Heineken Ethiopia has announced a significant investment of 33 million birr to launch a livelihood improvement project aimed at supporting 75 families in the Koye Feche and Klinto areas of Sheger City. This initiative underscores the company’s commitment to community development, guided by the principle of “From the community to the community.”

William Bart, Managing Director of Heineken Ethiopia, highlighted that the project offers a comprehensive support package, including training, materials, and financial assistance to ensure long-term success for participants. The initiative will empower 75 individuals—men, women, and youth—to pursue diverse career paths. Beneficiaries will work in sectors such as baking, poultry, dairy farming, cattle fattening, and food production.

This project is part of Heineken Ethiopia’s broader commitment to the agricultural sector. Since 2013, the company’s efforts have revolutionized the Ethiopian barley supply chain, benefiting over 100,000 small farmers and positively impacting more than 600,000 people across several regions. A recent review indicated that participating households saw income increases of up to 150%, contributing to substantial local economic growth and foreign exchange savings.

The city of Addis Ababa has been recognized as a gold winner in the first-ever Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety Speed Challenge, announced on August 27, 2025. This international competition honors cities worldwide that have successfully implemented speed management measures to reduce road crash injuries and fatalities.

Competing cities were tasked with adopting the World Health Organization’s recommended speed limits — under 50 kilometers per hour in urban areas and under 30 km/h in high-risk zones such as around schools and hospitals — while deploying strategies such as street redesign, enhanced enforcement, and public awareness campaigns. Addis Ababa stood out for its comprehensive approach, which included sustaining speed enforcement operations and installing more than 640 concrete and 1,500 rubber speed humps citywide, particularly in school zones.

Crucially, crash data from intervention sites in Addis Ababa show that these efforts have saved 37 lives, highlighting the significant impact of the city’s commitment to safer road use. The award comes with a $100,000 grant to support the city’s ongoing road safety work.

Ethiopia, in a landmark move to enhance its business environment and institutionalize a data-driven approach to policymaking, officially launched its new Electronic Public-Private Dialogue (E-PPD) platform. The launch event, held on August 26, 2025, at the Haile Grand Hotel in Addis Ababa, marks a significant step toward fostering transparent, inclusive, and effective partnerships between the public and private sectors.

The E-PPD platform, a flagship initiative of the Business Environment and Investment Climate (BEIC) project, is a strategic collaboration between the Government of Ethiopia, the Ethiopian Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral Associations (ECCSA), and key development partners. Funded by the European Union and implemented by GIZ, the platform aims to provide a structured and digitalized approach to addressing critical policy and business environment challenges, ensuring that regulations are practical, transparent, and widely accepted by all stakeholders.

“For too long, the dialogue between the government and the private sector has been limited by traditional, often inefficient, methods,” said Dr. Abdulhakim Mulu, State Minister, Ministry of Trade and Regional Integration (MoTRI). “This E-PPD platform is transformative. It leverages technology to create a dynamic, real-time feedback loop that will allow us to co-design solutions to challenges in the business environment, ultimately leading to more responsive and effective policies that foster sustainable economic growth”.

Spotlight Communications and Marketing has become the first Ethiopian agency to win at the prestigious African Marketing Confederation (AMC) Awards, earning continental recognition for landmark campaigns created with Safaricom Ethiopia and the Ethiopian National Blood Bank in partnership with Abbott.

Safaricom Ethiopia’s One Move Away campaign won the Silver Award for Most Effective Campaign, while the Ethiopian National Blood Bank and Abbott’s Incredible Generation campaign received the Bronze Award for Best Non-Profit/Public Sector Campaign.

“These victories are a testament to the vision of our clients,” said Selam Birhanu, CEO of Spotlight Ethiopia. “Safaricom, Abbott, and the Ethiopian Blood Bank showed extraordinary leadership- we are proud to have brought their ideas to life and to bring these honors home to Ethiopia. That’s why we believe Spotlight is the ROI agency for brands”