Bedele Special, Ethiopia’s leading local premium beer brand, unveiled a new label design on Thursday August 24. The new design includes a refreshed logo and more vibrant and modern colors.
Bedele Special is Heineken Ethiopia Brewery’s export standard local premium beer brand, with an alcohol content of 5.5 percent. The secret behind its unique flavor profile is two distinct hops and 100% natural ingredients. The brand is available across the nation.
We are excited to introduce our new label design for Bedele Special,” said Kassahun Feleke, Marketing Director of Heineken Ethiopia. “The new design reflects the freshness, quality, modern spirit, of Bedele Special. It is bold, stylish, and contemporary.” He also added “This label revamp represents our dedication and passion for innovation and quality in order to continue meeting the needs of our consumers and customers.”

By our staff reporter
The Addis Ababa based, emerging, home grown and ambitious technology company, Ashewa Technology Solution, announces a short term share sales window aimed at boosting its new business venture, which is said to bring in a massive revenue in the coming few years.
Daniel Bekele, CEO of Ashewa, recently disclosed that the company has targeted to boost its subscribed capital by ten folds from the current 200 million birr.
As per the plan, the short share sales window will go on for three months at a minimum share offer of 200 units at 2,500 birr each per share value.
The technology company has also offered an alternative which is the grouping of five individuals to come as a group to buy the minimum share.
Recently, the company that is well known for its ecommerce platform introduced new digital solutions that it called ‘smart solutions’.
Ashewa Smart ERP is one of the new businesses that it set to innovate and accelerate human resource and other accounting based administrations to ease companies’ businesses. The Smart Website Builder is also another notable initiative created by the company that allows interested buyers to get their own website within few hours. Such customer based software development is the other business that is offered for the market by the firm to which Daniel claimed it attracts huge demand on the market.
Currently, the company is also working with international development organizations to support small and medium businesses to promote their activity through modern digital based marketing.

By our staff reporter
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the African Airlines Association (AFRAA) announced that AFRAA is joining the Focus Africa initiative.
Focus Africa aims to maximize the contribution of aviation to development across the African Continent by better serving passengers and shippers. Under Focus Africa, private and public stakeholders are committed to delivering measurable improvements in six critical areas – safety, infrastructure, connectivity, finance & distribution, sustainability, and skills development.
“AFRAA strengthens the Focus Africa coalition as we work to increase aviation’s role in Africa’s development. This has enormous promise. The continent is home to the world’s most rapidly growing population but accounts for just 2% of air passenger and cargo transport activity. The road to realizing aviation’s potential will be long. But with the strong partnerships committed to Focus Africa, we can, and we will realize the needed change,” said Kamil Al Awadhi, IATA’s Regional Vice President for Africa and the Middle East.
“AFRAA and IATA share a common vision – the development of a safe, secure and sustainable aviation industry in Africa that facilitates business, trade, and tourism and contributes positively to Africa’s economic growth and development. AFRAA fully supports and encourages collaboration in tackling the challenges and threats to the sustainability of Africa’s air transport sector. By joining IATA and the other Focus Africa partners we can help propel this initiative which will deliver widespread social and economic benefits,” said Abderahmane Berthé, AFRAA Secretary General.
IATA and AFRAA are also enhancing their collaboration by renewing a joint work program which includes promoting regional air connectivity by working together with governments to support the implementation of the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM). This work aims to (1) see the 23 countries committed to SAATM ratify the accord and (2) encourage more countries to join the SAATM.
The other area is liberating airline funds blocked by governments from repatriation by advising governments on best practices to clear backlogs. Since 2018, a significant amount of blocked funds have been repatriated from Angola, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe through working with the respective governments. Currently $1.5 billion in airline funds remain blocked across the continent.
Moreover it will work towards improving operational safety through a data-driven, collaborative program to reduce safety incidents and accidents. This includes improving data sharing, prioritizing the accurate communication of aeronautical information, timely accident and incident reporting, and promoting IATA safety auditing programs including the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) and IATA Standard Safety Assessment (ISSA). With all IATA members on the IOSA registry and all AFRAA members on the IOSA or ISSA registry, this effort will focus on encouraging governments to adopt the use of IOSA in their safety oversight programs.

