The inaugural China-Africa Entrepreneurs Summit opened on Tuesday at African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, bringing together political leaders, diplomats, and business representatives from China and Africa for a forum focused on trade, investment, industrial cooperation, and entrepreneurship.

Ethiopian President Taye Atske-Selassie said the summit was especially timely because it focused on entrepreneurship and jobs, a subject he said resonates deeply with Africa’s aspirations. He said the 2026 China-Africa People-to-People Exchange Year should be rooted in dignity and mutual respect, arguing that such a foundation can be translated into transformative trade and investment rather than extraction. He also described China-Africa cooperation as a “joint community with a shared future”.

Taye said the summit theme, “Deepening Practical China-Africa Cooperation and Embarking on a New Journey for Development,” came at a moment of geo-economic uncertainty shaped by competition over strategic minerals and disregard for Africa’s sustainable future. He said Africa is not a future promise but a present reality where business can flourish, especially with the operationalization of the African Continental Free Trade Area and the expansion of the digital ecosystem.

The Ethiopian president said entrepreneurship in Africa must rest on agro-industry and youth empowerment, adding that there is a vast opportunity to make every young person an entrepreneur in the agro-industrial chain. He welcomed China’s decision to grant zero-tariff access to African countries starting in May 2026, saying it would help entrepreneurs enter the Chinese market without duties and accelerate export-led growth. He added that this would also support global trade at a time of severe supply-chain challenges.

Taye said the AfCFTA should become the center of the joint strategy for business cooperation, noting that Chinese investors who establish operations across Africa would gain a strategic foothold in the world’s largest single market. He said Ethiopia has already begun trading under the AfCFTA system and is implementing the investment protocol to unlock manufacturing and logistics opportunities [4]. He also said Ethiopia’s reform agenda has placed private-sector development at the heart of economic transformation.

A second priority, Taye said, is to move beyond simple technology transfer and establish joint research and development centers that bring together Chinese expertise and African creativity in artificial intelligence, green energy, mobility, and the digital economy. He said such centers would help develop technologies designed specifically for the African context and bridge the digital divide so that rural African entrepreneurs can access global markets as easily as traders in Shanghai.

Amb. Jiang Feng, head of mission of the People’s Republic of China to the African Union, said China-Africa relations had been elevated to an “all-weather China-Africa community with a shared future for the new era” after the 2024 Beijing FOCAC summit, and said China’s next phase of opening-up would create new opportunities for African partners. He said China will begin implementing 100% zero-tariff treatment on all tariff lines for products from 53 African countries with diplomatic ties starting May 1, 2026, and described the measure as a major opening for African exports to the Chinese market.

China-Africa trade reached a record US$348 billion in 2025, up 17.7% year on year, Jiang said, adding that China is already implementing 30 infrastructure connectivity projects and 30 clean-energy projects across Africa. He said the summit should help entrepreneurs from both sides build new links in agriculture, manufacturing, new energy, digital economy, mining, and finance.

AU Commission Chairperson Mahmoud Ali Youssouf welcomed participants to the African Union and thanked the Ethiopian government for its hospitality, saying the continent is widely seen as the future engine of global growth. He said Africa’s Agenda 2063 and the African Continental Free Trade Area place trade, integration, and private-sector dynamism at the center of the continent’s development strategy.

Youssouf said Africa should learn from China’s experience in agricultural reform, industrial acceleration, and technological transformation, arguing that agriculture and industrialization must advance together. He also stressed the importance of the energy, mining, infrastructure, and digital trade sectors, saying technological progress can shorten the time needed for transformation.

The AU Chairperson thanked China for applying zero-tariff treatment to products from many African countries and called on Chinese companies to invest more in Africa and build win-win value chains and supply networks with African firms. He said the AU wants special attention placed on youth and women entrepreneurs, and urged that the China-Africa Entrepreneurship Alliance be institutionalized.

