Couple of years before few people in the athletics world had heard of Lemecha Girma.
Lemecha had joined the Tirunesh Dibaba Athletics Club a year or two earlier and was training for the 1500m, but club coach Kefyalew Alemu noticed Lemecha’s height and long stride and suggested he might be good at the steeplechase.
His 8:46.23 run at the Ethiopian U20 Championships was respectable but unremarkable. Getnet Wale and Takele Negate, who finished first and second in that race in 8:35.01 and 8:35.53 respectively, went on to represent Ethiopia at the World U20 Championships in Tampere later that year and both made it on to the podium. Negate took the gold medal, ending a Kenyan winning streak that dated back to the first edition of the World U20 Championships, while Wale earned bronze.
After decades of Kenyan steeplechase dominance, Ethiopian runners were finally starting to make an impact in the steeplechase. But still, no one knew of Lemecha Girma. Lemecha moved to the Youth Sport Academy in Addis Ababa to be coached by Teshome Kebede, the national coach for the steeplechase, and to train alongside Wale and a couple of other promising middle-distance runners.
International debut
Lemecha’s first appearance in an overseas invitational came in the Diamond League meeting in Paris, where he was up against a field of global medalists, including world and Olympic champion Conseslus Kipruto.
If Lemecha was nervous, he did a good job of hiding it. After staying in third or fourth place for most of the first half of the race, he moved into the lead once the pacemaker dropped out at 2000m. The top contenders moved past Lemecha as the bell sounded for the final lap, but Lemecha wasn’t finished and briefly regained the lead with 200 meters to go.
He was eventually out-kicked by Soufiane El Bakkali and Benjamin Kigen in the closing stages, but Lemecha’s third-place finish in 8:08.63 was a noteworthy Diamond League debut and showed that his Hengelo performance wasn’t a fluke.
Two weeks later at the Diamond League final in Brussels, Lemecha again placed third, this time in a PB of 8:07.66 and finishing even closer to the winner. It was a confidence-boosting performance ahead of the World Championships.
Silver lining
Despite his promising results in Paris and Brussels, Lemecha tried to keep his expectations low in Doha.
“It was my first race at the World Championships, so I didn’t know what to expect,” he says. “I had trained hard for a good result, but I didn’t expect to win.”
He passed his first test with flying colors, winning his heat in 8:16.64. He may have been a novice, and a promising one at that, but Lemecha knew that the final would be the toughest challenge of his young career.
Kipruto, who had missed most of the season through injury, was rounding into form at the right time. A formidable championship performer with vast experience, the Kenyan was desperate to retain his title. 14 other men in the field would be vying for medals too.
Lemecha’s teammate Chala Beyo was the early leader before Wale, Lemecha’s training partner, took up the running and led the field through 1000m in a swift 2:39.55. Lemecha then took up the pace and led through 2000m in 5:22.95 with Wale, Kipruto, Abraham Kibiwot and El Bakkali for company, all of them looking comfortable.
El Bakkali moved into the lead at the bell, but Lemecha kicked to the front with 200 meters remaining. Kipruto then moved past the Moroccan into second place and in pursuit of Lemecha. The two men flew over the final barrier with Lemecha still managing to hold a slight advantage over the Olympic champion, but Kipruto was gaining on the young Ethiopian with every step.
They crossed the line almost in unison, both unsure of the outcome as they waited nervously for the times to come up on the screen. Finally it was confirmed: Kipruto had successfully defended his title in 8:01.35. In the closest ever finish in the steeplechase at the World Championships; Lemecha took the silver medal in a senior Ethiopian record of 8:01.36.
Known quantity
Now a world silver medalist, Lemecha is no longer an underdog.
He was shortlisted for the Rising Star award at last year’s World Athletics Awards in Monaco, an honor that compatriot Selemon Barega won. But Lemecha went on to win the Young Athlete of the Year award from the Confederation of African Athletics. He finished second at the Campaccio cross-country meeting in Italy last month, his first international cross-country race, beating world 5km record-holder Robert Keter.
And while the rising standards of Ethiopian steeple chasing means no place on the national team is secure until after the trials, Lemecha hopes to book his place on the team for the Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games where he will aim to become the first Ethiopian athlete to win an Olympic steeplechase title.
“Now I am going to work very hard to be stronger and to try to win an Olympic gold for my country.”
Lemecha’s one-year journey from unknown to global medalist
The Shepherd Became A Surgeon
A book entitled ‘The Shepherd Became A Surgeon’ by Professor Mitiku Belachew was released on Thursday November 12. The book which is translated from the original French version focuses on the life history of the professor who managed to become a world renowned Doctor from being a shepherd in small village. Born in Wenchi western Shewa he grew up as a herder and worked on his family farm till he was 12 years old.
