Ethiopia Investment Summit
to showcase opportunities in the world’s third fastest growing
economy
By Press Release
The last decade has shown that in the race to claim the 21st
century, Africa will give Asia and a rising Latin America a run for
its money. McKinsey global recently published a groun d breaking
publication named “Lions on the Move: the progress and potential of
African E conomies”. Drawing a direct parallel to the economic
emergence of the Asian Tiger Econo mies, the study fixed impressive
numbers against the impending rise of the African Lion economies.
“There is no more impressive an African Lion economy on the move
than that of Ethiopia” says Henock Assefa, Managing Partner of
Precise Consult International PLC, the organizers of the Ethiopia
Investment Summit 2012. “According to the conservative estimates of
the Economist Magazine, Ethiopia will be the third fastest growing
economy in the world in the period between 2011-15. It is no
surprise that the World Economic Forum has chosen Ethiopia as its
host for its 2012 gathering of the continent’s best under the theme
“Shaping Africa’s transformation”.
With a population of 85 million, Ethiopia is the second largest
country in Africa and one of the largest unexplored markets in the
world. More than 70% of the country is aged under 30 and the
country’s rapidly expanding education system currently boasts 20
million stude nts. The national economy has registered growth rates
in excess of 10 percent for several years and the country appears to
be emerging on the world scene and attracting much in terest from
investors. The country is already the third largest coffee producer
in the wor ld and boasts the largest livestock population in Africa.
It is also the fourth largest sesam e exporter in the world, second
largest horticulture exporter in Africa, and one of the larg est
honey and beeswax producing countries in the world.
For those who knew Ethiopia in the past as the unfulfilled promise
of an African breadbask et, all the current noise the nation is
making in agriculture and agro processing is non too surprising.
What has become a surprise is the rapid wave in which the country
seems to be building value added industries on its increasing
agricultural output. With labor costs uniformly rising across Asia,
Ethiopia has now become a competitive location for sourcing
garments, attracting the attention of some of the world’s leading
brands. The chief economist of the World Bank, Justin Lin, recently
lauded Ethiopia, citing a study that has shown that Ethiopia can be
competitive with China in both these industries.
While economic growth numbers are already impressive, Ethiopia is
likely to surprise fur ther in the coming years. With new mining
finds in recent years, the country is poised to become among the top
five gold producing countries in the world. With its heavy investme
nts in renewable hydropower, it is clearly on the way to become a
major exporter of pow er into the rest of Africa and the Middle
East. Research conducted by the Frontier Strate gy Group recently
pointed out Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital, as one of the next 5
large cities in Africa with rapidly expanding economies. Indeed, as
a seat of the African Union, Addis Ababa is already the diplomatic
capital of an emerging pan African polity.
These solid hard facts are the platform on which the Ethiopian
Investment Summit is bas ed: “The idea behind the Ethiopia
Investment Summit 2012 is to help foreign investors un derstand this
newly emerging giant of an African economy.” Says Henok Assefa. “We
will have in one room 200 CEOs of Ethiopia’s largest and most
promising enterprises, meeting with upto 200 foreign CEOs exploring
the Ethiopian market, against a background of some serious economic
analyses and information. With the strong support we’ve so far
received from the Government of Ethiopia, we expect a very strong
and relevant participation from key decision-making personalities,
including several key cabinet ministers.
The kind of interest the country is witnessing is clearly indicated
in the type of companies who are sponsoring the Ethiopia Investment
Summit 2012. The list includes premiere cons ulting and finance
firms the likes of The Boston Consulting group and Ernst and Young,
and Schulze Global Investments, a private equity firm well
experienced in Asia but currently betting on Ethiopia. Access
Capital and South West Energy are also two of the companies
currently betting big in Ethiopia’s future. “If you are an investor
still upset because you missed the start of the Asian and Chinese
economic revolutions of the last 20-30 years, then you owe it to
yourself to attend the Ethiopia Investment Summit 2012” concludes
Mr. Assefa.
Source: world stage group
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