In his remarks, Song Shangzhe, Deputy Director General of the China International Import Expo Bureau and Deputy Secretary General of the Hongqiao Forum Secretariat, from Ministry of Commerce of China said the CIIE team had traveled across the world to show that the expo is committed to following up on FOCAC commitments and helping African businesses access the Chinese market. He cited examples including Benin pineapples, Madagascar mutton, and Namibian baobab products, saying the platform has helped move African goods from exhibition to trade, e-commerce, and joint product development.

The European Investment Bank, in partnership with the National Bank of Ethiopia, is preparing to roll out Ethiopia’s first national green taxonomy, a policy tool officials say could help attract climate finance, guide sustainable investment and support the country’s shift toward a more climate-resilient economy.

The initiative is being developed under the Greening the Financial Systems Programme, with funding from the governments of Germany and Luxembourg. Its goal is to create a common framework for defining which economic activities qualify as green, transitional or in need of major environmental improvement.

European Investment Bank representative to Ethiopia and the African Union Leïla Traoré said the taxonomy will serve as a kind of “dictionary” for sustainable finance, giving banks, regulators and investors a clearer basis for deciding where capital should flow.

“We are supporting the National Bank as Ethiopia builds its first National Green Taxonomy,” Traoré told Capital. “This is not just about agriculture; it’s a multi-sectoral effort including energy, transport and more.”

The technical support agreement for the initiative was signed in May 2025 between National Bank of Ethiopia Vice Governor Solomon Desta and Traoré. Since then, the project has moved into the implementation phase, with the EIB working alongside Ethiopian financial institutions to strengthen their capacity to assess climate-related risks.

Officials say the taxonomy is expected to help Ethiopian lenders and foreign investors speak the same language when it comes to green finance. By setting national standards, the framework aims to reduce uncertainty over what counts as a sustainable investment and help direct more money into projects that can withstand climate pressures.

The initiative also has a practical role in agriculture, which remains central to Ethiopia’s economy. Traoré said the taxonomy will help banks move beyond simply rejecting risky loan requests and instead offer more climate-resilient financing options.

“Instead of just saying no, the bank says, ‘Look, we want you to be strong and resilient,’” she said, adding that lenders could steer farmers toward solar-powered irrigation or drought-resistant crops.

The EIB says this kind of guidance can make banks not just lenders, but advisers helping businesses and farmers adapt to climate change. That, in turn, could improve repayment prospects while reducing exposure to drought and other weather-related shocks.

The bank argues that having a clear national taxonomy can also make Ethiopia more attractive to global investors. Traoré pointed to the European Union as an example, saying regions with well-defined green finance systems tend to draw a larger share of international climate funds.

According to the EIB, the taxonomy gives investors a clearer map of opportunities in the country and helps signal that Ethiopia is serious about aligning growth with environmental sustainability. The framework is also meant to support transparency in a global market where definitions of green finance can vary widely.

The EIB says it has brought to Ethiopia experts who have worked on 25 taxonomies around the world, but stressed that the process is being led by Ethiopian authorities. Traoré said the country retains full ownership of the policy direction.

“We have left the leadership to the country,” she said. “We support them with our knowledge and experience, but they are the ones who decide what is best for Ethiopia.”

To make the process more inclusive, the National Bank of Ethiopia has set up a steering committee that brings together government ministries, civil society, the Ethiopian Capital Market Authority and private sector representatives. Officials say the multi-stakeholder approach is intended to ensure the taxonomy reflects both national priorities and market realities.

Parents at Flipper International School are pushing back against a proposed 60% tuition increase, accusing the administration of coercive decision-making and unfairly linking the fee hike to efforts to keep the school’s Lancha campus open.

The dispute intensified during a meeting held late last weekend, when guardians from the Summit campus and other branches said they were presented with a choice they described as “take it or leave it”: accept the increase or face the immediate closure of the Lancha, or Beklo Bet, campus. Parents said the process was legally flawed, emotionally coercive and designed to force approval through pressure rather than consultation.

According to several parents, the proposed increase is not limited to the headline 60%. They said it is being combined with a separate “harmonization” adjustment meant to narrow gaps between tuition levels across grades, pushing some families’ total costs far higher. One Summit campus parent told Capital that some households could face total increases of more than 120%, with annual fees rising from around 60,000 Birr to more than 130,000 Birr.

