The General Assembly has made the decision to increase the capital by Birr 1.08 Billion

By our staff reporter

Nyala Insurance S.C. (NISCO) has announced that its gross written premium exceeded Birr 1.3 billion, showing a 47% growth compared to previous achievements.

During the 29th General and 22nd Extraordinary General Meeting held on November 11, 2023, at the Sheraton Addis, Dr. Sara, the Chair of the Board of Directors, presented the company’s annual performance report to the shareholders.

She mentioned that despite the numerous challenges faced by the nation, NISCO has achieved outstanding results compared to the previous fiscal year.

The company’s total assets also reached Birr 3.8 billion, marking a 28.7% increase over the previous fiscal year.

Dr. Sara also noted that the company’s general and long-term insurance operations have generated a gross profit of Birr 303.6 million, marking a 15.4% increase from the previous fiscal year.

On the other hand, the shareholders have unanimously agreed to retain Birr 254.5 million from the net profit in order to increase the company’s paid-up capital to over Birr 1.08 billion. This move will make the company highly competitive in the industry.

Conversely, the company’s net claims saw a significant increase from 209.4 million to Birr 370.8 million. Consequently, the loss ratio for general insurance rose from 37% to 49% compared to the previous production period.

The chair of the board attributed the remarkable achievements in premium income to the company’s prudent underwriting practices and implementation of business innovations based on customer needs and demands.

Yared Mola, CEO of Nyala Insurance S.C., highlighted the company’s commitment to digital insurance services and introduced a groundbreaking five-year strategic plan called “DigiLeap”. The strategy primarily focuses on customer centricity, operational excellence, digital transformation, profitable growth, and blue ocean move as its core themes.

The company aims to streamline processes, enhance customer experience, and carve out a new market space, with a specific focus on underserved and un-served market segments.

Ambassador Henok Tefera, hands in a letter of resignation to Safaricom Ethiopia after seven months of work with the new telecommunications entrant.

According to Safaricom Ethiopia, it’s now former Chief External Affairs and Regulatory Officer, resigned voluntarily due to personal and family reasons.

Henok Tefera, who was the former Ethiopian Ambassador to France, Spain, Portugal and Monaco, came to the Safaricom role after his predecessor Matthew Harrison Harvey left the firm back in December 2022.

Following Henok’s resignation from Safaricom, Sisay Zerihun has been appointed as the acting Chief External Affairs and Regulatory Officer. Zerihun is attributed to have served for two years at Safaricom in different positions whilst also bringing local and international expertise form different sectors.

On related news, Safaricom Ethiopia has announced that it has extended its service to 280 cities. The telecommunications firm stated that the total number of customers has now reached more than four million. Furthermore, the company also stated that it will build 12,000 network transmission towers in the coming years.

By our staff reporter

The Ethiopian Shipping and Logistics (ESL) discloses that in less than two weeks, 67,000 metric tons of fertilizer has been conveyed to the country through various inland modes of transportation.

As the government continues to strategize to ensure timely supply of the commodity during the 2023/24 farming seasons, it was revealed that the administration had made an early purchase during the current budget year.

In less than two weeks, fertilizer cargo from two ships has already reached the country, according to information Capital acquired from ESL.

According to Siraj Abdulahi, ESL’s Deputy CEO for Service Enterprise, 67,345 metric tons of fertilizer was carried to Ethiopia in the past 14 days window.

He went on to say that of the claimed tonnage carried by two vessels, 10,360 metric tons were transferred by rail.

Sofia Kassa, State Minister of the Ministry of Agriculture, stated that two vessels carrying about 51,000 and 31,000 metric tonnes of fertilizer each have arrived in Djibouti port, and that “the majority of the consignment has already been transported to the country.”

She told Capital that during the fiscal year, the government took the initiative to acquire fertilizer early in order to feed farmers for the next three farming seasons.

“We are supplying the fertilizer for the current dry season farming that is carried on irrigation scheme, and the upcoming farming seasons, Belge and Meher, which the latter is the major rainy season,” she continued.

She said that some of the other vessels carrying fertilizer consignments are at the loading port, while others are en route to a port in Djibouti.

Six vessels will arrive in Djibouti ports between the end of November and the beginning of December, according to Siraj.

“At this point, two ports in Djibouti City and its surroundings can handle six vessels at a time, so the consignment will be discharged  and transported without any breaks,” he said Capital.

Ethiopian fertilizer gets shipped to port destinations such as SDTV, the oldest port facility in the center of Djibouti, and DMP, the largest port facility, which is situated in Doraleh, on the outskirts of the city.

The government has set a goal to import 23 million tons of various types of fertilizer throughout the current crop seasons.

In an exclusive interview with Capital, Berisso Amallo, CEO of ESL, applauded the efforts of all parties in the collaboration and consignment procurement procedure.

“The government’s commitment is necessary to expedite fertilizer purchases,” Berisso stated, adding, “This has allowed us to transport the cargo and distribute it to farmers on time.”

By Eyasu Zekarias

EthSwitch, a share company fully owned by financial institutions in Ethiopia inks a memorandum of understanding with the National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI), to streamline a national payment system, which is backed by domestic transaction systems.

According to the share company’s CEO, Yilebes Addis, the payment gateway is a modern digital payment strategy which aims to encourage digital adoption among merchants and financial institutions.

“EthSwitch is serving as an online interoperable payment system, and will collaborate with financial institutions to establish a digital domestic payment system whilst enhancing transactions and enabling secure online payments,” the CEO pointed out, further explaining that since the two countries do have similar systems they can seamlessly pay through Unified Payment Interface (UPI) and Instant Payment Platform systems.

Through the card called EthSwitch Ethiopia, transactions can be made from financial institutions in India through an instant payment platform. Similarly, an Indian with a NPCI Rupee card can trade or withdraw money in Ethiopia through the UPI.

As Yilebes indicates, EthSwitch has already launched a national payment gateway and has completed the trial process of the same.

The National Payment Gateway is said to link customers’ bank accounts and enable third-party payments through credit cards, debit cards and mobile money.

EthSwitch, which announced the completion of the trial process, stated that payment gateway financial institutions and digital financial service providers can perform various payment options over the Internet, and that this had been implemented in certain financial institutions in the last three months.

EthSwitch, which is owned by private and public banks and digital financial institutions in Ethiopia, including the National Bank, aims to expand digital payments in Ethiopia and enable businesses and consumers to make e-commerce payments.

According to the company’s statements, the trial process of the National Payment Gateway has been ongoing since July 2023, after receiving approval from the National Bank.