically policy is adopted to achieve some desirable objectives. Broadly speaking, monetary policy
has been used towards the fulfillment of the goals
descriptively exchange rate stability, price stability,
and stabilization of income, full employment and
economic growth.
The Transmission Mechanism of Monetary
Policy
There are various channels where by monetary policy may influence the economy. It is your task to find
the values of the interest rate and level of income that
simultaneously equilibrate both the commodity market and the money market. Note that because equilibrium in the money market implies equilibrium in
the bond market, such a combination will equilibrate
all three of the market, commodities, money and
bonds market. First, we identify combinations of income and the interest rate that equilibrate the money
market, neglecting the commodity market. Next, we
identify, combinations of income and the interest rate
that are equilibrium combinations of interest rate and
income levels are then shown to contain one combination that equilibrates both markets. Equilibrium
price is that price at which market demand for a given
product equals its supply. At this price there is neither
shortage nor surplus.
Targets to meet goals
The central bank selects goals but ultimately control’s only policy tools in two steps process. First,
it sets an intermediate target such as money supply
growth to help achieve goals. Second, it sets an operating target such as non borrowed reserves growth
to let it acquire the intermediate target. An advantage
of this two step targeting procedure is that the central
bank can quickly monitor changes in operating targets and determine whether its interventions is having the desired effect.
Operating targets provide feedback, enabling the
central bank to gauge the effectiveness of its policies
and to adjust them rather than waiting to evaluate
the ultimate success or failure of efforts to achieve
its policies and to adjust them rather than waiting to
evaluate the ultimate success or failure of efforts to
achieve its goals. If this two steps process is to be
successful, the central bank must select the appropriate targets with care.
International reserves and the money supply
The balance of payments indicates that balance of
payments deficit or surpluses must be financed by
movements of international reserves. We can use
T-accounts to show that when a country gains inter-
national reserves, its money supply, increases while
when it loses international reserved, its monetary
base and money supply decline. It is through their
effect on the money supply that movements of international reserves affect a country’s monetary policy.
To see how changes in a country’s holdings of international reserves affect its money supply. Let us see
what happens to international reserves and the monetary based for a country with a balance of payments
surplus. Suppose that England experience balance of
payment surplus of $ 100 million more UKS goods
and assets than UKs are willing to buy from Ethiopia.
If Ethiopia pays for the UK goods and assets with
dollars, the T. accounts for Ethiopia and UK public
will be as follow.
Ethiopian public
Asst
liabilities
UK goods and Assets
+ $ 100 m
US Dollars
-$ 100 m
UK Public
Asset liabilities
UK goods and asset
- $ 100
US Dollars
+$100
International Considerations and
monetary policy
When central banks intervene in the foreign exchange market, they acquire or lose international reserves and their monetary base is affected. In other
words when a central bank intervenes in the foreign
exchange market, it gives up some control of its money supply. If central bank of a given country acquired
huge quantities of international reserves, it leads to a
rapid rate of monetary growth that may be considered
inflationary.
The central bank can eliminate the growth of the
money supply by one of the following two strategies.
The first strategy is that in order to pursue a less inflationary monetary policy, it can cease its intervention
in the foreign exchange market and reassert control
over its own money supply. Such strategy has a major
drawback when the central bank is under pressure not
to allow its currency to appreciate: the resulting lower price of imports and higher price of exports will
hurt domestic producers and create unemployment.
A second strategy for slowing the growth of the money supply would be to keep the monetary base from
expanding when the central bank’s international in
the foreign exchange market leads to greater holdings
of international reserves what we call it sterilization.
This strategy involved off setting any increase in
international reserves with equal open market sales
of domestic securities in order to prevent the monetary base from rising. Many economists believe this
strategy will frequently not work because the excess
demand for domestic assets continues and leads to a
mounting inflow of international reserves. As a result
the monetary base expands despite central bank attempts at sterilization.
Moreover, exchange rate considerations have a more
important role to play in the conduct of monetary
policy. That is, if a central bank does not want to see
its currency fall n value, it may pursue a more contractionary policy say, slowing money supply growth
from a 10% rate to a 5% rate to strength its currency.
Similarly, if Ethiopia experiences an appreciation in
its currency, domestic industry may suffer from increased foreign competition and may pressure the
central bank to pursue a higher rate of money growth
in order to lower the exchange rate.
PAGE 6
Export Diversification, ...
Goods exports exhibited their worst performance in
2013 decreasing by 2.5% in response to declining international prices (15%) and could not be offset by the negligible increase in export volume (6%). To overcome this
challenge, improving competitiveness, including value
addition, export diversification and easing the trading
problems, will be advisable. Ethiopian export earning
covers only around 2 months of imports of goods and
services.
The export/GDP decreased by 2% from 2010-2015
while export not fully supporting structural change.
Ethiopia has the lowest ratio of merchandise exports to
GDP among the Sub Saharan countries - significantly
lower than SSA average (28%); Kenya has 20%, Rwanda 15% and Uganda has 19%. The export volume of coffee and oil seeds have increased on average by only 3%
and 1% from 2010-2014.
Ethiopian export earning is much dependent on the performance of coffee, oil seeds and gold exhibiting lower
value additions. Coffee, oil seeds and gold constitute
more than 56% of Ethiopia’s export earning, attesting to
low diversification in export.
More than 70% of the export earning is from just ten
countries. Export to the continent is largely to a single
major country. Hence, the performance of the export
sector is vulnerable to economic changes in one country,
an indicator of Ethiopia’s predicament for lack of export
diversification.
Most of Ethiopia’s top exports are products for which
the world demand is increasing but, export volume is
constrained by inside supply capacity. The majority of
the nation’s export is dependent on agricultural products and raw materials. Pulses and oil seeds constitute
around half of the export volume. This means Ethiopia
is vulnerable to price swings because unprocessed and
undifferentiated agricultural products dominate its exports. Hence, addressing productivity issue is vital for
increasing the volume of exports.
