Ethiopia will benefit from $100 million from the United Arab Emirates to finance technological innovation, the PM Office informed this week.
The new funding consists of a grant to be provided to the East African country through the Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development. It will be used to strengthen the capacities of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, more specifically those involved in innovation and technology. These include agro-industry, agricultural processing, IT and technological services, but also energy and industry.
This announcement comes at a time when the Ethiopian economy is in the process of industrialization and the government has decided to open up certain sectors (telecommunications and finance in particular) to foreign investors.
In early July, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced his intention to create 3 million jobs in the country over the next fiscal year, mainly focusing on SMEs.
Moutiou Adjibi Nourou