Event report

East Africa Business Forum 2021: Doing business in Ethiopia

In the backdrop of the East Africa Business Forum 2021, we held a session on Doing business in Ethiopia'. The session was led by Abel YECK-PANG, Executive Director, French Business Club in Ethiopia (CAFE); Olivier POUJADE, Co-Founder and non-Executive Board Member, East Africa Gate (EAGate) and Simon BARRAL, Financial Controller, Lesaffre Ethiopia.

Some takeaways from the session:

• Ethiopia is the 2nd most populous country in Africa with a population of 115 million translating to a huge domestic market
• The country boasts a fast growing number of middle-class households
• There exists big market opportunities in food, agriculture, transport, ICT among other industries
• Access to foreign currencies is very difficult (no foreign banks exist in Ethiopia and the Ethiopian government has direct control over foreign currency attribution)
• The current political situation is very unstable
• To succeed in the country it is advisable to work with a wisely chosen local partner