Earning from coffee has declined on average by 3%
since 2012- due to declining the international price and
volume while export earning from gold has declined on
average by 12% since 2013 - due to declining international price.
Rating on doing Business Topics
(cont’d from page 1)
Trade costs in Ethiopia are very high. Transit time
and time required to trade is very long while logistics
performance is low and stagnant. In terms of costs,
there are modest savings in exporting costs, while the
cost of importing increased since 2009 owing to the
positive correlation between trade costs and delays.
The key drivers of high trade costs are related to
inland transportation and handling, and document
preparation. Trade logistics costs are further increased
by the high cost of obtaining foreign exchange and the
cost for shipping to and from Africa.
Ethiopia’s trade with its immediate neighbors is comparatively low in good measure because of the poor
connections to the regional borders and inadequate border infrastructure. Its two-way trade with its immediate
neighbors in 2014 amounted to a mere US$ 627 million,
little more than one-fifth the amount that would be expected given the size and proximity of these economies.
The fact that Ethiopia’s manufacturing sector is small
implies that the domestic economy is not yet sufficiently
well diversified to wean exports away from agriculture.
The manufacturing share of output remained constant
over the past 15 years. The sector has the second lowest
labor productivity amongst major sectors. The GDP per
capita share of manufacturing and industry is among the
ten lowest in Sub Saharan Africa. Expectedly, the contribution of manufacturing to structural change was quite
small.
Of concern for its business and trade performance,
Ethiopia lags considerably behind in three areas:
“starting a business,” “Getting credit,” and “trading
across borders.
The presenter recommended that to unleash the potential in the country a policy and institutional framework
is needed that is constantly adjusting to provide the
right incentives to entrepreneurs, increase value-addition, quality, and branding; improving producer services; reducing trade costs; establish industrial zones
and international best practice; and expanding industrial supply capacity.
Ranks (Out of 189)
STARTING A BUSINESS
168
DEALING WITH CONSTRUCTION PERMITS
28
GETTING ELECTRICITY
82
REGISTERING PROPERTY
104
GETTING CREDIT
165
PROTECTING MINORITY INVESTORS
154
PAYING TAXES
112
TRADING ACROSS BORDERS
168
ENFORCING CONTRACTS
50
Website Seeks Right Seeds to
Boost Farm for Free
MbeguChoice quickly reveals best options for farmers,
agrodealers and extension workers in Kenya’s different farm environments, based on breeder recommendations.
A new online tool launched today allows agrodealers,
extension workers and farmers across Kenya to learn
in just minutes information many of them have been
struggling to obtain for decades: which varieties of
popular crops like maize, pigeon pea and cassava are
the best choice for local growing conditions and farmer preferences, such as disease resistance or cooking
properties. MbeguChoice (“mbegu” means “seed” in
Swahili) is the first tool of its kind in sub-Saharan Africa.
“A strong food production system starts with
high-yielding crop varieties that have been developed
for specific farming environments. These varieties
have been bred for certain characteristics, such as early
maturity or drought tolerance that farmers may prefer.
But for too long it’s been very hard for Kenyan farmers
to make informed choices about the seed available to
them,” said Aline O’Connor, director of Nairobi-based
Agri Experience Ltd, which launched the new free crop
variety selection platform.
MbeguChoice was developed through a partnership
between the Kenya Agricultural & Livestock Research
Organization (KALRO), the Kenya Plant Health In-
spectorate Service (KEPHIS), Kenyan crop seed companies, and Agri Experience, with support from Kenya
Markets Trust. It allows Kenyan farmers, local farm
input stores (known as agrodealers), and extension
workers to enter basic information, like their county,
crop, season (short or long rains), and desired crop attributes, such as drought tolerance and disease or pest
resistance. MbeguChoice then generates a list of suitable seed varieties along with the names of the seed
companies producing and distributing them.
For example, if a farmer in the mid-altitude region of
Makueni County searches for varieties of early-maturing, drought-tolerant maize to cultivate during the long
rain season, MbeguChoice would show that there are
two seed companies marketing a total of five varieties
that breeders feel will meet the farmer’s criteria.
Currently, the online database contains over 200 commercialized crop varieties, including 61 varieties of
maize, 25 of common bean, 11 of cassava, 13 of Irish
potato, and 12 of sorghum. The site will be updated as
new varieties come on the market. Of the 200 varieties,
at least 90 have come on the market within the last 10
years.
Early trials of the service have revealed that MbeguChoice could also be popular with urban professionals
or “absentee farmers.” These are men and women
(Cont’d on page 7)
PAGE 7
ADDIS BUSINESS Essentials in Business
BUSINESS AND LAW
The role of closeness in
Business organization
Chamber Idol!
By Tewodros Mulatu
People can live or work next to one another for years,
yet not feel close (we are concerned here primarily
with psychological closeness). Organizations are
essentially communities, groups of people gathered
together for a common purpose. The more people are
closely inter-related and develop a sense of community about what they do, the more likely they are to
achieve their goals and purposes. A major function
of the leader in any part of the organization as well
as a whole is to instill and sustain a sense of community, so that participants feel a sense of mutual support toward their common purposes and goals. As in
families, all members of a community do not have to
like each other. People may quarrel, fight, and have
significant differences. Having differences is less relevant than the fact that being a community provides
mutual support. In a community, people should know
that no matter what their differences, they are better
regarded and find protection and support inside than
they do outside. This is why leaders at every level in
the organization should create a sense of community
and maintain a network of relationships that transcends individual differences, point of view, quarrels, even dislikes. They should give people a sense
of where they being, a sense of where they belong,
who cares, and why they are there.
The need for closeness is most crucial when people
begin a relationship with an organization. It is at this
point that they become “attached,” when they are
the most confused about the new job and the strange
organization. They are more heavily dependent than
any other time in their organizational careers, and unless someone takes them in hand, they cannot begin
their work.
Adequate orientation can help reduce anxiety. Much
of the turnover among newly employed people is due
to their concern that they may fail. They feel deserted, left to “meddle through, and are convinced that
nobody really cares for them.
