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The 'Colors of the Nile International Film Festival', organized by the collaboration of the Ethiopian Film Makers Association and the Blue Nile Film and Television Academy is being held in Ethiopia between the 7th and the 11th of November.

The festival is going to include a range of activities and training opportunities according to Abraham Haile, President of the Festival. A range of workshops designed to develop the talents of Ethiopian filmmakers will also be part of the festival he said.

It is expected that 28 African countries will be represented in the 58 selected movies that will be a part of the festival. The festival was opened by the Alan Gomez film ‘Tey’ which has already won different awards at several international festivals.

The festival will place films in competition in different categories such ‘Documentary’, ‘long Story’ and ‘Short Story’ said Abraham.

The Privatization and Public Enterprises Supervising Agency of Ethiopia is expected to put up nine state owned farms for privatization in the next financial year. PPESA plans to privatize the farms on a full management agreement.

The nine farms to be privatized are the five farms operated by Arsi Agricultural Development Enterprise and the four managed under the Bale Agricultural Development Enterprise.

The AADE farms are Arba Gugu, Goffer, Garadila, Lole and Temela while the BADE farms consist of Sinana, Robe, Herero and Hunte farms.

Nine oil exploration companies are actively operating in Ethiopia with an estimated investment of 2.4 billion US dollars according to the Ministry of Mines.

The exploration companies are primarily operating in Afar, Gambella, Middle Abay, Rift Valley, South Omo Somali and Ogaden areas said Bacha Fuji, Director of Public Relations with the Ministry.

The companies are at different stages of the exploration process he said.

The Ministry has earned above 16.23 million birr from land rent, licensing, training and related activities noted Bacha.

Nirvana Processing, an Indian Company, is set to commence agro-food processing in Ethiopia's Bahir Dar Industrial Park with a 5 million USD investment.

Nisir Micro Finance Institution, currently under formation, is set to join Ethiopia's financial sector becoming the first commercial micro-finance institution. After three years preparation, Nisir is planning to go operational with a paid-up capital of 15 million Ethiopian birr in mid December 2013.

The company floated 15,000 shares with a face value of 1000 birr each. The huge gap between the supply and demand of financial services has driven Nisir's establishment, whose focus is providing a need-based and swift credit facility, Michael Addisu, Project Manager and Lead Promoter of Nisir told Fortune.