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Month: September 2020

MUTED MESQEL

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The Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak and a major construction project on Mesqel Square have meant that the annual religious festivities of Mesqel was likely to be underwhelming. The celebrations did not disappoint the low expectations, a point illustrated by a bonfire lighting that was unique for standing solitary in the middle of Mesqel Square, stripped of the faithful that come in their thousands adorned in white church attire and holding lighted candles every other year.

The Demera, a bonfire lighted to commemorate the finding of the cross Jesus Christ was crucified on, according to the teachings of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, stood alone, surrounded by security personnel in military fatigues. It was set against the backdrop of a crane rising out of the ground in the Mesqel Square construction zone.

The construction taking place was that of a 2.5- billion-Br renovation project of the famous Square, where it will also be outfitted with an underground parking lot. Despite promises by city officials that the project would be completed in a matter of four months and be available for the Mesqel festivities, it had become clear that only parts of it would be usable by yesterday. As a result, the Demera lighting and hymns took place without the setting of the famed crescent-shaped steps that partially envelop the Square.

Further inconveniencing the celebrations was the COVID-19 outbreak in Ethiopia. In an attempt to enforce physical distancing rules, members of church choirs that sung hymns were placed in lines at intervals for the show.

But perhaps most consequential to upending the usual lush celebrations of Mesqel, a major tourist attraction that has been designated an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO, was the lack of faithful that should have descended on the Square beginning midday.

Instead, the festivity was packed with security personnel, Church choir members and media crews, with attendance from Patriarch Abune Mathias, Deputy Mayor Adanech Abiebie and President Sahle-Work Zewde. It has been indicated that the annual thanksgiving holiday, Irreecha, celebrated in the capital last year and taking place early next month, will also be held under similar circumstances with a limited crowd size.

Restaurants Wither as Government Hits Tax Target

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A large green cedar tree, a symbol of the Lebanese flag, is displayed on the wall behind where the band plays in Allebnany Restaurant, located in the neighbourhood commonly known as haya-arat. The entrance to the restaurant is as grand as the place itself, which can seat over 300 people comfortably.

Red velvet ropes line the entrance and a carpet flows underneath the patrons that make their way in. Cosy corner booths, high chairs lining the lengthy well-lit bar that stretches from one end of the restaurant to the other, or a seat on one of the many dining style tables in the middle of the room are all options, depending on the preference of the diner.

In its better days, a reservation was a must to get a seat in any one of these for a night at the restaurant on a weekend or a holiday. The band would play Amharic or Lebanese music for entertainment as its uniformed staff catered to a full house with a signature dish of marinated chicken breast.

Following the unprecedented arrival of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19), however, the music has come to a stop in every sense of the word. The sprawling restaurant is empty, the staff cut down from 135 to almost 80 and the specialised restaurant’s very existence in question.

“We’ve been completely paralysed,” said Kozhaya Beaino, the restaurant’s owner, who also operates the Allebnany Cafe on the opposite side of the same building, which sells Lebanese sweets and pastries. “We need urgent help.”

The restaurant opened nearly seven years ago when Kozhaya, a Lebanese investor, noticed a niche in the market. With travelers from Gulf countries, Sudan and Djibouti in constant flow, Lebanese food was a hit; the restaurant’s other well-known dish is hummus, a popular Middle Eastern dip made from chickpeas.

“I’ve been travelling to Ethiopia ever since 14 years ago,” he said. “I like this country, and as there were a lot of foreigners at the time coming for work or holiday, I opened this business.”

The restaurant, an extensive rented space within the Kokeb Building, was created from a skeleton, according to Kozhaya.

“We built the entire space,” he said, “from installing water and electricity systems to the bars, the doors, the kitchen, everything.”

It’s now been six months since the restaurant has been immobilised by the effects of the pandemic, which had sent its major patrons, expatriates, back home. Its cafe section, though more dependent on local consumers, has also slowed down immensely, according to its owner.

Three months following the first case in the country, the government initiated a series of monetary and fiscal moves aimed at alleviating the economic shock on different sectors in the country. The support would then roll out to the banking sector, which had an injection of 15 billion Br to bolster its liquidity crisis. The tourism and hospitality sector was also granted support in the amount of 3.3 billion Br.

“This was promising as the understanding was that the government was aware of the plight of businesses,” said Kozhaya, “and so we patiently awaited our turn.”

Attempts at joining the hotel owners’ association at the time were not fruitful, as beds were a necessary requirement and the restaurant could not qualify. Now, after waiting in vain for over six months, restaurants across the city are taking matters into their own hands to make their voices heard. A petition requesting much-needed support from the government is making rounds in the city with over 30 signatures amassed so far.

A sector that seems to have been overlooked, a combination of international and local restaurants, cafes, pubs and clubs are signatories with the likes of big names like Antica, Effoi Pizza and Dashen Terrara Restaurant, a traditional cuisine eatery established in 1976. The request for a lifeline is desperately needed by these businesses.

The formation of the Restaurant Owners’ Association is the primary goal, but the petition has taken the forefront for now since many may not make it to see its birth, according to Kozhaya.

The requests in the petition are manifold, but relief from taxation makes the top of the list. This request comes as the government declares a record in tax collection in the newly started fiscal year: 21.6 billion Br in July, 110pc above target.

