Dashen Bank receives the most prestigious Bank of the Year Award 2022 for Ethiopia from the Banker Magazine, an affiliate of the Financial Times, the leading global business publication.
As indicated during the award ceremony, the award recognizes the bank’s progress in the digital sphere in particular; as the country’s national digital economy strategy ushers in unprecedented changes in the local banking and telecommunications landscape.
This has enabled the bank to identify and cement strategic partnerships with fintechs and with Ethio Telecom, the country’s largest tele-communications firm, prompting the development of value propositions catering to both middle- and lower-income customer segments.
Asfaw Alemu, CEO of the Bank, received the award at a glamorous event held in London, UK.
“We are exploring opportunities for sustained growth presented by emerging trends such as industry consolidation, foreign banks entry and establishment of capital market, and the entry of telecoms into the mobile money space, among others,” said Asfaw at the ceremony.
Dashen Bank scoops international award for its digital revolution
Africa requires $190bn annual investments to achieve energy goals
Africa will require about $190bn worth of investments annually between 2026 and 2030 to meet its energy and climate goals to boost socio-economic prosperity on the continent.
This was disclosed by Seyi Sobogun, Head, Capital Projects, Egbin Power Plc, a Sahara Power Group Company, while delivering a paper titled “Energy Mix – The Challenges with Funding and Deploying Commercially Viable Renewable Energy Solutions,” at the recently concluded West Africa Power Pool Conference in Dakar, Senegal.
Citing the International Energy Agency’s Africa Energy Outlook for 2022, Sobogun said, “Achieving Africa’s energy and climate goals means more than doubling energy investment this decade. This would take it over $190bn each year from 2026 to 2030, with two-thirds going to clean energy.”
Noting that Africa’s energy generation would continue to be from natural gas, as renewables were expected to grow from 21 per cent in 2020 to 59 per cent of electricity generation by 2030, Sobogun said Africa would require about $2.64tn, roughly the size of her GDP, to rely 100 per cent on renewable energy sources for electricity generation by 2050.
RES4Africa, IFC promoting private investment in Africa’s Power Grid
RES4Africa Foundation and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) held the first in a series of development partner forums on November 22 to promote private sector investment to increase and complement the limited available financing in Africa’s power grid.
The virtual workshop brought together development partners, public institutions and private sector parties from across Africa to share knowledge and best practices to promote public-private partnerships and investments in transmission infrastructure projects.
The aim of the forum series is to identify the key issues stakeholders face with financing power transmission infrastructure projects and identify solutions to these issues. The Foundation’s Grids4Africa program will disseminate a position paper based on the discussion inputs to stimulate increased investment in transmission infrastructure.
ADF approves $13.95 million grant for Borena Resilient Water Development
The Board of Directors of the African Development Fund has approved a $13.95 million grant to the Government of Ethiopia to implement the first phase of a livelihood improvement project for pastoralist communities in Ethiopia’s drylands.
The Borena Resilient Water Development for Improved Livelihoods Program will enhance access to climate-resilient, gender-sensitive integrated and sustainable water and sanitation services. Phase one of the program will focus on developing well-field infrastructure and a transmission pipeline to a storage tank.
The Global Center on Adaptation (GCA) will contribute €300,000 to the program to strengthen adaptation and resilience, under the Africa Adaptation Acceleration Program, a partnership with the African Development Bank.
GCA will provide technical assistance for the development of an in-depth understanding of climate related risks to improve the climate resilience of the catchments. It will also design a strategy and approach to involve local communities, and carry out a gender climate vulnerability and resilience assessment as an integral part of climate adaptation.