Known around the world as ‘Lord of the Ring’, for inventing laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding to treat morbid obesity, the professor and surgeon has lived a life that inspires to rise above their circumstances. Born into a family of 9 in a rural area where there were no schools, he tended to cows and goats from the time he was a small child. Then, when he turned 12 he heard about a school far away. He went there and made the most of the
opportunity, graduating just 7 years later. This initiative and drive became a trademark of his life as he learned French to study at a Belgium university when there was not a medical school here and invented a way to save the lives of those who were grossly overweight. Whenever there was an obstacle he overcame it. Now he has brought tools and experience with him to Ethiopia where he is working to train the next generation and inspire others to say no to limitations and use their talents to enrich the lives of others. His inspiring story was published as a book.
“It is an autobiography. I wrote it two years ago. It mainly focuses on how I went from being a herder in very small rural city to a surgical doctor travelling all over the world. It’s written in French but now it’s translated to English. It’s a popular book with French speaking people” Mitiku said. “It is also translated into Amharic too with a title ‘Eregnaw Hakim’. I hope it will reach more people and inspire and motivate them,” he added.
Lemn Sissay’s new poem highlights the impact of climate change
Author and broadcaster Lemn Sissay MBE has collaborated with WaterAid to create a new thought-provoking poem telling the story of communities like Frat in his maternal homeland of Ethiopia, where people’s lives and livelihoods are threatened by the changing climate.
The poem, Hope Spring Eternal, is at the heart of a short film created by the international development organisation to launch its fundraising appeal, Future on Tap, which aims to raise £3 million to help transform lives with clean water in Frat and other villages around the world.
During the appeal, which runs from 5 November 2020 to 4 February 2021, the UK government will match public donations up to £2 million to help even more people in Ethiopia. The match funding will bring clean water and decent sanitation to poor families, schools and health centres in drought-prone areas in Berbere.
Many people from the villages of Frat, which 
scatter the hills in the Amhara region in Western Ethiopia, moved here after being displaced by the drought of 1983-85, and through strength and solidarity have carved out a good life for themselves. However, a lack of basic facilities like clean water exacerbated by the changing climate poses insurmountable challenges.
Families spend hours each day collecting dirty water from a river at the bottom of the hill, 
which is their only option. Women and children are afraid to go alone or at night because of thieves in the area, and the dirty water causes sickness. The changing climate is making life harder. Some water sources are depleting over time, while the hotter summers and unexpected storms are destroying crops, their only source of income.
Nearly two thirds of Ethiopians do not have clean water close to home. The country is one of the most vulnerable to climate change – ranking in the bottom quintile of the Notre Dame Global Adaptation Initiative Country Index for its vulnerability and its readiness to improve resilience.
Lemn, who was the official poet of the 2012 London Olympics said “I’m proud to be working with WaterAid on their Future on Tap appeal and using my poetry to represent some inspiring stories from Ethiopia and bring to life the issue of water and climate change. When reading accounts from the families in Frat, I have been struck by their strength and solidarity, which has helped them overcome immense challenges. Their lives and livelihoods are now threatened by the changing climate, a global crisis impacting poorest countries the most, despite them doing the least to cause it.
“We can all help tackle this injustice by helping get people clean water. Water is life; it enables people to not only survive, but thrive, and it builds resilience to the changing climate, whatever the future holds.”
Theory of an interest rate commission agent banking system
An interest rate commission agent banking system is a system adopted by the bank to be an agent of investors loan funding to entrepreneurs getting the fund seller and buyer agreement to administer the loan after disbursement by retaining reasonable interest rate commission from the agreed investors loan funding credit price. An interest rate commission agent banking system (AIRCABS) transfers credit risk and liquidity crunch to investor and entrepreneur and thereby maximizes AIRCABS sustainability and profitability. Calculating discrete market deposit interest incentive into account of depositor who later shifted to an investor position to get proportionate credit price instead of deposit interest rate on the fund already invested by the bank which later shifted to an agent position found increasing stability of money deposited by depositors.
To adopt an interest rate commission agent banking system, banks should develop the following lending strategies:
1. 360-degree lending strategy:
The parties involved in this lending strategy are investor, entrepreneur and the agent bank. In this lending strategy investor and entrepreneur had strong acquaintance and the collateral that will be pledged by entrepreneur to get loan from investor is optional. Here the project to be financed would be selected by an investor. After the project selected by an investor, investor and entrepreneur presented at agent bank to finance the investor’s fund to an entrepreneur. The agent bank which administer the loan after disbursement to an entrepreneur on behalf of an investor assessed the feasibility study of an entrepreneur before the three parties got into loan contract. During the loan period the agent bank can transfer the loan to an investor who has a capacity to buy the loan many times if the existed investor failed to continue up to the loan has settled. If an entrepreneur failed to pay the loan during the loan period the agent bank rented the financed project to new entrepreneur till the loan has settled after which the project will be returned to original entrepreneur. The agent bank rent the project of an entrepreneur without ownership transfer, which can be made by ultimate decision of the investor and the agent bank. An entrepreneur who rented the project collects the business revenue excess above the set loan repayment in the loan contract.
