The 5th edition of agrofood Ethiopia & plastprintpack Ethiopia is expected to attract more than 130 exhibitors from 14 countries, namely Austria, Bulgaria, China, Ethiopia, France, Germany, India, Italy, Jordan, Kuwait, Netherlands, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Türkiye. More than 3,000 trade visitors are also expected from all over Ethiopia.
Organised by the German trade show specialists fairtrade Messe in cooperation with local partner Prana Events, this business platform for the Ethiopian agrofood & plastprintpack industry will take place from 8 to 10 June 2023 at the Millennium Hall in Addis Ababa. Exhibitors will showcase adapted technologies and solutions in agriculture, food processing, ingredients, plastics, printing and packaging.

Debut of Africa’s largest tech and start-up show to welcome 900 companies to explore, discover, and connect to real opportunities in world’s rising digital economy

Morocco will centre the global tech community’s attention on Africa’s united commitment to advancing the digital economy next week, converging the best minds from governments, businesses, big tech, start-ups, investors and youths to accelerate and catalyse the continent’s ambitious digital transformation journey.
GITEX Africa 2023, now the largest tech and start-up show in the African continent, will make its highly anticipated debut from 31 May-2 June, with the final preparations underway across ten halls and 45,000sqm of exhibition space in a purpose-built super venue at Place Bab Jdid, Bd Al Yarmouk in the Red City of Marrakech. It will welcome 900 big tech companies, government entities, start-ups and participants from more than 100 countries, while attracting tens of thousands of attendees from all over the world.
GITEX Africa is the largest business event launch of any industry in the Middle East and Africa in recent years, and is affiliated with GITEX Global in Dubai, the world’s largest tech and start-up show, rated by global tech executives as the world’s best global tech event.
Held under the Patronage of King Mohammed VI, GITEX Africa is hosted by the Digital Development Agency (ADD), under the authority of the Moroccan Ministry of Digital Transition and Administration Reform.
Addressing media at the show’s official preview press conference was Ghita Mezzour, Minister of the Moroccan Ministry of Digital Transition and Administration Reform; Sidi Mohammed Drissi Melyani, the General Director of ADD; and Trixie LohMirmand, CEO of KAOUN International, GITEX Africa’s organiser.
In attendance were GITEX Africa’s official institutional partners the ANRT (Moroccan National Telecommunications Regulatory Agency), AMDIE (Moroccan Investment and Export Development Agency), ONMT (Moroccan National Tourist Office), ONDA (National Airports Office), Royal Air Maroc, and ONCF (Moroccan National Railway Office).
“The Kingdom of Morocco is proud to host GITEX Africa under the High Patronage of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, may God assist Him,” said Mezzour. “We’re witnessing a historic event, the first ever edition of GITEX Africa, and the largest tech networking and learning business event in the African continent.
“GITEX Africa will be an opportunity for Moroccan and African start-ups owners and young programmers to get in touch with regional and global investors and business incubators. An opportunity as well to networking with actors in both public and private sectors.”
Sidi Mohammed Drissi Melyani, the General Director of ADD, added that hosting GITEX Africa underlines Morocco’s commitment to work alongside the private and public sector to accelerate Africa’s digital infrastructure development while promoting cross-continental e-governance policies that improve digital transparency, openness and process integration: “The Kingdom of Morocco as well as the whole African continent is so honoured to host the first edition of GITEX Africa Morocco, which will take place in Marrakech from May 31st to June 2nd, 2023,” said Melyani.
“This big event, organised under the high patronage King Mohammed VI, is an important opportunity to value the efforts deployed by all the Moroccan stakeholders in the field of digital development. It is also a platform of networking between exhibitors, investors, researchers and tech operators around innovative solutions and digital transformation. This first edition will definitely contribute to enhance digital transition in Africa as a future innovation hub, led by its young talents and competitive start-ups.”
Magnifying Africa’s collective digital innovation ambitions and achievements
GITEX Africa’s impressive scale in its debut edition reflects the ambitions of Africa’s digital movement, with cross-continental initiatives such as Smart Africa’s vision to create a single digital market in Africa by 2030 propelling the continent to the forefront of the global digital economy.
“For too long, the world’s second largest continent has been under-stated and overlooked for its profound digital opportunities and aspirations,” commented LohMirmand, CEO of KAOUN International.
“At GITEX Africa, our mission is to curate an event that will serve the purpose of the African community in accessing business development, investment and learning opportunities. We focus on empowering the new generation of tech and creative talents to augment the culture of entrepreneurship and provide a single occasion that shall bring together the public and private sector leaderships to build tangible meaningful outcomes.”
That GITEX Africa hoisted the sold-out sign fuelling further expansion months before its grand opening is testament to the world’s confidence and optimism in the African digital opportunity, amplified by figures that underline the aspirations of African countries in their quest for digital excellence.
Africa’s vibrant start-up ecosystem also continues to grab headlines with the creation of seven unicorns over the last few years while according to analysts Briter Bridges, African start-ups raised a total of US$5.4 billion across 900-plus deals in 2022.
The influx of global interest will see GITEX Africa 2023 host more than 400 disruptive start-ups from 30 countries, including 200 international award-winning start-ups and 11 unicorns eager to share their achievements and access the promising African innovation hub.
All will have the opportunity to connect with 250 investors from 34 countries with US$200 billion worth of assets under management. As the ultimate start-up incubator and magnet for flourishing VC funds, GITEX Africa will deliver a structured and carefully curated scouting platform for these investors, of which 70 percent are coming from outside of Africa.
Added LohMirmand: “GITEX integrates Africa strategically into the hyper-connected tech ecosystem across 100 countries. It now firmly plugs Africa into the global entrepreneurial innovation economy boasting of resources imperative for the region to dynamize its digital transformation mission.”
Accelerating the Moroccan digital development strategy
GITEX Africa 2023 will also accentuate the progress of Morocco’s digital development strategy, strengthening its position among the top three African countries with the best ICT infrastructure, and underlining its status as having one of the continent’s most advanced telecommunications markets.
According to analysts IDC, Morocco’s IT market, comprising hardware, software and IT services, is expected to reach a value of US$1.7 billion in 2023, growing at a CAGR of 4.3 percent to reach US$1.9 billion in 2026. In 2023, growth is expected to be driven by enterprise and service provider spending in the North African country as organisations increasingly look to adopt hybrid cloud as a step towards their digital transformation initiatives.
World’s best minds gather at Africa’s most impactful leadership conference agenda
Africa’s most impactful leadership conference programme will meanwhile gather 250-plus speakers from 50 countries to share valuable exchanges and insights with a curious business audience motivated to draw on international experience applied to an African-centric context.
The GITEX Africa Digital Summit will lead ten conference tracks comprising 140-plus hours of mind-stretching content exploring the most pertinent transformational topics advancing Africa’s digital agenda, from generative AI and digital cities, or Fintech and agritech, to healthcare, energy, innovation, sustainable development goals, and a spotlight on the world’s most exciting start-up ecosystem.