When careful support is given, turnover is reduced
and productivity is increased. Effective support includes the very factors that are usually left out of an
introduction to an organization: orientation to the idiosyncrasies of workers, encouragement to seek out
answers to question, and recognition of the initial
anxiety.
He or she should point out the various barriers to
action and how these are dealt with in the organization, how to address various superior figures, and
the kinds of questions or behavior that may threaten
another person or department. The orienteer should
meet regularly with the new person or group during
the first several weeks of employment to give them a
chance to express concern about relationships with
others, particularly supervisors, and to reinforce the
guidance given earlier.
The same process can be followed with people who
are new to a department even though they may be
veterans in the organization.
Management rarely recognizes the high cost at once.
One vice-president of a major corporation reported that it took him a while to learn his way around
and at the time he was afraid he would take a false
step that would indicate to his superiors that he was
incompetent.
For young man or woman just coming into the
business world, the process of introduction into the
business world, the process of introduction into the
organization is a particularly critical one. It must
undo some of the distorted expectation and stereo
types that will interfere with personal attachment
and subsequent success. Simultaneously, it must take
into account the fact that the new employee comes
with needs and expectations more refined and intense
than those of a skilled blue-collar worker. As Edgar
Hshein has pointed out, if new people are to become
effective, they must have or acquire the following
characteristics, competence to get a job done, ability
to accept organizational “realities”, ability to generate and sell new ideas, loyalty and commitment, high
personal integrity and strength, capacity to grow.
When young people enter an organization, they
customarily encounter two barriers: the organization’s perceptions of them and its conceptions of
how they are prepared for competence. This can be
solved by creating closeness to others.
(cont’d from page 6)
No More Planting Highland Varieties on
Lowland Farms
Experts in Kenya’s seed industry note that a key problem contributing to lower yields is that farmers are
planting seed “out of position”—meaning that the variety has not been bred for their planting location and
therefore will not deliver its full potential yield.
“Farmers don’t want to be planting Chelalang bean variety, which was developed to perform well in highland
regions, if they farm at mid- or low-range altitudes,”
said Dr. Philip Leley, a breeder and research center
manager at KALRO. “MbeguChoice would show that
for mid- to low-altitudes, breeders have developed a
common bean variety called KAT B-9 which would be
a better choice. Yet many farmers in Kenya lack this
kind of insight, and they end up investing in a seed
variety that is unsuitable and therefore provides poor
yields. All too often that experience discourages them
from using high-quality certified seed in the future.”
Seed industry experts hope that by giving farmers,
agrodealers and extension workers more insights into
the seed market, agrodealer shops will experience a
higher demand for certified seed. That, in turn, will encourage local seed companies to increase production.
“Agrodealers can use this information to reach out to
seed companies and make sure Kenyan farmers have
access to the right seeds to increase both the quantity and the quality of their crops,” said Kassim Owino,
managing director of Agri SeedCo and an executive
board member of the Seed Trade Associate of Kenya
By Yohannes Woldegebriel
One useful way of doing this is to have someone in
authority talk informally with the new person or incoming group. The “orienteer” should not only tell
them how to get around the organization physically,
but psychologically as well.
Website Seeks...
living in cities who use their internet access to help
family members living in rural areas make planting
and other farm management decisions. The service is
also intended to help agrodealers and extension agents
learn more about the crop varieties plant breeders have
developed for different areas of the country.
May 2015
(STAK). “MbeguChoice is particularly good for identifying new varieties that have recently come on the market, or varieties with special attributes, such as maize
that matches local taste or planting preferences.”
A New Tool for Tracking Kenya’s Expanding
Menu of Seeds
MbeguChoice is debuting at a time when seed production is growing in Kenya and elsewhere in East Africa.
According to a recent report from The African Seed
Access Index (TASAI), the number of companies producing and distributing seeds for Kenya’s top four food
security crops (maize, common beans, sorghum and
cowpea) has grown dramatically since Kenya liberalized the seed sector in 1996. The number of seed companies grew from one government-backed company
to seventeen private sector companies plus additional
parastatals.
“The crop seed market in Kenya needs to grow considerably, but that growth cannot occur without stronger
links between seed producers, agrodealers, extension
agents and farmers,” said Paul Wanyagah, CEO of
Kenya Markets Trust. “It’s good to see that a simple
but very effective tool is now available to help make
those vital connections.”
(MbeguChoice (www.mbeguchoice.com) is an online
tool that helps farmers, agrodealers and extension workers identify the crop seed varieties on the market that
breeders think may meet their specific needs. It was developed by Agri Experience Ltd, through a partnership
between the Kenya Agricultural & Livestock Research
Organization (KALRO), the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS), and Kenyan seed companies,
with support from Kenya Markets Trust. Agri Experience is a Nairobi-based consulting firm specializing in
seed sector development in sub-Saharan Africa.)
Ato Taffara Deguefe Belayneh
On March 9, 2015, Ethiopia has lost one of its dearest
son and career bankers that has given distinguished and
iconic service to Addis Ababa Chamber of Commerce:
Ato Taffara Deguefe Belayneh. Ato Taffara served as
president of the Addis Ababa Chamber of Commerce
which was later renamed as the Ethiopian Chamber of
Commerce from 1968 -1975 and provided a highly invigorating leadership that has demonstrated his exceptional talent in times of peace and the onset of revolutionary turbulence.
Teferra’s service and contribution to Addis Ababa chamber and started as moderator and panellist of Dinner
luncheon organized fortnightly in the 1960s in which
public officials businesses, academicians were invited as
speakers and make presentations on various issues relevant to the chamber. His appointment as the Manager of
the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia has brought him even
closer to the major customers of the bank, the business
community. He was the third Ethiopian national president to serve the Chamber After Ato Bekele Besha, who
served three consecutive terms as president and board
member also known to have initatied and oversaw the
construction and completion of the Chamber building,
and Ato Gebremeskel Oda, a highly reputable business
man respectively.
