3000 Ethiopian businesses are to benefit from a project that is aimed to develop market chains and offer training as well as marketing opportunities to the entrepreneurs. The project is going to be funded by the Ethiopian government and the EU and has its main focus will be on empowering women and the country’s youth population. It is expected to reach out to approximately 1,500 women and 500 young people.
Micro and Small Scale Enterprises (MSE) that are facing number of constraints in their business activities are the ones that this project is designed to address.
According to Getachew Regassa, secretary general of the AACCSA, the main aims of the project are training businessmen in proper business management, creating an effective market chain, creating the opportunity for enterprises to participate in national trade fairs and raising awareness about the tax system.
Enterprises are to be classified into three stages by the project. The classifications are emerging, growing and mature enterprises.
Program Manager of Civil Society Fund, Ato Akalewold Bantirgu, has said that the Addis Abeba Chamber of Commerce & Sectoral Association (AACSA) was picked by EU to receive the fund allocated by the latter. And the total amount that it is going to receive is 7 % of the total sum.
AACSA has transferred the responsibility of training to another company even if it has its own training facility. Sisay Worqu, project director with AACCSA, has told Fortune that “The Chamber transferred the training to another company since it feared that administering the program through its own training institution would create a conflict of interest, thereby affecting its credibility.”
It was primarily aimed to select six districts in Addis Abeba on the basis of business concentration according to Getachew. But he furthere explains that because of budget constraint, only two districts has been selected, Addis Ketema and Yeka districts.
AACSA is planning to identify problems that is going to encounter during the implementation of the project and are report it during the annual national economic report for the Addis Abeba City Administration.
Soucre: Fortune
