Moha, a company renowned for exclusively supplying internationally popular Pepsi products to local markets, has been sued by workers for allegedly causing layoffs at the Soft Drinks Industry SC. The company, whose assets belong to Ethiopian investor Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Al Amoudi and was recently integrated into the MIDROC Investment Group, introduced a new organizational structure aimed at solving structural problems.
On June 6, 2024, Moha’s General Manager, Adam Dawood, announced the termination of employment contracts for workers at the Teklehaymanot factory through an official letter. This decision has sparked legal action from the affected employees.
A source, who has worked at the factory for over 19 years and is among those laid off, expressed dismay at the termination. The source stated that despite their long-term commitment and contribution to the company’s growth, previous management issues led to the company’s financial troubles, making the layoffs unjust.
The workers, now facing joblessness, have voiced concerns about their families’ vulnerability due to the abrupt decision. Despite repeated inquiries, the employees received no satisfactory explanation for the layoffs, prompting them to seek legal redress to enforce their rights.
In their lawsuit, the workers demand either the payment of their salaries or reinstatement. Moha, in its termination letter, explained that although it marketed popular products, it faced significant losses that jeopardized the company’s continuity. The letter also mentioned efforts to introduce a new organizational structure and personnel allocation to address these structural problems and ensure the joint venture’s sustainability.
The letter indicated that each employee received a two-month notice from April 9, 2024, with their contracts ending on June 8, 2024.
Historical context reveals that the Nefas Silk factory, the country’s first PepsiCo facility, was established with a capital of 1 million birr, boasting a production capacity of 20,000 bottles per hour. Additionally, the Teklehaymanot factory, initially established in 1961 as the “Saba Tej” Share Company, has been a significant player in the industry.
As the legal battle unfolds, the workers hope for a resolution that addresses their grievances and secures their rights amidst the company’s restructuring efforts.
A Canadian business called East Africa Metals Inc., with its headquarters in Vancouver, has announced that it would begin building gold mine infrastructure in the Tigray region.
On the statement issued a week ago the company stated that its development partner Tibet Huayu Mining Co Ltd. has initiated the procurement process for heavy equipment required for the construction of the Adyabo Project’s Mato Bula and Da Tambuk mines, located in the Tigray region.
Equipment required for the mine construction and mining operations include drill rigs, excavators, trucks, loaders, bulldozers graders crushers, mills, conveyance systems and other heavy equipment.
“This significant milestone marks the next phase in advancing the Adyabo Project towards construction readiness,” it said.
The procurement is undertaken by Tigray Resources Inc, which is owned by Tibet Huayu and East Africa Metals, 70% and 30% respectively, including soliciting quotes from suppliers in both the Chinese and European markets. The objective is to finalize the comprehensive schedule of capital costs, complete purchase orders and coordinate the logistics for equipment imports.
Andrew Lee Smith, President and CEO of East Africa Metals, states “The initiation of the procurement process by Tibet Huayu is a crucial step forward for the Adyabo Project. This underscores our commitment to executing a well-planned strategy that ensures the timely acquisition of essential resources for mine construction and operational readiness.”
Late June the company has been stated that it has completed the negotiations of the Relocation Action Plan (RAP) to allow the mine development activities to begin at the Mato Bula and Da Tambuk projects.
The completion of the RAP is a crucial step for mining projects, “a critical process to ensure that any displacement of communities and disruption of agricultural land is managed effectively and ethically.” The purpose of a RAP is to minimize any negative impact of displacement and ensure fair compensation for disruption to agricultural lands.
On the statement it said that due to the projects’ remote location and the low value agricultural value of the area of the proposed mine development, no persons were required to be relocated after the RAP review.
“However, a negotiated settlement with the local community for compensation for access road construction has been completed and the first tranche of compensation paid, as required under Ethiopia’s Mining Proclamation,” it added.
The Adyabo Project Mato Bula and Da Tambuk deposits are high sulphidation gold rich Volcanogenic Massive Sulphide (VMS). This submarine porphyry-related system is located in the southern part of the Arabian-Nubian Shield (ANS) in the Tigray region. Mining licences have been received that cover both deposits on Adyabo, Mato Bula Au-Cu-Ag and Da Tambuk Au.
For the 2024/25 budget year, the Addis Ababa City Administration has proposed a budget of about a quarter trillion birr, an increase of over 90 billion birr from the preceding year.
The majority of the 230.4 billion birr draft budget, which was presented for public consultation before being sent to the city council for approval, is allocated to capital projects that are carried out by the municipal administration led by Mayor Adanech Abiebie.
The proposed budget amount is a 42 percent increase above the first approved budget of 140.2 billion birr for the 2023/24 budget year.
Recall that the city government increased its budget to 162 billion birr for the budget year 2023/24.
Recurrent funding for the 2024/25 budget year is 83.9 billion birr, or 36.4 percent of the total proposed amount, of which 9.4 billion birr is provisional.
However, the capital budget, which accounts for 146.4 billion birr, represents 63.5 percent of the total.
Based on the information that Capital was able to gather, the municipal budget will prioritize mega projects that are managed by the city administration, with job creation, social sector development, and city reform initiatives listed in that order.
The majority of the budget, according to the proposal, would go toward funding obtained from tax collection.
According to the city Revenue Bureau, revenue collection is increasing annually, but experts claim that there has been an increase in illicit activities, namely non-receipt-based transactions, in the city.
The bureau reports that over the previous five years, the average yearly gain in tax revenue has been 23 percent. The agency estimated that it will collect 151 billion birr in the budget year that concluded on July 7.
The city administration has been granted 5.2 billion birr for the budgetary year by the central government.
The budget for the current budget year, authorized by the central government, is 970 billion birr.