2. 180-degree lending strategy
The parties involved in this lending strategy are investor, entrepreneur and the agent bank. Here investor and entrepreneur are unknown to each other. Investor and entrepreneur presented at agent bank at different time. An investor who is looking for a feasible project to finance consults the agent bank which searches later a feasible project among an entrepreneurs who have already applied to get loan through an agent bank. if an agent bank did not have a feasible project according to the investor application, it would search a feasible project from the market. While the agent bank select a feasible project on behalf of an investor, the agent bank collect project selection fee from an investor. Since investor and entrepreneur unknown to each other collateral pledging by an entrepreneur is mandatory. If an investor failed to continue in the loan period, the agent bank sold the loan to new investor in the market. If an entrepreneur failed to pay the loan, the agent bank rented the project to new entrepreneur who has same project interest in the market. Where there is no hope to collect the debt from an entrepreneur the agent bank sold the collateral to collect the remaining debt amount. The collateral may be the project under investment or another asset. The collateral pledged against the loan disbursed from an investor’s account should have a safe margin rate between 91% and 100% for a 90% loan on the collateral value, unless an entrepreneur covers the remaining more than or equal to 10% safe margin by buying insurance from an insurance company. The insurance company may cover the default amount beyond the original loan balance or according to the agreement between the entrepreneur and the insurance company. Here the agent bank may not advise the entrepreneur to buy insurance coverage for loan repayment rather it manages the loan to get paid in due time as specified in the loan contract. Otherwise, if an entrepreneur fails to pay the debt obligation above 100% of the collateral value, the agent bank would auction the collateral together with the project under investment and is obliged to collect the fund disbursed together with the interest accrued to reimburse the remaining unpaid balance to investor and its uncollected interest rate commission and additional administrative expense. The agent bank sells the pledged collateral when no alternative investment solution can be found. However, the main target of the agent bank is to benefit the investor and the entrepreneur by mitigating the risk related with the entrepreneur business. Therefore, the agent bank rents the project of entrepreneur to new entrant entrepreneur that has the same project interest till the loan is settled, holding the collateral and without ownership transfer. Here the benefit of the new entrant entrepreneur is that the business runs with the support of entrepreneur own fund paying rent, which is equal or greater than the current loan repayment, with full-fledged facility and collects business profit beyond loan repayment to investor. The exiting entrepreneur does not lose its property since the property will be returned after the loan has settled by the new entrant entrepreneur. The rent of the exiting entrepreneur project calculated based on loan to total asset of an entrepreneur. If the loan to total asset ratio calculated greater than 100%, the rent would be higher than the current loan repayment. If the loan to total asset ratio is less than 100%, the rent could be equal or greater than the loan repayment to settle the loan in due date. Here the agent bank transfers the credit risk of an investor and entrepreneurs to newly entrant entrepreneurs.
3. 90-degree lending strategy
The parties involved in this lending strategy are money depositor and the bank. To run this lending strategy the bank should adopt an interest rate commission agent bank as one unite of the bank. So that, the depositors of the bank can shift to investor position to collect credit price in terms of deposit interest rate on the fund already invested by the bank which later shifted to agent position for depositor who then after became an investor.
In 90 degree lending strategy, the depositor who wished to be an investor in the deposit periods consults with the bank that already invested the depositor’s fund on a selective project. The bank shifts to agent position after a formal agreement made between the investor and the agent bank for the portion of funds invested. The agent bank stops calculating deposit interest and the newly entrant investor benefits proportional credit price according to fund considered in the total fund that is already disbursed by the bank to the debtor and thereby the agent bank collects proportional interest rate commission from the investor credit price. This can be done because an interest rate commission agent banking system can be a unit of a bank that runs under conventional banking system. The loan already disbursed to a debtor is covered by insurance and pledged collateral. So when the depositor moves to an investor position in the deposit period the credit risk of an investor transfers to the fate of collateral pledged and insurance engaged by an entrepreneur.
These three lending strategies stood for transferring credit risk and liquidity crunch to investor and entrepreneur by increasing number of investors and entrepreneurs in the society. Since applying the model increases the types of investment in a country, it has higher contribution to the growth of GDP. It also helps to pool unbanked society into banking system and thereby enable to narrow the gap between informal and formal economy. If an entrepreneur found lacking knowledge an agent bank would design a business plane and follow up an entrepreneur’s business in order to mitigate the credit risk and operational risk of an entrepreneur. While an investor sold the loan to newly entrant investor the agent bank did not tell the situation to an entrepreneur. The entrepreneur would be told by an agent bank when there is a need to amend the loan contract without any change of terms and tariff which already existed in the previous loan contract.
Ameha Tefera Tessema (DBL) Doctor of Business Leadership is a Commercial Bank of Ethiopia staff. You can reach him via ambet22002@yahoo.com