The nomination for the election of Ato Taffara as the
president of the Addis Chamber was initiated by “the
traditional ceremonial approach” of a delegation of
the Chamber led by Ato Gebremeskel that came to his
office “to persuade [him] to accept nomination for the
forthcoming election.” Although he insisted that his
position as the CEO of the bank would made him not a
good choice, the delegation insisted that he would rather have “a distinct advantage to the business community” to establish good connections with government
officials which he boldly and invariably used during the
most turbulent time of post revolution Ethiopia with its
most erratic leaders.
Upon his election as the sole candidate for the presidency, Taffara made best organised and very well thought
speech outlining his plans to work for the Chamber
together with other members of the board of directors
and the business community at large that he tirelessly
exerted and succeeded to achieve to the best of his ability. As a CEO of government owned Bank but operating
like any private businesses under the commercial code
of Ethiopia, the managerial autonomy that he enjoyed
to exercise and the absence of private business owned
and operated has put him in a unique position to avoid
any possibility for conflict of interests and to help and
contribute toward harmonizing the interaction of the
business community with government. His academic
and professional background together with his personal
integrity and independence has also served to set exemplary leadership in the Chamber that is not prone to be
subdued and highly required to promote and advocate
Chambers thorny issues vis-a-vis public officials.
Ato Taffara pleasantly recalled that even though he
served at various public offices as Director of the
Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority, CEO of Commercial
Bank of Ethiopia and Governor of the National Bank of
Ethiopia along with other governmental and non- governmental offices before he ended up in to the brutal jail
of the Dergue regime, “one of the positions of public
prominence that [he] ever had was being president of the
Ethiopian Chamber of Commerce.”
It appears that Taffara’s position as the president of
Chamber, a statutory representative of the business
community and the relative freedom of discussion and
interaction that exist in the activities and virtually all
events hosted by the chamber must have added addition-
al incentives and satisfaction for his work in Chamber.
Taffara frankly admitted that “government leadership
under the emperor was authoritarian and paternalistic,
but official policy encouraged cooperation with the private sector” which looks very unfortunately, in contrast
with subsequent regimes.
Taffara was a polyglot that was highly educated, well
read, a man of impeccable integrity and principles and
deeply patriotic. Most of the dangerous encounters affecting the business community that he and other colleagues were subjected to face, particularly during the
revolutionary turmoil are proofs for his courageous and
selfless contributions in a desperate efforts to safeguard
the chamber and its members. The highly radicalized
communist rhetoric of the 1970s that influenced most
actions and legislations of the military regime against
the nascent private sector also invariably targeted the
chamber and its members. It was the wisdom and audacity of Taffara’s leadership that helped convince the
aborted General Aman Andom address to the business community on the non-existent economic policy
of Dergue against the backdrop of hovering rumours
circulated and demands for communist confiscation and
saved the liberty and life of delegates that had gone to
India to benchmark useful experiences for the business
community to play a role in a highly restricted space
allowed by the Military regime following the adoption
of its economic policy months later.
So much can be written regarding Taffara’s leadership,
meritorious contributions and legacy to Addis Ababa
Chamber of Commerce and the Chamber system in
general. While Addis Chamber TV programs aired in
two parts, featuring the life and careers of Ato Taffara
should be congratulated, it is with a sense of deep disapproval and bitter resentment that I conclude my article.
The death and funeral of Ato Taffara, concided with
unfortunate circumstances occurring in Addis Chamber
that led to a court verdict depriving its leadership and
disbanding members of the board directors upon a suit
initiated by one of its members, the subsequent installation of a caretaker body to hold another election and
finally, summoning and organizing general assembly to
conduct re-election. It was in the middle of these confusions, infighting and hectic situations that the Chamber
and its members lost precious moment to pay respect
to the death of its enterprising leader. Ato Taffara was
a guest of honour during the commemoration the Addis
Ababa Chamber 50th anniversary that was celebrated 18
years in the presence of invited high profile government
officials. The infighting and subsequent confusions in
the Chamber has apparently prevented it to duly remember and pay respect to one of its able president.
However, Ato Taffara’s presidency to the Chamber does
not constitute the major part of his professional contributions and services in his life time to his country. He
had served his country as a staff in the State Bank of
Ethiopia, Manager of the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia
in Khartoum, Director of The Ethiopian Civil Aviation,
CEO of the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia, Governor of
the National Bank of Ethiopia. He genuinely served his
country and government and he was a public servant
par excellence. But despite his great contribution and
service particularly in the banking sector, he has been
totally disowned and news of his death not mentioned in
the public media let alone to present his bios. The works
and legacies of Ato Taffara to his motherland is so nvisible, glittering and hard to cover up notwithstanding any
sinister attempt to overshadow his service particularly
at this difficult time of our country when it has become
common to self serving individuals and persons that are
busy in concocting and disseminating creative stories.
May 2015
ADDIS BUSINESS What’s driving Ethiopia’s
remarkable improvements in
nutritional health?
Since 2000, Ethiopia has been doing something right in
early childhood nutrition. Under-five child stunting rates
have dropped from 58 percent to 40 percent, child wasting has dropped below 10 percent, and the prevalence
of underweight in young children has declined from 41
to 25 percent.
What lies behind these impressive gains? According to
experts from the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and Transform Nutrition, possible drivers
include improvements in infant and young child feeding
practices, improved agricultural performance, advances
in empowering women, stronger social safety nets, and
better roads and infrastructure.
“The reasons are still unclear, but the Ethiopia of 2000
is a stark contrast to the Ethiopia of today,” said Derek
Headey, a senior research fellow at IFPRI. “Much of the
improvement stems from larger birth sizes and hence
better maternal nutrition, but we’re still trying to figure
out exactly what’s driving these changes.”
Headey and other IFPRI researchers, government officials, and top international and national experts in nutrition, food policy, agriculture, and social protection will
discuss the possible reasons for Ethiopia’s major gains
in child nutrition today at a one-day conference at the
Hilton Hotel in Addis Ababa.
On the agenda are discussions about the impact of cash
transfer programs on nutritional indicators, how women’s empowerment in agriculture can affect nutritional
outcomes, production diversity, and children’s diets, and
how remoteness impacts welfare and nutrition, among
other topics.