For the first time in over a decade, the state-owned telecom company Ethio Telecom is in the process of applying for a loan from an American financier. The telecom behemoth has surpassed its own forecasts to wrap up another stellar year in the just-concluded financial year.
The 130-year-old business revealed that its unaudited net profit increased to 21.8 billion birr, or 108.7% of the target.
In addition, the net profit increased by over 21%, or nearly 3.8 billion birr, compared to the previous year.
Frehiwot Tamru, the CEO of Ethio Telecom, declared, “In the last six years, we have quadrupled our net profit.”
At the press conference on Thursday, July 10, Frehiwot stated, “The 2023/24 budget year marks the completion of the second year of our three-year LEAD Growth strategy. And as a result, our subscriber base has grown by 8.9% from the same period last year, reaching 78.3 million customers, achieving 100.4% of our target.”
The company’s revenue in the reported period rose by 21.7% compared to the previous year, amounting to 93.7 billion birr, a rise of 16.7 billion birr over the previous year and 103.6% of our objective.
The unaudited financial report, according to the CEO, shows an EBITDA of 42.44 billion birr, or 47%, hitting 102.4% of the goal.
The state-owned telecom behemoth, which also generates foreign exchange, has secured almost USD 198 million, climbing by about 21 percent and reaching 117.5% of the projection set for the year.
Comparably, the company, one of the two state firms that do not require a government guarantee to access overseas funds, paid out USD 58.45 million, or 3.4 billion birr, through vendor financing for telecom development projects that had previously been held.
One of the CEOs of state-run businesses with a high work rate, Frehiwot, asserts that her company has completed external audits for the preceding six years.
“We are currently in the process of obtaining funds from an American financial firm to undertake expansion in the current budget year,” she states, “because our audit report has been sound and would allow borrowing external loans with very minimal interest rates.”
The CEO of Ethio Telecom stated that the new funds are awaiting clearance from the appropriate government authority.
This would be the company’s first foreign loan since 2013, the year it inked a USD 1.6 billion contract to extend mobile services nationwide with two of China’s largest telecom companies, Huawei and ZTE Corporation.
For the project, the funds came from a Chinese financier similar to the one that concluded in the mid-2000s by ZTE.
Telebirr
Launched three years ago, Telebirr, which is one of Ethio Telecom’s growing wings, has also significantly improved in the past year. According to the company, the business segment has seen significant growth in several operational areas.
Ferehiwot reports that 47.5 million Telebirr users have signed up for the service this year, surpassing the goal by 107%.
“According to a National Bank of Ethiopia report from March, this achievement translates to a 45.7% share of the total mobile money service users in Ethiopia,” she continued.
A total of 1.81 trillion birr was transacted in a single year thanks to the digitization of financial transactions through Telebirr, which has also improved financial inclusion and accessibility.
Since its launch in May 2021, a total of 2.55 trillion birr has been conducted overall. Similarly, 915 million transactions have been made, with USD 4.7 million going towards overseas remittances.
The telecom operator said in a statement that fuel payments of a significant 233 billion birr had been processed through the use of Telebirr.
Regarding the service payment system upgrade, Telebirr helps 129 government institutions, excluding fuel payment, integrate their product and service payments.
According to the company statement, 51 billion birr were processed during the current budget year, out of the 63.9 billion birr that had been transacted using Telebirr.
“Notably, 36.8 billion birr were particularly attributed to payments made through the government’s electronic service offering (E-government), and 30.5 billion birr were recorded in the current budget year,” it added.
Telebirr provides microloans, microsavings, and other associated digital financial services in partnership with Dashen Bank and the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia.
“Our firm provided microcredit services worth 9.6 billion birr to 2.9 million clients in the budget year, reaching a total of 12.9 billion birr with 5.3 million customers since August 2022,” the statement read.
The company provided microloans, savings, and overdraft services to its consumers.
Additionally, 2.1 million consumers have saved 13.35 billion birr in the last nearly two years, compared to 1.3 million customers who saved a total of 9.7 billion birr throughout the year.
A total of 436 billion birr was transferred with banks during the budgetary year, bringing the total amount of money moved with banks since 2022 to 765 billion birr.
Currently, 28 banks are connected to Telebirr.
Expansion and Restoration
In terms of boosting the capacity and coverage of the telecom and digital infrastructure, the 4G mobile network was completed at 966 sites, while the 3G network was expanded at 682 locations throughout the year.
The company has announced that the 4G network service has been expanded to 124 more cities and districts, bringing the total number of accessible 4G cities to 424. The 5G network was expanded at 79 mobile stations during the year that concluded on July 7, bringing the total number of 5G stations to 189.
Furthermore, four regional capitals currently have 5G service accessible, and work is in progress to make four additional cities 5G-ready.
A total of 150 new mobile towers have been built and installed in 81 weredas throughout 12 regions and one city administration during the budgetary year.
There are currently 63 mobile towers in development. Furthermore, 132 mobile towers that are currently in use have had 2G and 3G extension work completed on them throughout 7 regions, totaling 104 weredas.
The CEO remembered that, in addition to the effects associated with theft and other causes, instability in different parts of the nation harmed telecom infrastructure and interrupted services.
“Our company implemented a restoration plan due to improvements in peace and security,” Frehiwot stated.
The telecom behemoth was able to repair 16 service centers, restore 179 mobile sites in 61 towns and woredas across 6 regions, and sign up 374 new fixed broadband customers, of which 62 are enterprise clients and 14 are financial institutions. Besides restoring 570 kilometers of fiber optic cable.
She said, “The company is still dedicated to continuing restoration efforts to guarantee that all Ethiopians have access to reliable and affordable telecom services.”
The corporation paid 9.97 billion birr in government dividends and 29.8 billion birr in taxes during the 2023/24 budget year.