The Ministry of Revenues, which had recorded an 18pc increase in tax collection in the last fiscal year, scoring 234 billion Br, the highest in the last five years, attributes this to a number of reasons, perplexing as it may be given the economic devastation the pandemic has caused. A more organised tax collection system, better service provision and the strict enforcement of legal requirements are its primary reasons for generating 156 billion Br from domestic taxes alone.

And while there have been certain tax relief policies rolled out due to COVID-19, this sector has barely benefited, according to many business owners, who believe the creation of an association may be able to provide answers.

“The Association is important, because we need to establish a formal relationship with the government,” said Selamawit (Sishu) Deneke, owner of Sishu Burger, a restaurant well-known for its gourmet burgers. “It’s a way to get attention and support.”

Sishu Burger, which operates out of two outlets, has been in business for eight years, and its current lifeline is its loyal customer base that still dines even though a recent road impasse has exacerbated an already bad transportation situation, according to the owner. A corroborating review on the TripAdvisor website reads, “Definitely going back for the food next time…location might be a bit tricky though.”

The road where it is located, Alexander Pushkin Avenue, is along the section undergoing construction for the Pushkin Square-Gotera interchange road, started nearly a year ago. Though infrastructure difficulties are far from new, this latest road project has brought water provision to the restaurant to a complete standstill for nearly a year.

Water to run the restaurant is bought for the six days a week that it is open.

“We’ve been providing consistent quality services for eight years through ups and downs,” Sishu said. “But now it feels like we have reset and started from scratch.”

This comes on top of the inflationary prices that keep rising in the country, an annual average of which recorded a 20pc rate in August, according to the latest report from the Central Statistical Agency (CSA).

“We can’t keep forwarding the prices to the customers,” said Sishu. “But it’s inevitable if we’re to survive as a business. This is another question – what is the road map for this?”

The petition includes a request for a discount on water and utility bills for businesses in this sector.

“It’s a way to show that we’re here, and we’ve been contributing,” said Sishu. “This shouldn’t be the case only when I go to pay my taxes.”

Some restaurants, with other revenue streams, have been staying afloat by injecting cash from their alternate businesses, an option that many do not have. But even that is not a sustainable path.

For the owners of The Goat Cafe, COVID-19 came months after opening their third branch in Bole Medhanialem in February. Plans for further expansion were placed on hold, and the owners closed down two branches where they served coffee, shakes, and granola and yoghurt combo meals.

Payments for rent of the venue, paid-up a year in advance, and the cost of refurbishing and designing the interior were major expenses, according to Alexander Hizikias, one of the owners. A grinder for the coffee itself cost over 200,000 Br, taxes included.

“We couldn’t keep it open with all the overhead costs we had,” said the 25-year-old entrepreneur. “We had to pause the scale-up and focus on survival.”

Rent support, a cost for almost all restaurant owners in the group, is requested for a period of six months in the petition along with the provision of soft loans.

The Goat Cafe had seen a burgeoning of its business at its second location across the main campus of Unity University in Gerji, an ideal location due to the university population. With the closure of schools, the well of income had dried up to zero. The cafe is still working with a third additional partner providing much-needed liquidity for its only remaining open branch and its planned roastery.

The request for support may admittedly be a long shot, but forming an association is necessary for any long-term support, according to Alexander.

That may be true as the Ministry of Culture & Tourism, an entity where the petition may head, only has an established relationship with the Hotel Owners’ Association and no formal line of communication with restaurants, according to Endegena Desalegn, communications director at the Ministry.

“This is a new question,” he said. “It will need to be considered by the government before giving out answers.”

The Ethiopian Investment Commission is another place the petitioners are planning to send their pleas. The response there also remains to be seen.

If there are solutions that the Investment Commission can provide, it will brainstorm once the requests are submitted, according to Deputy Commissioner Temesgen Tilahun.

“But even the recommendations of the commissions need approval by either its board or the country’s macroeconomic team,” he said. “Subsequent to the onset of the pandemic, the Commission supports investors planning to repurpose their operations, but there is no special type of support intended for this sector.”

An expert in the hotel industry also views the formation of an association as a much stronger move than any petition.

“The only solution for visibility and support from the government is through an association that legally represents its existence,” said Fisseha Asres, managing director of Afro Hospitality Management & Support. “The sector needs to create a two-way street relationship with the government similar to hotels.”

Restaurants are more accessible and affordable than hotels and serve a corresponding higher number of people, according to the expert.

“Their value can’t be underplayed,” said Asres.

The value of restaurants like Allebnany and many others that serve different cuisines from around the world to a city like Addis Abeba is undeniable, and support for the sector may determine whether they will be around after the effects of the pandemic subside.

The plans of the Revenues Ministry for the coming fiscal year, in the case where COVID-19 continues heavily spreading, is to strengthen its online presence as an effort to minimise contact. But the restaurant sector might need something stronger to make it through until then.

Ethiopia’s Bleak Politics Can Use Invigorating Constitutional Renegotiation

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In a series of opinion pieces on the state of democracy in Africa The Economist magazine is publishing, the first was by an African leader, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD). No doubt, his rise to power – and no less his rhetoric – excited the global community. Headlined “Abiy Ahmed on the threats to Ethiopia’s democratic transition,” the piece published online was flowery in its promotion of national unity, firm in its condemnation of political violence, and resolute in its commitment to the idea of an Ethiopia that is yet to become a “beacon of African prosperity.”

