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Ecom Advertising has joined forces with local realtors in Ethiopia to restart publishing real estate information on the internet through liveinethiopia.com, an Ethiopian real estate website.

LiveInEthiopia was released in the beginning of 2010 to take the rather chaotic Ethiopian Real Estate Industry – the renting, buying and selling part – to a different and modern level. It had a different business model then; it used to collaborate with the realtors, traditionally known as "Delalas", on all levels. It used to advertise the properties, negotiate with customers and was directly involved in the business.

Ethiopia earned 123.8 million US dollars in revenue from the export of manufactured goods in the last five months according to the Ministry of Industry. The revenue earned by the manufacturing sector exhibited a 95.5% year on year increase according to Melaku Taye Public Relations Director to the ministry.

The revenue was acquired from the export of chemicals, agro processing, pharmaceuticals, leather products and textiles and garments said Melaku.

Buna International Bank, Ethiopia is to begin micro lending and saving operations. The bank wishes to change the banking system in Ethiopia where there are large numbers of depositors but few are able to access bank loans according to Eshetu Fentaye, President of Buna.

To this end Buna will offer micro lending and saving services to enhance banking services to small scale actors who could potentially make a difference in the economy he said.

Ethiopia’s progress towards World Trade Organization membership has been a slow and costly process said Geremew Ayalew, Director of Foreign Trade Relation and Negotiation Directorate, with Ministry of Trade. The accession process is taking time and is costing Ethiopia a lot explained Geremew.

The Ethiopian team responsible for the accession process has prepared responses to the third round of questions presented by member states of WTO according to Geremew. The round consists of an estimated 134 questions primarily dealing with economic issues he said.

Ethiopian Airlines, Ethiopia's flag carrier, is in negotiations with Bombardier Commercial Aircraft for the purchase of five Q400 turboprop aircraft. The airline has been in negotiations with the Canadian manufacturer for some months according to a senior Ethiopian Airlines Executive.

Bombardier and Ethiopian Airlines are in the process of negotiating the details in the purchase agreement said the executive. It is expected that this step will be concluded in the next couple of months he explained.

Nyota Minerals expects to finalize the Definitive Feasibility Study on its Ethiopian Project by the middle of the coming year, 2012. The company’s first priority is completing the DFS for the Tulu Kapi, Ethiopia project, said Richard Chase, Chief Executive of the company.

Nyota projects that the DFS will be completed in June of 2012 according to Chase.

The DFS is significant as it will allow the mining company to engage with banks in relation to financing for the projects he explained.

Allana Potash is expecting to acquire equity capital from new strategic investors for its project in Ethiopia, in the New Year.

The company expects that the positive preliminary economic assessment completed last month will result in developments in the coming year.  

The PEA stated that a one million ton per annum mine at the Dankil project will cost 796 million US dollars to build. The capital cost figure makes the projects the lowest cost and possibly the highest return potash project in the world according to Farhad Abasov CEO of Allana.

The National Bank of Ethiopia approved the appointment of Tesfaye Desta as the new president of Oromia Insurance Company, Ethiopia. 

Tesfaye has been serving as acting president of Oromia Insurance after Mitiku Abdissa founding president resigned last April He previously served as a financial analyst-project officer at the Ministry of Industry from 1987-91. He served in a managerial position with Nyala Insurance for more than ten years.

The Ethiopian Government Housing Agency cancelled the contracts of 643 tenants in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia who subleased their rental property to third parties against their contract with the Agency.

The Agency cancelled the contracts following a directive issued in October penalizing tenants who have sublet commercial properties owned by the government. The directive also penalized tenants who were utilizing residential property for commercial purposes.

Note: the veracity of this story has been disputed by the Institute if Bio-Diversity Conservation. Their correction/comment is found in the comments section.

A Netherlands company, Soil and Crop, has allegedly defaulted on an agreement with Ethiopia’s Institute of Bio-Diversity Conservation. Soil and Crop and the Institute of Bio-Diversity Conservation, Ethiopia reached an arrangement on marketing teff products in 2005.

The agreement reached between the two bodies requires Soil and Crop to acknowledge the Ethiopian origins of teff, collaborate on research programs, pay for license renewal and share profits with the Ethiopian governmental institute.