Government investment in road infrastructure has made
it easier for farmers to get food to market and for food
to travel to remote areas. In 1997, only 15 percent of the
population was within three hours of a city of at least
50,000 people. In 2010, the percentage had increased to
almost 50 percent.
“Better market access has led to lower poverty and better
food security and more resilient food systems,” said Bart
Minten, a senior research fellow with IFPRI.
John Hoddinott, the H.E. Babcock Professor of Nutrition
and Economics, Cornell University and a co-research director for Transform Nutrition, who will present research
on production diversity and children’s diets, points to the
importance of linking interventions in nutrition to interventions in other sectors.
“Further sustained reductions in chronic undernutrition
in Ethiopia will require tighter links between agriculture, social protection, and nutrition complemented by
increased attention to improving women’s status and
economic decision-making,” Hoddinott said.
Researchers said other African countries could benefit
from emulating some of Ethiopia’s strategies for improved child nutrition. But first they need to understand
the principles and processes that helped the country
make such impressive strides.
“While there’s still a long way to go, these improvements indicate that something is working in Ethiopia,”
Headey said.
###
The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) seeks sustainable solutions for ending hunger and
poverty. IFPRI was established in 1975 to identify and
analyze alternative national and international strategies
and policies for meeting the food needs of the developing world, with particular emphasis on low-income
countries and on the poorer groups in those countries.
www.ifpri.org.
Transform Nutrition is a consortium of five international
research and development partners funded by the UK
Department for International Development. Using research-based evidence they inspire effective action to
address undernutrition. www.transformnutrition.org
Thundafund: The crowdfunding
platform made for Africa
In the egalitarian world of crowdfunding, most sites are
much the same -- largely passive templates for start-ups to
vie for investment. While these tools may be advantageous
abroad, in Africa... not so much. What works in New York
might not necessarily work in Cape Town. Knowing this,
one South African company has created an ethically-conscious platform for entrepreneurs from the continent -- and
it’s leaving its rivals by the wayside in the process.
Thundafund, launched by Patrick Schofield in 2013, has
seen unprecedented success and spawned a new way of
thinking among the crowdfunding community. How? By
working closely with entrepreneurs to get the best out of
their ideas.
“I’ve seen so many failed dreams,” Schofield explains.
“People have put their hearts and souls into businesses, their
life savings into an idea they think is awesome, only to find
out marketers don’t like it.” But with Thundafund “you actually get to ask the market whether it’s a good idea.”
This in essence is the modus operandi for all crowdfunding
sites, and Schofield is forthcoming in his praise for the “fantastic” Kickstarter and Indigogo.
Thundafund is different however, explains Jaco Kruger,
Managing Director of YBike, who launched a campaign attracting 50,000ZAR ($4,100) of investment in 2013.
“Kickstarter doesn’t really work in South Africa... it’s a difficult market to break in to... It could be said [Kickstarter] is
more about making money than empowering people; there’s
no responsibility towards funding more entrepreneurs. Patrick is providing opportunities and helping communities.”
A new way of doing business
Good ideas are “a dime a dozen” Schofield says, but many
South Africans lack the “the skills and resources” to bring
their idea through to fruition. New businesses that do receive
funding are often saddled with heavy debts or give away
significant portions of their company to investors in return
for guidance. Whilst the likes of Kickstarter “stand aside”
once a campaign is launched according to Kruger, Thundafund has guided its entrepreneurs through the process, optimizing their chance of attracting investors.
This involves utilizing multimedia channels and social
networks. Schofield stresses the importance of embedded
videos as a means of articulating a project’s vision, but says
online platforms are far from the only path. One campaign
in a small community with low levels of internet uptake,
reached its funding target by holding talks in the local
church and library.
“It’s not all digital and straightforward,” Schofield explains.
Indeed, over a third of Thundafund’s investors used bank
transfers to make pledges. With that in mind the company
has limited its scope to national entrepreneurs.
A history of success
Over 1,400 projects have been submitted so far, with 160
finding their way on to the site. The reason behind the cull
is largely due to projects realizing “they’re not financially
viable” during the collaborative process with Thundafund,
Schofield says, or coming to the conclusion that more work
needs to be done to make them so. He admits however some
shrewd business decisions needed to be made on his part:
“We wanted to show that crowdfunding can be successful
in South Africa, and to do that we needed success stories.”
Amongst those is Honest Chocolate, who raised 70,000ZAR
($6,000) to turn their industrial raw chocolate business into
a boutique café and shop. “Without the investment it would
have been very difficult,” explains co-owner Anthony Gird,
“we had so many things to put it towards.”
Key to their campaign was the effective use of incentives for
investors, among them chocolate workshops.
“Seven months after our launch two people came in saying they’d come to claim their reward for investing. The
campaigns have longevity as well.”
Both Gird and Kruger acknowledge that as well as finance,
the crowdfunding process is a fantastic marketing opportunity. “It creates a build up and awareness... your target market is already activated,” says Honest Chocolate’s co-owner,
whilst Y-Bikes, already an established company, “did very
well” out of their campaign.
Not that the process is easy. “You can’t just post and forget
about it,” Kruger explains. “It’s a lot of work,” says Gird,
“a lot of admin, a lot of bookkeeping... keeping the energy
going and keeping people informed.”
With businesses like Honest Chocolate and Y-Bikes among
the 70% of projects achieving sufficient funding, Thundafund has seen plenty of success. In comparison, Kickstarter
stands at around 40%, whilst Indigogo’s is less than 5%.
“There’s been a few crowdfunding sites in South Africa that
have failed,” Kruger says, “and Patrick has made this work.
He’s building it slow, the way it should be built.”
Planning for the future
Now that the viability of the platform has been established,
Schofield is looking forward to reducing the percentage of
successful campaigns and increasing the democratization of
the crowdfunding process. But where will that leave South
Africa’s fledgling start-ups?