It is a bullish outlook rarely echoed outside of government corridors these days or the public media. Even the international community, having hailed lavish praise on the Prime Minister that culminated in a Nobel Peace Prize, is not as buoyant about the fate of the country as it once was.

Just two days after the publication of the Prime Minister’s piece in The Economist, the same outlet had a story about how “Ethiopia’s democratic transition is in peril,” which was also the headline. Its verdict on Abiy’s debut in office was that it had failed to bring “democracy or peace.” The country’s political situation is nothing but a “crisis.”

Another recent piece in Bloomberg, headlined “The Battle to Keep Peace One Year After Winning the Nobel Prize,” told of security tensions, economic headaches and the threat of instability. No less pounding was Foreign Policyin its story depicting development in Ethiopia, headlined “Political Violence Could Derail Ethiopia’s Democratic Transition.”

These are stories reaching out to a global audience but with a tone no longer an outlier. They are narratives emerging on Ethiopia and directed at the international community but with stern warnings of impending security and humanitarian crises. The world will not say it did not know.

Already, there are 1.8 million internally-displaced people in Ethiopia, according to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM). The primary cause was conflict, accounting for around two-thirds of these people. Death and mayhem have become normalised in the collective conscience, and recurrent violence has become privatised, a combination that should deprive sleep to those at the helm of state power.

The political malice at the heart of Ethiopia’s turbulent years, since protests in the Oromia Regional State began to unravel in 2015, thus continues to dominate the discourse and fuel violence. Arguably, this problem emanates from an issue the Prime Minister himself alludes to in his piece for The Economist.

“Ethiopia is working tirelessly to realise its Constitution’s promise of a democratic and pluralistic political order based on the rule of law, respect for fundamental rights and the basic liberties” of its citizens. There is little to disagree with Abiy Ahmed on this.

But the issue at hand is more than just a matter of respecting the spirit and words of the supreme law of the land, though this would undeniably go a long way. It is also about having a constitution that reflects the hopes, aspirations and, most importantly, the historical memories of diverse groups under the Ethiopian state. The Constitution, to varying degrees, is not accepted as a binding social contract by all. No doubt, some want to preserve it in its entirety, but they seem to be in the minority. Even those that want to see its central tenets untouched have elements they find to be unfair or unwarranted.

Most consequential to this debate is perhaps the group that finds the foundational assumptions of the Constitution to be enough of a justification to reject it outright. There are political forces that view the document as an attempt to ossify differences and impede the formation of a cohesive political and economic community. They want to see the Constitution scrapped altogether and start afresh.

From its preamble to the part that grants specific lingo-cultural groups a right to break away from the Republic, Ethiopia’s Constitution is a living document that shows how little political settlement has been achieved since its passing 25 years ago.

If there was a silver lining to the political upheaval of the past two years, it is that the fault lines have become delineated. It has offered a stark glimpse into how deep and wide differences of conviction over the structure of the state, its institutions and laws go.

There could have been some solace to be found in the pluralist vision of this Constitution. Indeed, in a country where political power is institutionalised, such issues should have been healthy stress tests instrumental in helping socio-political structures evolve in tandem with demographic, economic and technological changes.

Ethiopia’s case is wholly different. It is a marriage between disagreements over the spirit and letter of the Constitution, born out of diverging historical memories, and the lack of robust and autonomous institutions. It has also shown that addressing these issues requires going beyond just appealing for respect of the rule of law. It has to be supplemented with a promise to renegotiate the foundational document for Ethiopia’s social contract.

The purpose of this will not only be to attempt to rewrite the Constitution but to invigorate the national discourse and orient it toward a constructive course. It would be an attempt to bring political forces back to the negotiating table, re-imagine points of convergence and come to an understanding on a historical narrative that would be used to inform how the Constitution should be reconstructed.

Many will be pessimistic about such a possibility, and they can be excused. It is understandable, especially considering how the main political actors have injured one another to the point where mutual trust has been wiped out, literally.

There appears to be no force with enough political capital on the scene that can bring groups with divergent interests and ambitions together into the same tent for negotiations. In 2018, the institutional vehicle was the ruling coalition. But owing to the breakdown of law and order, the behaviours and actions of the opposition, and the exercise of power by the incumbent party Abiy Ahmed presides over, Prosperity Parity has reduced itself to just another stakeholder. It is not a platform where power is being negotiated between social and political forces that hold so much sway in society.

It is time to urge the international community to play mediation roles and discharge its responsibilities to Ethiopia. This may provoke local sensibilities with perpetual apprehensions of external influence in domestic affairs. Internationally mediated talks would not be a bad idea after all if viewed as attempts to preempt its involvement that would otherwise be needed if the country becomes immersed in further instability. The sooner, the better.

Ethiopia may take a page or two from the experience of its neighbour. The African Union-led mediation in Kenya following the post-election crisis in 2008 was believed to have been critical in culminating in the constitutional reform two years later. Instrumental to getting Kenya’s contending parties to the table was international pressure for talks as well as the character and record of the team of mediators, which was led by Kofi Annan, the late secretary-general of the United Nations.

A similar mediation role could inject trust into the political scene to bring the major actors in Ethiopia to the negotiating table. The results may not be entirely satisfactory. But such a process will go a long way to invigorating constructive discourse – away from violence – and offer the Ethiopian state-building project another restart by way of constitutional reform.