By our staff reporter
The COP28 UAE Presidency has launched its Water Agenda during World Water Week in Stockholm, which took place from August 20 to 24.
COP28 announced its top priority areas, which include conserving and restoring freshwater ecosystems, enhancing urban water resilience, and bolstering water-resilient food systems.
Furthermore, the COP28 Presidency announced a partnership with the Netherlands and Tajikistan to serve as COP28 Water Champions.
This partnership aims to build upon outcomes and momentum from the UN 2023 Water Conference held in March, which was co-hosted by the Netherlands and Tajikistan, and resulted in the Water Action Agenda.
COP28 aims to give unprecedented attention to water risks and opportunities across the agenda, from agriculture to disaster prevention.
This partnership unites the COP28 Presidency, Tajikistan, and the Netherlands to deliver water policy, technology, and financing results at COP28.
Support from the Netherlands and Tajikistan is essential to ensuring progress and commitments from the UN Water Conference are driven forward.
Razan Al Mubarak, UN Climate Change High-Level Champion for COP28, spoke on the launch of the Water Agenda and partnership, saying, “Climate change profoundly affects water through flooding, droughts, and sea level rises, impacting homes, ecosystems, and livelihoods. Yet water is not only essential for human survival, health, and food systems, but it’s also fundamental to nature’s balance and the flourishing of biodiversity. With the COP28 Water Agenda, in collaboration with the Netherlands and Tajikistan, we seek to bridge the insights from the UN Water Conference with the climate community, amplifying our adaptation and mitigation efforts.”
Tajik Minister of Economic Development and Trade, Zavqi Zavqizoda, welcomed the partnership and expressed his commitment to co-lead COP28’s Water Agenda.
“I am pleased that Tajikistan and the Netherlands have recently been invited by the UAE to co-lead the Water Agenda at COP28. We are honored to have this great role and express our strong commitments to work hard to bring water on the top of the climate agenda, since water plays a critical role both in terms of climate adaptation and mitigation and thus greatly contributes to achieving climate resilience,” he said.
René van Hell, Ambassador for Sustainable Development, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kingdom of the Netherlands, also stated, “We need collective action on water and climate now. As co-host of the UN 2023 Water Conference, we firmly believe that the Water Action Agenda commitments, the pathways of change of the Global Commission on the Economics of Water, and other initiatives are the backbone for the realization of our goals. Our cooperation will support that, from New York to Dubai, and from Dubai to the world. Tangible outcomes on water and climate at COP28 are essential. There’s no time to waste. We have to act, all together, from public to private sector leaders. And we will.”
This collaboration will help put nature, people, lives and livelihoods at the heart of climate action.
Stuart Orr, Freshwater Practice Leader, WWF International, said, “We welcome the partnership with the COP28 Presidency to restore 30% of degraded freshwater ecosystems by 2030, leveraging the Freshwater Challenge. Rivers and wetlands are among our greatest allies in adapting to the climate crisis and need urgent attention and investment that benefits not only nature but also people across the world.”
The UAE and Brazil will also co-host the first UNFCCC high-level dialogue on building water resilience in food systems at COP28, bringing together ministers, the private sector, international organizations, and civil society to assess water and food resilience within National Determined Contributions (NDCs) and National Action Plans (NAPs).
It will take place on Food, Agriculture and Water Day during COP28’s two-week thematic program.
The first day of its kind, it will focus on innovation investment, regenerative agriculture, and national transformation pathways, underpinned by financing mechanisms. Water programming will look at freshwater restoration and conservation, infrastructure for urban water resilience, and integrated governance and management of water-food systems.
Billions of people worldwide are now facing severe droughts, floods, and water contamination due to climate change, further undermining food security, community cohesion, and economic development. These climate impacts worsen existing challenges around clean drinking water access and sanitation.