The Government of the Republic of South Sudan has pledged to establish a coordinating structure to accelerate infrastructure projects along the Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia-Transport (LAPSSET) Corridor. This announcement was made by the Transport Minister, Madut Biar Yel, in Juba at the conclusion of a three-day ministerial council meeting attended by ministers and senior officials from Kenya, Ethiopia, and South Sudan.
The Ministers adopted the Juba Commitments, an 11-paragraph resolution, which calls on member states of LAPSSET to integrate corridor projects into their national development plans and develop a 10-year strategic plan for their implementation.
They also committed to operationalizing the Steering Committee and Technical Committee to ensure coordinated implementation in the three countries.
The Ministers recognized the 16 priority LAPSSET projects identified by South Sudan and urged private investors and development partners to channel resources and technical support towards their fast-track implementation.
The LAPSSET Business Council was called upon to mobilize resources and investments for the accelerated growth of key corridor components.
The Vice President of South Sudan and Chairman of the Infrastructure Cluster, Taban Deng Gal, highlighted that LAPSSET corridor presented an opportunity for regional integration and increased trade in the eastern and Horn of Africa area.
The Cabinet Secretary for Roads, Transport, and Public Works in Kenya, Kipchumba Murkomen, and Ethiopian State Minister for Finance, Eyob Tekalign, both reaffirmed their commitment to expedite the completion of the projects.
The Director of ECA’s Regional Integration and Trade Division, Stephen Karingi, emphasized the compelling business case for LAPSSET based on the enormous natural resources available in the three countries, which could support economic diversification and value addition.
According to Karingi, the Juba Commitments were seen as a demonstration of the three countries taking action towards the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
In conclusion, the Ministerial Council extended its appreciation to the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) for its support of the LAPSSET process and the facilitation of the ministerial processes.
The meeting was held under the theme “Fast-tracking LAPSSET Implementation for Peace, Growth, Sustainable Development and Regional Integration,” and was attended by about 120 participants. It was the third edition of a ministerial process, which began in Mombasa and Addis Ababa. All three were hosted by the respective countries and facilitated by ECA. The 4th Ministerial Council has been scheduled for Lamu, Kenya in 2024.

Grant Thornton Ethiopia (GTE), a leading advisory, assurance and tax services provider in Ethiopia, announced that it has partnered with Corporate Finance Institute (CFI) to cater CFI’s globally recognized world class certification and specialization programs in Ethiopia. The Institute is renowned as a world leading provider of practical learning and productivity tools for finance professionals.
The partnership is seen as a major milestone to build a globally competitive human capital in the Ethiopian financial sector and in building readiness for the upcoming Ethiopian Capital Market and financial sector liberalization.
According to Melaku Abeje, Managing Partner of GTE, the collaboration with Corporate Finance Institute to cater CFI’s hands-on certification and specialization programs have huge potential to fill the skill gap among finance professionals in the realm of capital market operation and financial sector liberalization. He added that the programs are online, self-paced and practical and designed by subject matter experts.
Anna Talerico, CEO of CFI, on her part explained that the partnership with Grant Thornton Ethiopia will help to make the internationally recognized programs available for the Ethiopian market. Anna added that the programs will be instrumental in the effort to cultivate the required human capital to materialize capital markets in Ethiopia. CFI’s certification and specialization programs are accredited by National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA), Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and Certified Public Accountant (CPA).
The CFI programs are trusted by world class financial institutions like J.P. Morgan, Citi Bank, ING, AIB etc. and giant corporations like Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, Salesforce, Black Rock, Boeing, Uber, Ford and many more. Millions of professionals across 175 countries have got CFI certification.
“CFI programs are best certificate programs for those who need practical training,” Melaku stressed as he explained that the country is in need of practical and hands-on training.