Visa and the Ethiopian national non-governmental organization, STEM Power, have signed a partnership to help bring on some 3,600 technology innovators to the market.
The program aims to empower local technology start-up companies to break new barriers in the local and international markets over a three-year period years from September 30, 2020 to August 31, 2023. This will enable market players to be equipped with the knowledge and skills to break international barriers and will bring tailored skills to two distinct groups of micro business owners looking to establish and grow their businesses.
“This is a three-year partnership that adds financial education, money, skills and the support required by the technology entrepreneurs to come to the market,” said , Visa’s Head of Social Impact and the Vice President, Central Europe, Middle East and Africa in an interview.
According to Visa, limited access to loans and huge bureaucratic hurdles for starting and closing a business and lack of entrepreneurship and business process knowledge and skills at individual levels have been cited as some of the key business and entrepreneurship challenges in the country.
However, Mamadou said the ultimate aim of the project is to pilot a brand new system where entrepreneurs, scientists and educationalists from Ethiopia could create a learning experience from the implementation of the Visa/STEM Power partnership.
The Ethiopian Job Creation Commission is working to bridge the 14 million jobs gap by 2025 and 20 Million jobs gap by 2030.To this effect, the plan of action for job creation 2020-2025 has been drafted by outlining six strategic objectives. One of the six objectives is building a vibrant private sector by revamping the current support to Medium, Small, Micro Enterprises (MSMEs), effectively supporting high-potential and high-growth MSMEs and improving the quality of business development services.
One of high-potential and high-growth area in this regard is the creation and development of Tech SMEs.
Ethiopia’s top financial elite met at a landmark ceremony on Tuesday to launch a financial literacy program which aims to empower local technology start-up companies to break new barriers in the local and international markets and commit more firepower to technology innovators.
Visa hopes to use its global payments system to help the local commercial banks and the Small and Medium enterprises in Ethiopia access financial services.
Visa and STEM Power partner to break local and international barriers
Ethio-Telecom urges SIM Card ownership transfer
The sole Tele communication operator, Ethio-telecom continues to urge its customers to make SIM card ownership transfers as it is one of the tools used to accelerate the journey of digitalization and apart of the customer service improvements that the institution is implementing.
As the statement of the telecom service provider indicates, there are large amount of service subscribers using SIM cards subscribed by other user names.
Customers who do not transfer SIM card ownership in their name will find it difficult to accommodate additional services. Therefore, these services cannot be processed unless the person who issued the SIM card has previously requested for ownership transfer.
“In addition to customer abuse, SIM registration is important for both the company and its customers as it can also generate revenue from the service since the number of concerned customers is not insignificant,” the Tele communication operator stated.
“Besides allowing the actual user to benefit from the wide range of services provided to facilitate connectivity through mobile phones when customers use SIM cards subscribed by other user names, it makes difficult to get bank related services which may include mobile banking and other and also to participate in lottery opportunities through mobile numbers,” Ethio-Telecom added.
To solve the problem Ethio –telecom started the works for ownership transfer for the past two years, but they have not completed this activity citing the fact that customers may not be able to come to the mall due to the global pandemic and other various reasons. However, currently Ethio-telecom has rejuvenated the work as a campaign to finalize the transfer which will be beneficial to its customers.
Regardless of the company not currently setting a deadline, a deadline is to be set in future which is will be announced through media outlets.
However, it is advisable for customers to immediately contact Ethio Telecom’s sales centers and register their SIM card in their name as the above mentioned problems may occur at any time.
In addition, unnamed customers may find it difficult to obtain a replacement SIM when their service is interrupted for example, when their mobile phone is stolen or lost.
To transfer SIM ownership customers are required to bring a working SIM card to the sales center. They are further required to complete and sign the contract for the transfer of ownership. Furthermore, a time limit of a year is set if transfer of ownership is done without the consent of the other. Ethio-telecom currently serves 46.2 million subscribers.