Schofield has recently launched Ripple, a platform dedicated to community causes and activism. Such campaigns had a
strong presence on Thundafund, including the solar powered
Sunshine Cinema and one of Schofield’s favourites, The
Secret Love Project, which manufactured waterproof outfits
for Cape Town’s homeless, who then had the opportunity to
send a message back to their investor. Schofield concedes
however that “it can be a bit difficult when you have a charity project sitting next to a business project within the same
space,” hence the schism.
South African entrepreneurs should be far from concerned
by the shake-up. In fact, it looks like there will be even more
support on the horizon. The two crowdfunding sites will be
advised by the Africa Centre, which Schofield describes as
“a supportive network for social entrepreneurship... a space
for people to ask questions and receive advice,” as well as
“workshops and one-to-one mentorships.”
As Kruger says, Schofield is not just a businessman but a
tutor within the crowdfunding sector and “that’s unique,
that’s brilliant.”
(By Thomas Page, for CNN)
June 16, 2015
PAGE 8
What Does Tesla Mean For
Energy In Africa?
With only 30% of people in Africa having access to electricity, it’s little wonder Tesla’s Powerwall home-storage
batteries are being touted as the next big revolution for
African energy. In countries like Nigeria diesel-powered
generators are the default back-up for chronic, daily national power cuts. Tesla’s Powerwall battery works as a
back-up that is not reliant on fossil fuels. It stores renewable energy like solar and wind and can last more than
24 hours. All this at no cost other than the upfront cost of
the Powerwall itself.
For Africa’s energy consumers and low-income groups,
affordability is the main hurdle for the Powerwall’s
adoption. Tesla’s 7-kilowatt-hours (kWh) capacity battery costs $3,000 upfront, excluding installation. Average per-capita incomes across sub-Saharan Africa mostly fall below $3,000, and it costs Africans much more
to access energy than in many parts of the developing
world. The continent remains hugely dependent on expensive fossil fuel sources for primary energy consumption, while renewable energy still accounts for only 20%
of installed generation capacity, despite recent progress.
Other new energy solutions have proved cost-effective,
for instance, mobile pay-as-you-go solar power services.
Under the model, pioneered by companies like Azuri
Technologies, users pay a one-off installation fee of
around $10 for a solar panel that can power two LED
lights. The pack also includes a phone-charging device.
The total weekly cost is about $1.50, which is at least
50% lower than fossil fuel alternatives such as kerosene.
Users also get up to eight hours a day of energy. It would
take 18 months to pay for the Azuri unit, bringing the
total cost to around $108. Compare this to the $3,000
price tag of the Powerwall pack.
But Tesla’s storage solution could help accelerate Africa’s permanent transition from fossil fuels to renewable
energy, thus aiding the continent’s fight against environmentally destructive greenhouse gas emissions. At least
40% of the African communities that use solar energy
still rely on fossil fuel energy sources as a backup.
Existing small-scale solar battery devices can’t compete with Tesla’s Powerwall battery, which can supply
1,000 watts for at least 10 hours and possibly more. The
impact on everyday life, from tasks such as cooking to
study-lighting for school children in urban, semi-urban
and rural Africa, could be monumental. Already, Africa’s
off-grid communities that have moved from wood-burn-
ing to solar power lanterns have enjoyed health and economic benefits.
The average urban African household only needs six
hours of energy a day to run productively – rural households require much less. Since the Powerwall can offer
more than 24 hours of uninterrupted power supply there
may be ways to deliver the Tesla solution in a corporate pool to rural communities, rather than to individual households, for whom costs would be prohibitive.
Shared utilities such as water, light, and heat still form
part of the cultural fabric of many African communities.
In order to do this, however, the policy environment for
renewable energy – particularly solar and wind – needs
to be favourable. Even if Tesla plans to introduce a grant
element or cheaper version of the Powerwall battery
pack to off-grid African markets, a communal platform
for Tesla batteries in Africa may still require a government subsidy scheme. But subsidies could undermine
the move towards cleaner energy sources on the continent, and place a huge economic burden on countries.
Global experts are awed by the low costs of Tesla’s
Powerwall batteries, since competing technologies cost
twice as much. The introduction of the technology has
clearly reinforced the merits of energy storage systems
and could create momentum for the development of
cheaper sustainable energy solutions for Africa’s low-income off-grid communities. Tesla is already designing
a battery pack for large utility companies in the US,
suggesting the possibility of tailored options for specific
markets.
Africa is grappling with the challenge of transitioning
to clean energy systems such as solar. That transition
would be smoother if countries’ grid-reliant communities – and not just off-grid ones – formed a core constituency for solar technology. While Africa’s rural poor
are often viewed as the main protagonists in the energy
access and energy-poverty discourse, the continent’s
middle, and largely urban class, are probably the most
crucial link in cementing the shift to green energy. It will
be primarily this middle-class demographic than can
afford the type of solar technology that will force this
shift. In the short-term, at least, this demographic could
also be the most viable target market in Africa for Tesla’s
ground-breaking energy storage.
(New Africa Business News 16 Jun 2015)
Africa Creates TFTA – Cape To
Cairo Free-Trade Zone
African leaders have agreed to create the continent’s
largest free-trade zone, covering 26 countries in an area
from Cape Town to Cairo.
The deal, signed in Egypt, is intended to ease the movement of goods across member countries which represent
more than half the continent’s GDP.
Since the end of colonial rule, governments have been
discussing ways to boost intra-African trade.
The poor state of roads, railways and airlines have made
it difficult.
Three existing trade blocs – the Southern African Development Community (Sadc); the East African Community (EAC) and the Common Market for Eastern and
Southern Africa (Comesa) – are to be united into a single new zone.
With this agreement comes into fruition a century-old
dream to link the continent from the Cape to Cairo. Explorers and freedom fighters alike all shared the vision to
integrate African economies.
And on paper it looks like a progressive step for a continent that has seen average growth rates of 5% in recent
years.
However, it needs parliamentary endorsements from all
member-nations and once governments start reading the
fine print, the mood may change.