Higher Education Regulator Undergoes Major Reform

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The federal agency in charge of regulating the higher education sector is set to undergo a major overhaul by restructuring itself to directly report to the parliament or the Office of the Prime Minister. The reform will also transform the agency into either an authority or a commission.

Initiated by Samuel Urkato (PhD), the new minister of Science & Higher Education, the restructuring of the Higher Education & Relevance Quality Agency is expected to bestow it with autonomy and strengthen its regulatory mandate. The reform is targeted to sort out its operational and regulatory conflation. To accommodate the new changes, the Agency has started discussions and pre-assessment to amend its establishment proclamation that was issued 17 years ago and was amended last year.

With the new reform, the Agency, which is mandated to oversee the learning-teaching process and the research and community services of all higher education institutions, will have a presence across five regional states in the country. The restructuring will increase its deputy directors from one to three and expand the Agency’s budget and workforce.

The independence of the Agency should not be impaired, according to Andualem Admassie (PhD), director-general of the Agency, who stated that discussions began last week.

The Agency reports to the Ministry, which is also where all the public universities that it is expected to regulate also report, according to Andualem.

“This is a conflict of interest,” he said. “While the Agency had the mandate to shut down institutions, there have been issues with interference,” he said. “Institutions are being given protection where the Agency wants to act, in both private and public spheres.”

In the past two years, the Agency has revoked the licenses of 24 campuses of various higher education institutions in the country, which has 260 private and 51 government higher education institutions.

The Agency wants to play a more proactive role in protecting the community, as shutting down institutions takes place after time and money have been wasted, according to the Director-General.

With the number of private institutions, campuses and programmes under each, a better system needs to be in place, according to the Director-General.

“There are millions of students enrolled, and the institutions are working with billions of Birr, which isn’t properly systemised,” he said.

Over 1.1 million students have been reported as currently enrolled under private higher learning institutions in the country, while their public counterparts have 900,000 students.

“The number reported by private institutions was half a million initially,” said Andualem, “but we pressured them to divulge correct figures.”

The current number is still debatable, according to the Director-General.

The Agency will also sort out its overlapping responsibilities. Currently, it provides licenses and renewals and audits the quality of publishing for higher education institutions. Additionally, it also authenticates documents, and while the first two are regulatory in nature, the latter is operational.

The Agency cannot be the accountant and the auditor simultaneously, according to Andualem, who added that the proposal for its restructuring is being undertaken internally based on different recommended studies from international organisations like USAID.

As private education institutions are mostly business-oriented, it is important that the Agency is taking steps to become more autonomous in its regulatory role, according to Tirussew Teferra (Prof.), a lecturer at Addis Abeba University’s College of Education & Behavioural Studies for four decades.

“There are instances where private institutions are opening up without staff,” he said. “They just use the profile of other institutions.”

However, there needs to be more than regulation for the growth of quality, according to Tirussew.

“Higher education institutions need to be more competitive,” he said. “There should also be more focus given to making higher education institutions centres of excellence.”

Tirussew cited the example of the University of Haramaya as potentially being one for agriculture. He also recommended that the work toward quality start at an early stage in the learning-teaching process, as this can produce students that can teach themselves.

Hijra Bank’s Board Receives Approval

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The National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) has given the green light to the founding board of directors of Hijra, the second under establishment, full-fledged interest-free bank in the country. Issued on September 14, 2020, under the signature of Frezer Ayalew, director of banking supervision at the central bank, the letter approved the nomination of the 13 board members drawn from the academia, law, ICT, finance and business arenas.

The under formation bank elected the board of directors in mid-January during the general assembly that was held at Millennium Hall and filed the application with the central bank on March 4, 2020.

A directive that was amended last year requires all banks’ board directors to hold a first degree. With the previous directive, it was enough if three-fourths of the directors had a first degree, while the remaining could have graduated from secondary school. Board directors should also be composed of a mixture of educational backgrounds such as banking, finance, accounting, management, economics, legal, business administration, auditing, information technology and investment management.

The letter from the regulatory bank that addressed the Document Authentication & Registration Agency also gave the go-ahead for the founding shareholders to sign the memorandum and articles of association, the final stage that will enable the Bank to secure a license to commence operations.

Founding shareholders will start signing the memorandum and articles of association beginning this week with a deadline of October 10, according to Mukemil Bedru, chairperson of the under formation Bank that is supposed to collect signatures from 50pc plus one of the founding shareholders.

The Bank, which has been under establishment for the past year and two months, managed to raise 700 million Br in paid-up capital from over 9,000 shareholders that subscribed to 1.2 million shares. It dissolved Nejashi Bank, which was also under the establishment process, after getting a green light from the central bank in May.

Hijra officially started selling shares on July 22, 2019, after getting pre-formation licenses from the regulatory bank on June 20, 2019. Initiated by nine individuals, the Bank sold shares through 12 banks, excluding Enat, Debub Global, Zemen and Berhan banks. Having a par value of 1,000 Br, a maximum of 20,000 and a minimum of 30 shares were offered for public subscription.

The Bank plans to become operational this year with over three dozen branches, according to the board chairperson.

“We plan for 60pc of the branches to be in regional states,” Mukemil told Fortune.

The Bank has also nominated Nuri Hussein, IFB vice president at the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE), to be the founding president of the Bank. The organisers of the Bank also applied to the central bank to get approval. Nuri, who has been working with CBE for the past one and a half years, had served Oromia International Bank as director of the Interest-Free Banking department for five years.