የኢፌድሪ ሚኒስትሮች ምክር ቤት በትግራይ ክልል የአስቸኳይ ጊዜ አዋጅ አወጀ
የኢፌድሪ ሚኒስትሮች ምክር ቤት ዛሬ ጥቅምት 25/2013 ባደረገው 21ኛ አስቸኳይ ልዩ ስብሰባ መንግሥት የሀገርን ሰላምና ሕልውና፣ የሕዝብንና የዜጎችን ደህንነት የማረጋገጥ እና ሀገሪቷን ወደ ሁከትና ብጥብጥ የሚወስዱ ማናቸውንም ድርጊቶችን የመከላከል ሕገ መንግሥታዊ ኃላፊነት ያለበት መሆኑን በመገንዘብ፤ እንዲሁም በትግራይ ብሔራዊ ክልል ውስጥ ሕገ መንግሥቱንና ሕገ መንግሥታዊ ሥርዓቱን እንዲሁም የሕዝብን ሰላምና ፀጥታ አደጋ ላይ የሚጥሉ በተለይም የሀገርን ሉዐላዊነት የሚገዳደሩ፣ የፌደራል መንግሥት በሕገ መንግሥቱ የተሰጠውን ሥልጣንና ኃላፊነት በክልሉ እንዳይወጣ እና ሀገሪቷን የጦር አውድማ የሚያደርጉ፣ የፌዴሬሽን ምክር ቤት ውሳኔዎችን ጭምር በመጣስ በርካታ ሕገ ወጥ ተግባራት እየተፈፀሙ በመሆኑ፤ ይህን ሁኔታ በመደበኛው የሕግ ማስከበር ሥርዓት ለመከላከልና ለመቆጣጠር የማይቻልበት ደረጃ ላይ መደረሱን በመረዳት፤ በሕገ መንግሥቱ በተደነገገው መሠረት ሕገ መንግሥታዊ ሥርዓቱን ለመጠበቅ ልዩ እርምጃዎችን መውሰድ የሚያስችል የአስቸኳይ ጊዜ አዋጅ በመደንገግ እና ተግባራዊ በማድረግ ሁኔታውን በመቆጣጠር በሀገሪቱ ሰላምና ሕልውና ላይ የተጋረጠውን አደጋ መከላከል አስፈላጊ ሆኖ በመገኘቱ፤ በኢትዮጵያ ፌዴራላዊ ዴሞክራሲያዊ ሪፐብሊክ ሕገ መንግሥት አንቀጽ 93/1/ሀ መሰረት የሚከተለው የአስቸኳይ ጊዜ አዋጅ ታውጆዋል።
የአስቸኳይ ጊዜ አዋጁ ለስድስት ወራት ተፈጻሚ የሚሆን ሲሆን፣ የአስቸኳይ ጊዜ አዋጁን የሚያስፈፅም በኢፌድሪ ጦር ኃይሎች ጠቅላይ ኢታማዦር ሹም ሰብሳቢነት የሚመራና አግባብነት ካላቸው አካላት የተወጣጡ አባላት ያሉት ግብረኃይል በዚህ አዋጅ ተቋቁሟል። ግብረኃይሉ ተጠሪነቱ ለጠቅላይ ሚኒስትሩ ሲሆን ‘‘የአስቸኳይ ጊዜ አዋጅ ግብረሀይል’’ ተብሎ ይጠራል።አዋጁ በመላው የትግራይ ብሔራዊ ክልላዊ መስተዳድር ተፈፃሚ የሚደረግ ሲሆን፣ እንደያስፈላጊነቱ የአስቸኳይ ጊዜ አዋጁ ተፈፃሚ ወይም ቀሪ የሚሆንባቸውን ተጨማሪ አካባቢዎችነ ግብረኃይሉ በሚያወጣው በመመሪያ ይወስናል። የአስቸኳይ ጊዜ አዋጁን አስመልክቶ ዝርዝር መርጃዎች በየጊዜው ለህብረተሰቡ የሚሰጡ ይሆናል።
Lidya Tafesse From basketball to top level Football refereeing
Starting off as a professional basketball player, not many thought Lidya Tafesse Abebe would trade the rims and bounces for the whistle, and not in basketball, but football. The 40-year old has been on a 20 -year journey of refereeing, becoming the first ever woman to officiate a men’s top flight game in Ethiopia.
She was also the first ever woman FIFA centre referee in the East African nation.
“I started off in Jimma while still playing basketball. I played football in school but basketball was my first sport. I was interested when I met one of the instructors doing some courses and some of us from the basketball team were invited. I liked how he was teaching and I got interested more,” Tafesse says.
The seed planted in her soul by the FIFA/CAF instructor Shiferaw Eshetu continued to germinate and grow as the days went on.
When she moved to the capital Addis Ababa to continue her basketball career and pursue a course in Pharmacy, the interest continued and soon, she started building on with more courses and when it became apparent that she had found some new love, dumped the old one; basketball.
“I was part of the female referees project and I started off by doing the Under-15, 17 games, the local tournaments as well as some Federation tournaments. I got more certification and I started doing the Men’s Premier League as an assistant referee and in 2005, I became a centre referee,” narrates Tafesse.
The journey, though satisfying hasn’t been easy for the mother of one. When she started, there were no women referees and when she officiated men’s games, there was even more difficulty.
But her resilience and desire to make a mark in Ethiopian football drover her passion.
“It was very difficult when I started because sometimes, some people would ask why I decided to go into refereeing as a woman when there were no any other women doing the same. But my family supported me and I am grateful for them,”
“Also, I came from a sports background and the fact that while playing basketball we trained and played against some men teams gave me confidence and it wasn’t so difficult for me at times, even when I did men’s games,” explains Tafesse.
(FIFA)