Many of them have small economies that produce few
exportable goods. A free-trade protocol would mean
they would have to compete with larger industries that
could threaten their economies.
Africa’s many regional blocs have not really aided continental trade so far and the African Development Bank
has often said that the focus should rather be on developing infrastructure.
Nevertheless if it is implemented in a reasonable timeframe and there is sufficient political will to follow
through, then it marks a new beginning for local trade.
Will Cape to Cairo free-trade zone work?
The pact – known as The Tripartite Free Trade Area
(TFTA) – will then be officially unveiled at the upcoming summit of the African Union this weekend in South
Africa.
BBC Africa Business Report’s Lerato Mbele says the
idea behind it is to remove trade barriers on most goods,
making them cheaper, and stimulating $1tn (£648bn)
worth of economic activity across the region of more
than 600 million people.
However, concluding the deal in Egypt will merely be the first step and it will need to be approved by
each country’s parliament, before the wheels are set in
motion, she says.
It is hoped that this will happen by 2017.
‘Extremely exciting’
Analysts says countries within a free-trade zone agree
to reduce or do away with certain trade barriers within
that area, but still pursue their own trade policies when it
comes to outside countries.
Kenyan academic Calestous Juma said the move was
“extremely exciting” for the continent as, once implemented, trade within Africa would increase to 30% from
12%.
“The comparison with Europe is 70% of their trade
is within Europe,” he told the BBC’s Focus on Africa
programme.
“By having larger markets, it signals the possibility of
being able to manufacture products at a scale that is
cost-effective.
“For example, where you need large-scale investments
like $200m to create a pharmaceutical factory, you
couldn’t do that if you were only selling the products
in one country.”
He said the consolidation of financing would be another
benefit of the TFTA.
“As soon as banks notice that they can lend to larger
investors, say in manufacturing, that will lead to the
liberalisation of the financing sector, greater access to
finance and more investors coming to Africa.”
(New Africa Business News)
11 Jun 2015
PAGE 9
ADDIS BUSINESS May 2015
BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES
IMPORT OPPORTUNITIES
EXPORT OPPORTUNITIES
Name of Company: REKAFURINDO Kawasan Industry
Terboyo Semarang, Jl. Terboyo Industri Timur Blok E-12,
Semarang Central Java - 50118
Product: Indoor Furniture, Outdoor Furniture, Wooden Cabinet Furniture Wooden Seat Furniture
Tel: (62-24) 6584177, 6584175
Fax: (62-24) 6584176, 7625428
Email: [email protected]
Country: Indonesia
Fresh Electric for home appliances
Country: Egypt
Tel: +0020238290407
Fax: +0020238290407
Email: [email protected]
Line of Business: Industries aluminum engineering industries sector
Company Name: AHCOF Industrial Development CO.LTD
Country: China
Contact Person: Qin He
Email:
[email protected]
Business Scope: Import sesame seed, beans,
peanuts, vegetables meets, cotton and aqua
products, metals such as copper and iron etc.
Name of the company: Promising Int.Trading Co
Company Profile: Importing White sesame seed,hulled sesame
seed,black sesame seed,peanut, cotton,cumin seed, rape seed,
meal,spices & herbs,flax seed, yellow corn,peanut oil,sesame
oil,buckwheat
Email Address: [email protected] [email protected]
Phone Number: +91114372000
Fax: +91 11 23730173
Country: U.A.E
Name of Company: Morani International FZC
Business scope: Candy,Bubble Gum,Snacks,Chews,Rice,Sugar,Film Packaging Mobile: +92 302 822 9580
Fax: +92 213 256 4004
E-mail:[email protected]
Website: www.pearlfoodind.com Country: UAE
Nessa Illumination Technologies pvt ltd
Country: India
Tel: +079 65051258 Mob. 9016111723
Fax: +002022-7362892
Email: [email protected], [email protected]
Line of Business: Solar/led lighting Solutions
Casi Beans BVBA
Country: Belgium
Contact Person: Leslie Van Goet-hem
Email:
[email protected]
Business Scope: Dried Pulses.
Name of the company: RBL FOOD BULGARIA Ltd
Company Profile:. Oilseeds, pulses and spices
Contact Person: Mr.Akhmad Zakher/ Director
Phone Number: 0079650056666/0074956409212
EMAIL: [email protected]
Country: Bulgaria
Name of Company: Nile Oil & Detergent Co
Area of Business: Deteregent powder(high & low Foam),Edible oil,soap(toilet,laundry,liquid soap)
Tel. +202 25780819
Fax: +202 42202443
E-mail: info@ savoegypt.com
Web-site: www.savoegypt.com
Country: Egypt
North Cairo Flour mills co.
Country: Egypt
Tel: +202/22817234 +202/22813483
Fax: +202/22802282
Email: [email protected]
Web:www.northcairomills.com.eg
Line of Business: Wheat milling –producing wheat flour
AST Enterprises Inc.
Country: Dubai
Contact Person: Alok Bhargava
Email:
[email protected]
Business Scope: Oilseed, Pulses and Spices
Name of the company:
Area of Interest: Live animal, eggs, fruits & vegetables
Phone Number: +253-77-83-83-78
Country: Djibouti
Name of Company: ASIA AFRICA BUSINESS INTERLINK
Company Name: E7 Industrial Kitchen-Sette
Country: Turkey
Tel: +90 444 7 321 , 0090 212 579 70 79
Fax: +90 212 579 71 49
Email:
[email protected]
Web:
www.setteint.com
Line of Business: Industrial kitchen Equipment such as:
Work tables, trolleys, hoods, ovens, Refrigerators, Panel
type cold rooms Laundry equipment like washing & drying
machines. Ironing, machines.
Address: Taman Kopo Katapang Indah, Block E No. 16 Bandung West Java, Indonesia
Email : [email protected], [email protected]
Phone : +62 813 144 84 884
Website : www.aididgt.weebly.com,
www.indo-ethio.biz Business Line Paper and Paper Product Supplier, Textile,
Gemstone, Food Stuff Country: Indonesia
Name of the company: AST Enterprises Inc,
Business scope: Oilseed, Pulses and Spices
Tel: + 971 4 4495300
Fax: + 971 4 4495338
E-mail: [email protected], [email protected]
Website: http://ast-enterprises.com/contact.html
Country: Dubai, U.A.E.