Even though the Banking Business Proclamation that was enacted in 2008 allows the establishment of interest-free banking, a directive had restricted interest-free banking operations to a window service alongside other conventional banking. Over half of the 17 banks have already been providing window interest-free banking services.

However, after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) came to power, the administration expressed its commitment to allowing the formation of Islamic banking by issuing a directive that enables banks to offer interest-free banking services exclusively. Zam-Zam Bank, the pioneer in attempting to establish a full-fledged interest-free bank in the country over a decade ago, was the first to start the processed of forming a bank in the current round.

Since then over five banks are now under establishment to provide IFB, a banking service where banks invest funds of depositors and share the profit and loss based on the agreement between the two parties.

Finalising all the processes, Zam-Zam Bank has already applied to secure a license that will make it operational. The under formation Bank was able to raise 886 million Br in paid-up capital out of the 1.7 billion Br worth of shares subscribed to by 11,200 shareholders. The 11 board members of Zam-Zam were also approved by the central bank back in June.

The Bank is only waiting for a go-ahead from the central bank to commence operations, according to Nassir Dino (PhD), the chairman who was leading the organising committee of Zam-Zam Bank.

A banking expert with a wide range of experience in the banking industry says the arrival of entirely interest-free banks is exciting news.

“The banks might not face difficulties in mobilising resources,” said the expert, “but things might not be easier when it comes to investments.”

There is a gap in adequately trained human resources in the sector or a proper and strict legal framework, according to the expert, who adds that there are many issues to be addressed both by the banks and the regulatory side.

“All the stakeholders should work to save IFB banking services from facing the same fate it faced in Turkey and Germany, where it failed to be successful,” the expert said.

The central bank has to support and promote the service; at the same time, it needs to prepare legal frameworks to properly regulate the service that is relatively new for the country, according to the expert.

The expert mentioned that preparing a law that protects depositors from risk should be put in place, especially in the case of Mudarabah– an investment account in which the customer gives the bank a mandate to invest and utilise the funds.

“If the investment doesn’t work out, customers will fully carry the loss,” he said. “They should be protected from this possibility with laws.”

Abyssinia Rolls Out More Virtual Banking Terminals

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Moti Engineering Plc, a banking and ICT solutions provider, secured a deal to supply 15 Interactive Teller Machine (ITM) to the Bank of Abyssinia for an estimated 65 million Br. The company has already supplied the Bank with five ITMs, aka “branch in a box” terminals, that provide virtual in-person banking services.

Moti was contracted for the project after passing through a two-and-half-month pilot run of the five terminals that went live last week in the presence of Yinager Dessie (PhD), governor of the National Bank of Ethiopia, Meseret Taye, board chairperson, and Bekalu Zeleke, president of the Bank. Four of the terminals are deployed at the premises of the United States Embassy, Tele Medihanialem area, Getu Commercial Centre and Century Mall.

Moti will supply the additional terminals within eight to 10 weeks of the contract award period. The Bank plans to install the new terminals at shopping malls.

The terminals, which use a combination of touch screens and technology to offer in-person banking services, make Bank of Abyssinia the first local bank to own and operate ITMs. The terminals enable customers to open an account, receive money transfers, deposit and withdraw cash, and perform local money transfers – services that had previously required customers to be physically present at a bank branch.

Manufactured by NCR, a global enterprise technology provider of software, hardware and services for banks, the terminals are the SS82 ITM model. Moti supplied the machines six months ago through a restrictive bidding process.

The Bank and the company have been carrying out the installation and testing process of the five terminals for the past six months, according to Sosina Mengesha, chief digital banking officer at the Bank, which netted 786 million Br in profit during the 2018/19 fiscal year.

Unlike automated teller machines (ATM), where only limited interactions are possible through a keypad, ITMs include a touch screen, buttons and a handheld phone providing direct access to a live bank teller. ATMs allow a maximum of 10,000 Br in cash withdrawals, but ITMs allow unlimited withdrawals.

The technology will help the Bank cut the expense of opening more branches and provides services without the physical presence of customers, which is especially helpful during the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, according to Daniel Retta, manager of the Digital Banking Technical Team at Bank of Abyssinia, which procured the terminals as part of its five-year strategy that mainly focuses on digitising its operations.

“The terminals also allow customers to redeem old notes and receive the new currency bills,” said Daniel.

In addition, the Bank is working on widening the coverage of ITM terminals first in the capital city and then in the regional areas, according to Elsabeth Gebru, the Bank’s corporate communications manager.

“We’ll also plan to enable customers to receive international money transfers through these terminals,” she told Fortune.

Moti Engineering, which has been in business since 2006, operates with 450 employees and 11 office districts, 43 branch offices, a headquarters in Addis Abeba, and has so far supplied 150 ATMs to BoA, which started operations a quarter of a century ago with paid-up capital of 17.8 million Br raised from 131 shareholders.

It also sealed a deal with BoA to supply 3,000 ATMs in the coming three years and thus far supplied 6,300 ATM terminals to the 17 commercial banks.

All public and private commercial banks in the country operate about 5,000 ATM terminals and have issued more than 15 million cards. EthSwitch, a technology firm owned by a consortium of all banks established in 2011, launched the interoperability of ATMs four years ago, enabling cardholders to withdraw money from any terminal.

Card banking has been evolving over the past few years, according to Ibrahim Dawud, a certified card banker with over two decades of experience in the industry. He says that it was started with the terminal that allowed cash withdrawals, then deposits and foreign currency exchange services, and most recently non-card transactions.

