By Tsegamlak Solomon | Sep 09, 2023
Start-up Ethiopia
It was five years ago. I remember sitting in the meeting room of the former Jobs Creation Commission: a team of a little more than 10 people and we were gathered to discuss how to build a vibrant start-up ecosystem in Ethiopia with a focus on the Start-up and Innovative Business Proclamation. The room was full of energy; everyone in the room looked excited and the future looked bright. Everyone was trying to stretch the act in their favour, which cumulatively represented the overall interest of the private sector. The result of that is the first draft of the Start-up and Innovative Business Proclamation.
Fast forward 5 years, and the enactment of the Start-up Proclamation is still a hot issue whenever delegates from the private sector and the government meet, which is very sad. Different legislations have been presented to the parliament since then and were enacted, but the Start-up Proclamation, which has drawn much attention at the start, is yet to see the light of day. By way of comparison, Nigeria started discussions on the need to have a start-up act back in June 2021 and it was signed into law in October 2022. This was made possible because of the Nigerian Government’s unwavering support to building a favourable startup ecosystem. We are in our fifth year, and it is still counting.
Most importantly, we were made to believe that the Start-up Proclamation is the answer to every start-up’s question, whereas that is not the case. It was supposed to be the start—the start to everything that should follow. It was supposed to be the foundation for what comes next: a vibrant start-up ecosystem.
For the past five years, whenever the issue of start-ups has been raised, the enactment of the Start-up Proclamation has been presented as the hottest topic for discussion, whereas little or no effort has been made to push the act to the finish line. Rather than the betterment of the ecosystem, who should manage the Innovation Fund and who should own the overall project has been the central element of the discussions and the real reason for the delay in enactment.
We are hearing there are some positive developments in this regard, and we might see the act finally coming into effect in the near future. However, there are still a lot of things that need to change on the ground. First and foremost, the objective needs to be discussed with civil servants at the grassroots level, who handle the day-to-day activities and meet with entrepreneurs and startuppers in their day-to-day dealings. Without their buying into the idea, the ministerial-level, five-star hotel discussions about startups will not have a real-life impact on the startuppers on the ground.
The objective of the Startup Proclamation is still to create an innovative ecosystem in Ethiopia that is able to effectively and efficiently promote innovation and job creation, remove barriers to entrepreneurship by easing the start, operation, and closing of businesses, and build an ecosystem that encourages innovativeness. To attain these objectives, a lot of work is still required, both from private actors, including development partners, and the government at different levels.
I would like to take a moment to wish all of you my dear countrymen/women A Happy New Year! I wish all of you continued success in your careers with peace and health for years to come!
Let’s all hope that the youth of that country will finally see the light in the tunnel where all these stupid and deadly conflicts ignited by stupid individuals would abruptly come to an end. Let’s hope that the gullible and hopelessly unemployed youth will have the same opportunity to live just like my and your children/grandchildren in a society where guns have gone permanently silent. Let’s wish and hope for him/her that cell phones and tablets will replace the guns stupid war mongers have availed him/her so easily. Let’s all monger peace because peace has far-reaching dividends beneficial to everyone. Insha’Allah!!!!
Meanwhile, let’s all have our brothers and sisters in Morocco in our thoughts and prayers for their loss in the devastating earthquake that struck their country yesterday. Please also keep in mind that earthquake can also happen in the old country. In fact when this deadly earthquake hit Morocco there was another one that struck the Bab-el-Mandeb(Gulf of Aden) area in sea territory belonging to Somalia. It was around 4.5 on the scale. It looked like the giant African plate was moving. So it is a matter of time before another big one hit the Horn of Africa and I hope all functioning governments are not remiss of this possibility in light of the exploding population and the countries heading into unprecedented urbanization. It is not a matter of if but when the big ones will strike the region.
Okay folks! There he goes again! Our man in Al-Qahirah is drumming his darbooba again. He is hopping mad that Mother Nature has done its due diligence in the months of July and August over the dam. Nobody diverted a single cup of water from the river in the filling of the dam. Mother Nature was having the rain pour in buckets over the dam for more than 60 days and no one can tell her what to do or what not to do! Hey Abdel Fattah! Take your case to Mother Nature and don’t you dare try to be ‘funny’ with the dam!!! If you do that the river may stop coming your way altogether. You see that sign the river is holding right in your face! It says ‘Do Not Disturb!’ and that is a serious stuff. Relax!!!!!