Parents said the school offered three options at the meeting: “harmonization only,” “harmonization plus 40%,” and “harmonization plus 60%.” They said the last option was strongly favored by the administration, even though many families viewed it as unaffordable and unjustified.

“We are not talking about a few thousand Birr,” one father said. He accused the school of presenting the rise as necessary for teacher salaries and facility improvements, while failing to deliver on earlier promises. Parents cited an earlier pledge to spend $1 million on a computer lab, saying they have yet to see the promised equipment.

The school’s move has also raised procedural concerns. Under Ethiopia’s education directives, schools are required to notify parents about tuition changes three months before the end of the academic year, submit detailed justifications, secure the agreement of the Parent-Teacher Committee and obtain support from at least 51% of parents before approaching the relevant authority. Tuition is also expected to be payable in at least three consecutive installments.

Parents say those requirements were not followed. They complained that the administration declared the majority had agreed, despite nearly 200 parents walking out in protest. They also said Lancha campus parents were effectively forced to approve the hike out of fear that their campus would otherwise be shut down, and that the resulting decision is now being imposed on families at other campuses.

The financial impact, parents said, is severe. Once the proposed increase is combined with existing harmonization charges, some families could see tuition rise by 110% to 120%. Parents argue that asking for such increases while previous commitments remain unfulfilled has destroyed trust between families and management.

Summit campus parents have reportedly refused to sign the agreement and have formally raised the matter with the Education and Training Authority. They said the authority has assured them it will intervene if the school is found to have acted outside the rules. Some parents are also preparing to take the matter to court if the school does not enter into fair negotiations and provide quality assurances.

In written notices sent to parents, the school indicated it intends to proceed with the new fee structure. Capital submitted questions to school management, but no response was received by the time of publication.

Ethiopia’s digital payments ecosystem has made notable progress, but a new survey shows that payment gateways and merchant payment channels are still constrained by weak infrastructure, limited business-account use and a heavy reliance on personal accounts rather than merchant-focused payment tools. The findings suggest that the problem is no longer simply whether digital payments exist, but whether they work well enough for merchants to use them at scale.

The April 2026 Digital Merchant Payments Ecosystem Observatory: Ethiopia Wave 1 Flagship Report says 58.8 percent of micro-enterprises accept digital payments, while 41.2 percent remain cash-only. But the report also finds that the sector is sharply divided between urban and rural areas, with adoption far higher in cities than in the countryside, where connectivity and infrastructure remain major barriers.

One of the biggest problems is that Ethiopia’s merchant payments are still flowing through personal accounts instead of business accounts. The report says fewer than 1 percent of mobile banking or mobile money users rely on merchant or business accounts as their primary payment-receiving channel, leaving transaction data largely invisible to credit providers and regulators.

That gap is important because the country’s merchant economy is already generating significant digital activity. The report says 44.5 percent of micro-enterprises would benefit from additional credit or capital, but only 10.8 percent borrowed in the previous six months, with most relying on family and friends rather than formal digital finance.

The study also points to onboarding bottlenecks. For mobile banking, 92.7 percent of merchants signed up by visiting a bank branch or agent office, while mobile money users also relied heavily on in-person onboarding. The report says that model is a barrier for micro-enterprises that operate six or seven days a week and cannot easily leave their businesses to open an account.

According to the survey, merchant awareness of digital payment services is still driven mainly by bank and agent representatives, while social media plays only a small role. That suggests payment gateways are not yet benefiting from the kind of digital discovery and merchant promotion that could broaden adoption more quickly.

The report says Ethiopia’s recent payments reforms, including the National Digital Payments Strategy Phase Two, the interoperable QR mandate and EthioPay-IPS, provide a stronger policy foundation. But it adds that these tools have not yet reached enough merchants to transform usage patterns, meaning the country is still in the early stages of building a truly merchant-driven digital payment market.

The findings point to a clear challenge for Ethiopia’s payment gateway providers: adoption alone is not enough. Unless merchants are onboarded more easily, business accounts become more useful and infrastructure improves outside major cities, digital payments may remain widespread in name but underused in practice.