“The latest ITMs are customer-centred and address customer needs,” he said. “These days people are busy and need fast service at their convenience.”

However, the Bank might face three major challenges, according to Ibrahim. He lists awareness of some customers in using these terminals, weak internet connection, and the location of the terminals far from branches as challenges Abyssinia could face.

“The first five terminals could have been deployed close to branches to enable bank staff to assist customers wherever they face difficulties,” he said.

Even though digitising services could threaten existing jobs, it will also create job opportunities for those in different fields, according to Ibrahim.

“The Bank could hire workers who will work on help desks, technicians and companies that deploy these machines,” he said.

First Coffee College Puts down Roots in Addis

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The first institute of higher education that will deliver courses and conduct research solely focused on the coffee industry is setting foot in Ethiopia with an investment of 50 million euros.

The handily named Coffee College, scheduled to start delivering courses next year, will offer six courses in the undergraduate Coffee Industry programme: Roasting, Trading and Branding; Metal & Engineering; Power & Decentralized Power Generation; Water & Water Distribution; Media; and Nursing & Kindergarten. After finishing the first four semesters in Ethiopia, students will go to Europe for six months to pursue the remaining courses.

The College, which has been undergoing preparations to be opened in Ethiopia for the last three years, will also provide inspection, testing and verification of coffee services. It offers a diploma and bachelor’s degree after two and four years, respectively. An additional two years is required for a master’s degree.

With a campus in Austria and its Scientific & Research Headquarters in Munich, Germany, the College plans to build an administrative headquarters in Addis Abeba. The construction of the administrative building is planned to commence at the beginning of 2021. In the meantime, the college expects to start classes beginning the first quarter of 2021 using the infrastructure and facilities of existing universities and colleges, including Addis Abeba University.

The owners of the College, who run a coffee roasting business in Austria, chose Ethiopia as its destination because of the tremendous potential for the coffee industry, according to Erich Fussl, president of the College, which partnered with Technical University of Munich (TUM) to craft the curriculum.

Coffee is the major foreign currency generator for the country. With more than 400 coffee exporters and 30 import-export companies, the last fiscal year of the country saw a gusher with 290,125tn of coffee sold and 854.2 million dollars generated. This represents a 17.4pc boost in volume and a 12pc increase in value from the previous fiscal year.

The College will have academic and commercial wings. The academic wing is responsible for the university programme delivery, while the commercial wing is in charge of utilising the knowledge and findings of the university programme for business purposes. All developments, findings and patents will be collected in the Special Investment Fund, a department that is responsible for the commercial utilisation of intellectual property.

It plans to source funds for research and development projects mainly from the European Union, as well as from the Malaysian Sovereign Wealth Fund, the World Bank, the United Nations, the Asian Development Bank and the African Union.

The Intellectual Property Fund, the core element of the college, will bring the funding parties together and receive all intellectual property rights that come out of the Coffee College. The staff and students of the College will be required to pledge their intellectual property rights to the Fund. But new findings will be rewarded and the responsible individuals will benefit from the commercialisation of the discoveries they make.

The scientific research from the college will be used for commercialisation, and the raised funds will be used for advanced scientific research, according to Erich.

“If well-exploited, the coffee industry is very important for every sector,” said Erich. “The College wants to actualise this.”

Besrat Belay, managing director of Chaka Coffee, a local coffee roasting company, says that the sector is facing a shortage of expertise and professionals. He believes the College can play a great role in alleviating these challenges.

“The sector cannot compete in the global market due to the lack of knowledge and skills in the coffee industry,” Besrat said. “This will enable the business to create more profit and more employment opportunities.”

The opening of the College may encourage other investors to engage in research and development projects in the sector, according to Zerayakob Belete, managing director at Nexus Investment Solutions, an investment and business consultancy open for over a decade.

The unit value of Ethiopian coffee in the international market has been declining. A kilogram of Ethiopian coffee was sold for 3.90 dollars three years ago, but it dropped to 3.30 dollars in the 2018/19 fiscal year.

This is because the coffee industry of the country has lagged behind in competing with foreign counterparts in terms of value addition, argued Zerayakob.

“Over 90pc of Ethiopian coffee exports is raw coffee without any value added,” says Zerayakob. “The Ethiopian coffee industry is backwards, lacks research and development, but has huge untapped potential.”

The establishment of the Coffee College would certainly be vital in alleviating the challenges, according to Zerayakob.

“Research and development are the fundamentals of innovation and better competition by the sector,” Zerayakob said.

EthSwitch Launches Electronic Payments Interoperability

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Anyone who holds a payment card issued by any bank can now make payments at any Point of Sale (PoS) terminal, following the board of the National Bank of Ethiopia’s (NBE) approval of the interoperability of PoS machines early this month.

Using the interconnection protocol facilitated by Eth-Switch S.C., a firm owned by a consortium of all banks, including the central bank, PoS interoperability enables terminals to authenticate, authorise and clear payments. It also allows cardholders to make payments at any location using PoS terminals of any bank.

To pilot the project, the company applied to the central bank in early February, and the regulator approved the request two weeks after the request. PoS interoperability goes live at the end of this month after seven months of pilot testing that was held at Unity Park, Fresh Corner, Shoa Shopping Center, Yod Abyssinia Cultural Restaurant and Safe Way Supermarket.

Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE), Awash Bank, Bank of Abyssinia (BoA) and Dashen Bank are the banks that participated during the pilot. Having a 500-dollar unit price, there are close to 10,000 PoS terminals in the country, of which half of them are possessed by the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE). There are also 15 million cards issued by the 17 commercial banks.

During the pilot period, 8,000 to 9,000 Br worth of transactions were being made a month, according to Fikru Woldetensie, director of marketing and innovation at EthSwitch, which was founded in 2011 with paid-up capital of 80 million Br. The company launched the interoperability of Automated Teller Machines (ATM) four years ago.

The pilot process was challenged by the spread of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19), according to Fikru.

“Unity Park, one of the places where the pilot project took place, was closed due to the pandemic,” Fikru said.

Tewodros Tassew, a fintech consultant specialising in digital financial services and payments, says that it is an excellent step to introduce PoS interoperability. He says that there are many things the banks should do to enhance the effective use of the service.

“The financial institutions have to make PoS and ATM terminals accessible,” he said. “The services should also be reliable and effective.”

Recently, the central bank approved a directive that enables non-financial and private companies to own and operate PoS and ATM terminals, an area that was previously reserved for financial institutions.

The central bank should also consider allowing mobile PoS [a portable Point of Sale on a smartphone or tablet that functions as a register], suggests Tewodros.

Currently, EthSwitch is piloting the interoperability of mobile and internet banking, which use peer-to-peer transactions, electronic money transfers made from one person to another through an intermediary. It is also working on a project that will allow account-to-account, wallet-to-wallet, account-to-wallet, and wallet-to-account transactions. It started the pilot after getting a green light from the central bank.

COVID-19 Puts Damper on Mesqel Celebration, Shoe Market

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Desalegn Wondimu joined a shoe retail business close to two decades ago as a retailer. He then opened a shop that sells traditional shoes in Merkato with 1,500 Br in capital six years ago.

In the beginning, he only had eight pairs of men’s shoes. Over time, his stock has grown to 150 pairs of shoes at a time.

Business was good at that moment. Especially during holidays the demand for traditional shoes booms, doubling the flow of customers to Desalegn’s shop. He sees a spike in sales. Epiphany is the best holiday for his business. Mesqel, the commemoration feast of the finding of the True Cross, follows.

However, over the past six months, the shoe retail business has been depressed. Like many other businesses, the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has been a heavy enough disruption to paralyse the business.

During Mesqel, Desalegn has an average daily sales income of 3,500 Br, selling at least 10 pairs of shoes. This year, he received only a customer a day.

While celebrating Demera, where the burning of a large bonfire takes place in large gatherings on the eve of Mesqel, people tend to be costumed in traditional attire. Usually, the clothes are made of woven cotton, while the shoes, especially men’s, are leather. The feast is held in Mesqel Square, named after the festival, which is currently undergoing a major facelift.

This year’s holiday did not see a large, central gathering thanks to the pandemic. The government has banned public gatherings with the aim of curbing the spread of the virus.

The City Administration has restricted the number of attendees to just 5,000, only allowing church choirs and invited guests including government officials to attend the festival. Previously, the celebration, which was recently recorded by UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage festival, was attended by tens of thousands of people.

“This year there is no demand at all,” Desalegn said.

In addition to random buyers, Desalegn sells his products to grooms or people who receive Communion, a sacrament ritual by the followers of the Christian religion.

Even before the onset of the pandemic, Desalegn has been struggling to stay afloat since his taxes were increased three years ago. He used to pay 400 Br a year, but that amount has jumped to 7,000 Br. His monthly rental fee has also spiked. Four years ago he was paying 400 Br for rent, but it shot up to 22,000 Br last year.

The pandemic has added fuel to the existing problems.

“This is the most depressing season I have ever seen throughout my time in this business,” he said.

Aklilu Gosaye, who retails traditional and modern leather shoes in Merkato, shares Desalegn’s experience. During Mesqel, Aklilu used to sell at least five pairs of traditional shoes a week. But during this year’s Mesqel holiday, Aklilu was only selling one pair of traditional leather shoes a week.

Manufacturers of traditional leather shoes are also searching for their usual profits. Fiseha Leather Products Factory, a small-scale leather products manufacturer in the capital that used to sell 60 pairs of shoes on average a day to customers and members of the diaspora, is one of them. The factory now sells less than 12 pairs of traditional leather shoes a day.

“We’re seeing very little demand from customers,” says Fiseha Demis, the owner of the factory.

Due to slow demand for traditional leather shoes, factories are stopping their production lines. Modern Zege Leather Products Industry, which was established in 1993, has stopped regularly producing traditional leather shoes.

The factory, which produces 1,000 pairs of modern shoes a day, is only manufacturing the traditional shoes when it receives an order from customers, according to Ashagre Bekele, deputy general manager of the company.

The major market seasons when retailers see sales spike are during holidays such as Mesqel and Epiphany, during graduation times in June and July, and the wedding season in January and April.

“Staying in the business is very tough since there are no holiday celebrations, graduations or weddings,” Aklilu said.

Not only the business of traditional shoes but also the sales of casual leather shoes has recessed significantly. The month of September is known for spikes in shoe sales since parents usually buy their kids new shoes for the upcoming school year, according to Desalegn.

“It’s almost non-existent now due to the closure of schools,” he said.