Name of the company: ACOS S.P.A.
Business scope: dried pulses
Tel: + (0039) 0424 411356
Fax: + (0039) 0424 418652
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: http://www.acosnet.it
Country: ITALY
Name of the company: Sagar International.
Country: India
Tel: +91 281 281 2580011 / 2580012
Fax: +91 281 2580014
Email Address: [email protected]
Business scope: Sesame Seeds and peanuts
Name of the company: Tongwei Group
Country: Pakistan
Phone Number: + 91-8287987406
Email Address: [email protected]
Business scope: Pulses.
Name of the company: SSB FZE
Country: UAE
Contact Person: Rohit Mhajan
Phone Number: Email Address: [email protected]
Business scope: Afri product trading
Name of the company: Ammora Aluminum Factory
Business scope: Aluminum manufacturing
Tel: + 249-83528984
Fax: + 249-83528983
E-mail: [email protected]
Country: Sudan
Name of the company: RAA Industrial Company
Business scope: Electronics, Stove Fans and other
Tel: + 202/2419875-26908909
Fax: + 202/24150031
E-mail: [email protected]
Country: Egypt
Name of the company: Mahgoub Sons Group.
Country: China
Contact Person: Hao Ran Ran
Phone Number:
Fax:
Email Address: [email protected] msg@
mahgoupsons.com
Business scope: agricultural Commodities and
Inputs
Name of the company: Sukwon Co., Ltd
Business scope: General Industrial Equipment, Vacuum
Equipment Manufacturing & Processing Machinery, Metal
Processing Machinery, Metal Coating Machinery
Tel: + 82-54-474-8418
Fax: + 82-54-474-8421
E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], jhkim2@
sw-eng.co.kr
Country: South Korea
Name of Company: Zerowet, Super Bambi, Baby Time,
Magic Baby
Area of Business: Baby Diapers, Wet Wipes, Adult
Diaper.
Contact Address: Karsli Mah. Yse Caddesi No: 20/1
Cukurova Adana/ Trurky
Tel. +903222348871/72
Fax +903222343369
E-mail [email protected] [email protected]
Website: www.atacltd.com
Name of the company: V.Ganesh Foods Ltd. Name of the company: Hamama meir trading (1996) LTD
Country: India Country: Israel
Contact Person: Sanndip Goya
Contact Person: Mr. ORi KOMM
Email Address: [email protected]
Phone Number: 972 3 51 95 555
Business scope: Spices, oilseeds and Pulses
Fax: 972 3 510 7010
Email Address: [email protected]
Business scope: Oil Seeds
Name of Company: Monaghan Electrical Group
Area of Business: Electrical procurement, Distribution and
wholesale-Monaghan electrical wholesale Ltd. Electrical
control panel switchgear manufacturing ECS NI Ltd. Contact Address: Plantation Rd, Monaghan, Ireland.
Tel. +3534781135
Fax: +3534783465
E-Mali: [email protected]
Website: www.megroup.ie Name of Company: Hatboru Plastik Boru ve Ticaret
Limited sirketi
Area of Business: Plastic well pipe, steel Pipe, Water Line
pipe, Gas Line pipe, Petrolume pipe, stainless steel pipe.
Contact Address: Antakya Organize Sanayi Bolgesi 6
Nolu Yol No: 15 Belen-Hatay Turky.
Tel: +903264512100
Fax: +903264512200
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.hatboru.com Companies Are ...
U.S. employees, Gallup found that when managers focus
on employees’ strengths, 61% of workers are engaged
and only 1% are actively disengaged -- a dramatically
different result than what surveys find of employees
generally. When employees use their strengths, they are
more engaged, perform better and are less likely to leave
their company.
What a company does or fails to do with the strengths of
its workforce has enormous implications for its future.
Gallup has found that when teams learn and focus on
their strengths every day, their productivity improves.
This produces an additive effect of up to 8% higher revenue per employee, for a total of 59% higher revenue
growth potential.
It All Adds Up to 59%
From Gallup’s analysis of U.S. organizations, we estimate that less than 1% of teams fully apply all four of
these human capital strategies. This highlights an area
Trade Fair
PUMPS, VALVES & PIPES AFRICA 2015
Date: Sept. 07 - 10, 2015
Event profile: International Exhibition for Agriculture and Food for Africa and the Middle East
Tel: + 27 (0)11 78 37 250
Fax: + 27 (0)11 78 37 269
Email: [email protected]
Web: http://www.exhibitionsafrica.com/ems/
Country: South Africa
Exhibition of Mother and Child
Date: 28th October to 1st of November 2015
Tel: 00216 74 208 028/ 0021674 228 770
00216 28 610 001 / 00216 28 610 002
Fax: 00216 74 296 527
Email: [email protected]
Site Web: www.mamnenfant.com
Country: Tunisia
(cont’d from page 2)
of tremendous opportunity for companies to accelerate
their growth.
Businesses can implement the four strategies in whatever order best meets their particular needs:
• Some companies may have an effective employee
engagement system in place, for example, but lack
the right managers. Selecting managers for natural
talent may be their best next step.
• Other companies may have an employee engagement program that doesn’t move the numbers because they’re using a competency model focused on
fixing weaknesses. Their starting point may be to
implement an actionable system to develop employees’ strengths.
• Still others may see wide variation in performance
among individual contributors. Their best course may
be to implement an assessment system that pairs top
managers with high-potential employees.
As companies implement these four strategies, they
maximize the potential of their human capital. When talented employees work in jobs for which they’re suited
under the direction of talented managers, they’re more
engaged and able to maximize their strengths. This combination leads to more sales, increased productivity and
profitability, lower turnover and absenteeism, fewer
accidents and defects, and a culture of high customer
engagement -- essentially, everything companies want.