2merkato

The management of Ethio Telecom will be handed over to Ethiopian staff once again as of December 13th. It is to be remembered France Telecom, the French telecom giant, had been managing the company on a contract bases since 2010.

France Telecom was given a two year contract to manage the state owned Ethio Tlecom with the intention of boosting telecom operations in the country, according to Dr Debretsion Gebre Michael, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Information and Communication.

This contact will expire end of this month. The contract will not be extended further and Ethio Telecom is not negotiating with any other foreign based telecom for further management contract said Dr Debretsion.

The new Airport built in Jigjiga, Ethiopia built for 68.4 million birr was inaugurated at the end of last month. The airport was inaugurated by Abdi Omer Mohammed, President of Somali Regional State.

The terminal was named Garad Wilwal, after the name of a well known clan leader in the region, at the request of the Somali Regional State Government.

The construction work was conducted by Asmelash & Sons Construction Company under the design and supervision of National Consultancy. The terminal has the capacity of handling 176 passengers per peak hours of operation, offices that can be used for various purpose, restaurants, and shops as announced at the inauguration.

The Export-Import Bank of the United States announced it will back the bonds that were issued by Ethiopian Airlines. The Airlines issued the bonds to buy ten Boeing 787 Dreamliner airplanes.

It was mentioned that the Airlines received a competitive interest rate from the bank. The agreement is good news to both parties because it helps the American export sector and Ethiopian Airlines will benefit from the financing program according to EXIM Bank Chairman and President Fred P. Hochberg.

Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI) is to be the co financer on the deal it was also mentioned.

Nile Insurance Ethiopia reported double digit growth in net profit for the 2011/12 fiscal year. The insurer announced that it earned 33.4 million birr in profits after tax which is 58.2 percent increase as compared to the revenue earned in the previous fiscal year. Earnings per Share also increased by 26.49 percent to reach 425.6 birr, it was reported.

Shareholders of the company discussed the decreasing market share that Nile has in the sector at the General meeting held to announce the financial report at the Addis Ababa, Hilton Hotel. It was particularly noted that insurers that had joined the sector after Nile were currently controlling a larger percentage of the market according to some data cited.

The National Tobacco Enterprise of Ethiopia is seeking financial sources to purchase machinery able to produce 20,000 pieces of cigarette per minute at an estimated cost of around 142 million Br.

The Enterprise purchased its second machine in 2003 since it started production in 1941. Together these two machines have the capacity of producing 7,000 cigarettes per minutes it was stated by to Ayele Alebel, public relations officer of the Enterprise.

The enterprise is not able to satisfy the market demand with this production capacity currently that it covers only 62 percent of the market He added. The annual demand is around 6.5 billion pieces of cigarettes in 2012, but the company is producing only 3.7 billion sticks according to Ayele.

Awash International bank has announced its decision to purchase 100 automatic teller machines, and Point of Sale machines, for all its branches and selected hotels.  

The ATMs and Points of Sale machines are to be located where ever the telecommunications network is available according to the announcement.

It is to be remembered that Awash announced a net profit of 394.4 million birr for the last financial year, last month. The profits earned by the bank are the highest in the bank’s history according to the announcement.

Tullow Oil announced that it is about to start drilling its first exploration well in Southern Omo in Ethiopia. It is expected that Tullow will start drilling on the first well in two weeks. The explorer has hired a drilling company, and all the drilling machines and other required machines have arrived at the drilling location according to sources.

It is to be remembered that the Ethiopian Ministry of Mines announced that it was in the process of facilitating visas for a Tullow drilling crew that will oversee the launch of drilling processes in October. The crew is expected to be composed of 20 primarily Polish experts.

The Ethiopian Privatization and Public Enterprises Supervising Agency said that it intended privatization of 20 public enterprises in the current Ethiopian budget year according to an announcement made on 1st December.    

The agency anticipates that it will earn more than 3.3 billion Birr from the privatization efforts planned for this year said Wondafrash Assefa Corporate Communication Director for the agency.

17 of the enterprises are expected to be sold directly in the privatization process said Wondafrash.

Kenya Airways issued an invitation to merge to Ethiopian Airlines and South Airways. The Kenyan airline extended the invitation in a bid to become more competitive on the global market and to face the challenge from large non African airlines.

The invitation was issued at the 44th African Airlines Association Annual General Assembly held in Johannesburg last week. The idea of the sub-Saharan allies merging to create a union to withstand the current global competition was suggested by Titus Naikuni, CEO of Kenya Airways speaking at the conference.

The proposal was accepted in principle by Tewolde GebreMariam CEO of Ethiopian Airlines. Size is an important factor in the aviation sector which depends on economies of scale he noted. As far as Ethiopian Airlines is concerned the idea of a major pan-African Airway is considered positively said Tewolde.

Konnect, an Ethio-German forum aimed at creating business networking and collaboration between Ethiopia and Germany is being held in Addis Ababa for the second time.

The forum is taking place at the offices of the German Development Cooperation under the motto of "Innovation through Migration".

The two days forum is expected to offer opportunities for both experts and companies to create links and promote collaboration to enhance the transfer of technology said Kokebe Haile-Gabriel, Coordinator of the Migration and Diaspora Program of the CIM.