By Eyasu Zekarias

As the need for data grows, more than 5 data centers have shown interest though submission requests to invest in Ethiopia, in the last three years alone, which has pushed the government to include such centers within the umbrella of the country’s “Investment Promotion Plan”.

According to sources, the government and private financial sector in Ethiopia will be able to access the data in one center at a benefit of operating it at a low cost.

In a forum held at Sheraton Addis on November 8, the Minister of Innovation and Technology, Belete Molla (PhD), stated that Ethiopia is working with various entities to develop data centers.

Among them is one, Wingu Africa, which is providing services in four African countries, and has invested in the country’s ICT Park.

Wingu Africa, which has been operating in Ethiopia for 18 months now, pointed out that its firm has become convenient to aiding work for financial and technology institutions since they get to use the center without spending a lot of money to build their own data center.

As analyzed data shows, about 90 percent of those who run data center are Ethiopians. This move has played an instrumental role in creating jobs for young Ethiopian in the field of technology engineering.

As Henok Ahmed, CEO of IT Park Corporation, signaled out, the corporation’s biggest objective is to create an environment that allows ease of doing business.

“We are also working with huge international technology companies such as Microsoft, TikTok and Meta (formerly Facebook) to come to this country,” stated Wingu Africa executives, whilst highlighting the company’s breadth and depth of experiece.

Ethio Telecom makes strategic agreements with the Ministry of Water and Energy to implement smart service solutions, as part of its comprehensive plan to make digital Ethiopia a reality by 2025.

As highlighted in the agreement ceremony on November 9, 2023, the telecommunications firm has beefed up its procedure to help the infrastructure of the ministry with modern technology.

The telecommunications giant is said to digitize the facility by using modern cloud infrastructure in order to control the water saturation levels in the required manner.

Along with this, Ethio Telecom announced that it has made a support agreement called “Matching fund for sustainable support” with charitable institutions.

Mary Joy Ethiopia, Gergesinon Mental Illness Information Association, Ethiopian Heart Disease Children’s Aid Center, Ethiopian Cancer Association, Khair Charity Organization, Macedonia Elderly Information Center, Muday Charity Association and Ethiopian Red Cross Society are institutions that the firms have inked agreements with.

From November 2023 to June 2024, Ethio Telecom has stated that an income collection program will be held in the name of the charitable institutions for the next eight months.

As announced, the company has underlined that it will provide its own support during the fundraising campaign through its new subscription as well as spread the information by sharing the number given by the institution on its social media platforms.

By Eyasu Zekarias

Since the exposure of the export of donkey skin and meat to the foreign market in Ethiopia, prices have soared by a significant amount.

As data now reveals, the number of donkeys in the continent has been on a decrease due to hundreds of thousands of donkeys being slaughtered and exported mostly from African countries because of the great demand of their skin.

According to Brooke Ethiopia, an international animal welfare charity dedicated to improving the lives of working horses, donkeys and mules, the demand of donkey skin and meat in Ethiopia has driven to the price to surge significantly.

Brooke Ethiopia, which started its operation in Ethiopia in 2006, is currently rendering its services as a non-governmental organization operating in the Amhara, Oromia, and SNNPR. As the organization cited, since donkey meat has been exported by Ethiopia in recent years to earn foreign currency, based on the experience of other countries, the number of donkeys is projected to decrease owing to the significant numbers in slaughters.

According to Brooke Ethiopia’s observation, approximately 20 up to 300 donkeys can be slaughtered per day in Ethiopia, with the price increasing, from 3000 ETB to 11000 birr.

Due to the lack of foreign exchange, Ethiopia has exported 492 tons of donkey meat and hides in the last financial year, earning more than $600,000 in the process.

It is said that the demand comes mainly from China because donkey skin is needed for the production of gelatin ‘Ejiao’, which is used for Chinese traditional medicine and cosmetics.

In Ethiopia, there are more than 13 million cattle, of which about 8 million of them are donkeys, which are in demand in other countries.

By Eyasu Zekarias

BMET Energy Telecom Industry and Trade PLC places stringent efforts to squash illegal product sales under its brand, which has negatively affected its reputation.

As BMET disclosed to Capital in an exclusive, the Turkish company which over the years had gained traction in the market for its products, has been hard hit by forgery in market owing to illicit sales of products that have the company label.

According to Amran Muhe, BMET Deputy Manager, “The company has adopted new procedures as fake products are being marketed using the logo of BMET Cable.”

“In order to distinguish our company from counterfeit products and distribution to the market, we have stopped producing BMET-compliant products,” clarified Amran, pointing out that the company used to produce 5000 coils a day and 150,000 coils in a month in its hay-day.

As Amran further explained, this unethical move has forced the firm to halt daily production of coils due to fake products. As per current market rates, one coil costs about 40 thousand birr and as Amran confirmed, the company has lost more than 36 million ETB in the last six months alone.

The company has now strategized to distinguish itself from counterfeit products through printed special marks on its products and packaging.

These changes came about through what Amran described upgraded; secret QR codes that work through a mobile application, writing BMET on the sealing rubber as well as the cable to ensure authenticity of their products.

BMET is an industry that manufactures fiber optic, copper telecom cables, various energy cables and aluminum conductors.