Gadaa Bank raises over 250 million birr

Gadaa Bank Sc. which is under formation, raised over 250 million birr since it began selling shares to the public. The bank was incepted in 2018 to meet the needs of displaced farmers. This way farmers could be empowered to use their resources to acquire capital for more business.
Consultants from the financial sector, university lecturers, Abba Gadaas and farmers initiated the bank’s establishment.
“Displaced farmers have not been able to use their compensation properly that is why Gadaa is on board to assist them to incorporate and make them aware of how to use their money wisely,” said Wasihun Amenu Board chairman and the mastermind of Gadaa Bank Sc.
Gadaa began selling the shares for the public four months back and sold 250 million Birr worth of shares until end of July.
The bank has already agreed with all private commercial banks including the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia to sell the shares and set 20,000 birr as a minimum amount of shares and 100,000 Birr as the maximum subscription value.
Anyone interested in becoming a founding member should pay 25 percent of the total purchased share and a five percent payment that will be earmarked for operational costs.
According to Wasihun, Gadaa aims to raise a capital of two billion birr.
”The opening up of the banking sector for Diaspora and the newly ratified proclamation on land compensation will be a plus for us to sell more shares”, he adds.
The Bank will be expected to create over 2,000 job opportunities when it begins opening the proposed 30 branches for the first phase of its operation.
“The coming up of new banks to the banking industry will not be seen as a threat for there is a huge gap in terms of quality, accessibility in the Ethiopian Banking sector,” the project manager adds.
According to 2018 data from the World Bank, a single branch will serve close to 20,000 people which is far in terms of accessibility, adding that 50 percent of the banks are accumulated in the capital that shows the potential and the gap in the sector.
“The banking sector in Ethiopia is a highly profitable area with a good return on investment and our feasibility study shows that there is a huge gap in quality and accessibility,” Wasihun adds.