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Ethiopian Entrepreneur, Bethlehem Tilahun, founder and manager of soleRebels was named the keynote speaker at the European E-Commerce Conference, taking place at the Teatro Circo Price de Madrid, in Spain from the 24th to the 25th of October.

The conference selected Bethlehem as keynote speaker in recognition of her status as e-commerce pioneer in Africa and the creator of an internationally successful consumer brand.

Bethlehem will be the first Chief Executive of and African based brand to be a keynote speaker at a major European digital commerce conference.

Nyota Minerals, engaged in gold exploration in Ethiopia, announced that it had received 1.3 million Pounds from the International Finance Corporation.

The company is expecting to use the investment from the IFC to support its Tulu Kapi project according to its announcement last month.

The company which is focused on gold exploration in Africa and development has also received consideration for 21.7 million new ordinary shares at 6p each.

The Board of Executive Directors of the World Bank approved the Eastern Electricity Highway project designed to link Kenya onto Ethiopia’s electrical grid with the aim of allowing power sharing between the two countries.

The World Bank will give 243 million US dollars to Ethiopia and 441 Million US dollars to Kenya from the International Development Association, a fund intended for the poorest countries in the world.

The project is part of the first phase of a program that is planned to implement power integration in the East African region which will ultimately cost an estimated 1.3 billion US dollars and benefit 212 million people living in five regional countries.

The first Ethiopian briquette factory, the African Briquette Factory, was inaugurated. The inaugural ceremony was attended by Wondemu Tekle, State Minister for Water and Energy and Dr. Tewoldeberhan Geberegziabher, Director General of the Federal Environmental Protection Authority as well as other guests.

The factory is producing 120 quintals of briquette, in one work shift, and is marketing the product in 10 and 50 kilogram packages according to Gerd Ladstatter, General Manager of the factory.

The briquettes are an important alternative to firewood in light of urbanization and population growth he said. It helps combat deforestation and environmental pollution by using recycled material explained Ladstatter.

Ethiopia is seeking to enhance fruit and vegetable exports into the European market with the help of the EDES food safety program.

A workshop to support the nation set up a food safety system up to international standards was held in Ethiopia with the aid of the EDES Program and administered by the Europe-Africa-Caribbean-Pacific Liaison Committee (COLEACP) in partnership with a group of European organizations working in food safety.

Efforts to ensure safe food exports from African, Caribbean and Pacific countries, which commenced in 2009, are now targeting the standard of Ethiopia’s production and the national capacity to enhance the country’s food exports to the European market.

The Ethiopian Energy Sector Mapping and Database Project was launched with the completion of the first phase of the study and the web based database system last week. The project is a collaboration of the Energy Co-ordination Office of GIZ-ECO and the Ministry of Water and Energy.

The project required partnership with federal, state and woreda level governmental institutions as well as including a group of eight domestic senior energy consultants headed by PROCEED, a local consulting firm said Wondimu Tekle, State Minister for Water and Energy.

The Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) Roads Authority awarded three more projects to contractors. The contractors selected for the road construction project are the Chinese Road and Bridge Corporation, Gebrehiwot Ekubemariam Construction and Satcon Construction.

The projects are estimated to be worth a total of 847 million birr.

The tender issued by the authority in June had attracted 17 bidders from which pool the three companies were selected.

Three Ethiopian Banks, United, Nib and Awash bank officially launched Premier Switch Solutions, a company set up to administer there shared electronic banking system.

The company officially launched operations ready to offer services through a network of 60 ATM machines and 160 point of sale terminals for all clients issued PSS cards by the three owner banks.

The presidents of the three partner banks handed out awards in recognition of the support received to set up the company to the National Bank of Ethiopia, Ethio-Telecom and the Document Authentication & Registration Office.

The first phase of the Yayo Fertilizer complex, Ethiopia is complete four months ahead of schedule.

The project was awarded by the Ethiopian Metal and Engineering Corporation, which owns the factory, to Tekleberhan Ambaye Construction in March for 792 million birr.

The contractor has completed the ground work ahead of schedule by mobilizing large numbers of manpower and equipment according to Ato Tekleberhan Ambaye, Owner and Manager of the construction company.  

The company had initially planned to finalize the groundwork which mainly consists of clearing within the project by was able to exceed expectations because of its manpower management system he added.

Ethiopia is working to enhance the apiculture sector according to the Ministry of Agriculture.

The ministry has put in place the regulatory framework to support the sector including the Bee Resource Development Protection Law, the Beekeeping Extension Package and Strategy, and the Honey and Wax Quality Control Regulations.

The MoA is also providing training programs to farmers while the Holeta Bee Research Center is conducting a range of research to address challenges in the sector said Tarekegn Tsige Head of Public Relations with the ministry.

The equipment required to launch bee keeping efforts is also being produced domestically he added.