The financial effect of the market disruption on these seasonal businesses is devastating since they only wait for a few seasons to sell their products, according to Getie Andualem (PhD), an assistant professor of marketing management at Addis Abeba University.

“Thus, they should diversify their commodities to withstand the demand slowdown,” said Getie. “They should have multi-purpose machinery and production facilities.”

The demand recession might be attributed to declining purchasing capacity due to the pandemic, physical distancing measures, and the fear people feel right now, according to Getie.

“People usually consume these luxury goods when they feel good,” he says.

These businesses should emphasise innovation and creativity to elevate the demand for their products, according to Getie.

The government should help the leather and textile industries by using e-transaction infrastructure, because they are promising sectors in terms of export, employment and poverty reduction, Getie recommends.

Ethiopia Ends Closure, Fully Reopens to Tourists

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The Ministry of Culture & Tourism has announced the beginning of October as the official full reopening date for the country’s tourism sector, which has been interrupted for the past six months due to the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

The re-opening date, informed through a letter to all industry operators, comes pending a safe travel stamp from the World Travel & Tourism Council. The stamp is bestowed on countries that have adopted standardised global health and hygiene protocols.

Though the country had drafted a National Safe Travel Protocol applicable throughout the overall tourism chain, including hotels, tour operators and destinations for containing the spread of the virus, the Council requested the lift of restrictive quarantine measures upon entry into the country as a necessity.

Ethiopia currently requires travelers arriving in the country to provide a negative COVID-19 test result, completed five days or less before arrival, and a 14-day self-quarantine at home after giving a sample upon arrival. Travelers with no certificate will be quarantined at selected hotels at their own cost for seven days after which testing will be done and an additional seven-day self-isolation period is required.

The Protocol, crafted to contain the spread of COVID-19, has been green-lighted by the Council in all other regards, according to Tewodros Derbew, director of international tourism facilitation at the Ministry.

“The Ministry is holding discussions with the Ministry of Health in order to lift these requirements,” he said.

The implementation of the Protocol, a requirement for the safe reopening of the sector, is being led through a collaborative effort between regional tourism bureaus, according to Tewodros.

“We’ve been working on raising awareness and capacity building of institutions in the past months,” he said. “This includes providing material support when necessary.”

The country, which was partially closed in terms of implementing quarantine and transport restrictions, is en route to restart the sector’s economy while fending off the pandemic, according to the director.

Due to the pandemic leading to the closure of many tourist destination sites, the sector was able to generate close to two billion dollars in the last fiscal year, losing one-third of its annual average revenues.

“Other countries had similar measures at the time,” he said.

Close to 53pc of other countries have reopened their doors to tourism currently, and this number is expected to increase to 70pc within the coming month.

The Ministry, which had prepared a tourism sector recovery strategy in April to guide the recuperation of the sector, held an exhibition of the Protocol as a sample in Harar, a UNESCO registered heritage site, almost two weeks ago. The exhibit took place in two museums, at Ras Hotel and at the Jugol Wall.

Harar’s example was important as the enforceability of the Protocol was another discussion point with the World Council, according to Sileshi Girma, CEO of Tourism Ethiopia, which had crafted the section on guided tours and destination safety.

The exhibition at Harar, which cost close to half a million Birr, had seen the presence of members of the Ethiopian Chef’s Association, the Ethiopian Hotel Federation and the regional tourism bureau among others.

The reopening of different sectors while following health guidelines has more benefits than disadvantages, according to Tsegaye Gebrekidan (PhD), an economist at the Policy Studies Institute. The rate of increase in COVID-19 cases in the country while considering the country’s partial containment measures since its onset is indicative of good positioning, according to him.

“We have other countries that have also managed to control the pandemic, save a few examples, and this will have positive spillover effects for the country,” he said. “The benefits of the tourism sector is considerable as it will also affect the hotel and restaurant industry.”

The restrictive bans should be lifted while following more moderate measures like quarantining only those who do not come with negative COVID-19 test results or those who test positive, he recommended.

The Ministry celebrated World Tourism Day in Jigjiga on September 26, 2020, with the tagline “Tourism & Rural Development”.

Procurement Agency Reinstates Blacklisted Suppliers

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The federal agency in charge of regulating public procurements has removed close to four dozen suppliers from its blacklist. The Agency is also allowing these companies to participate in tenders floated by the government.

Mentioning the economic slowdown that was caused by the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the Public Procurement & Property Administration Agency has removed the bans it imposed on 45 companies. The suppliers were banned from participating in any kind of bid by public institutions for violating procurement laws during the last fiscal year. During the past fiscal year, the Agency banned 58 suppliers.

Promising International Trading, one of the major wheat suppliers, Minaye Plc, Orex Construction, F.deutsch GMBH and Teda Trade Works Plc are the companies that were reinstated by the Agency. Except for Promising International that was banned for a year, all of the companies were barred for six months. They were blacklisted for refusing and failing to deliver various projects as per their contracts and failing to sign contracts after they were announced as winners.

“We pardoned the companies, realising the impact of the virus on them,” said  Setegn Gelan, public relations director at the Agency. “We lifted the bar to help the companies retain their employees.”

Six months ago, the Ministry of Labour & Social Affairs issued a protocol that prohibited all private companies from laying off workers.

While pardoning close to four dozen companies, the Agency still placed a ban on 13 suppliers from taking part in any bidding process due to the gravity of the faults they have committed, according to Setegn.

“They’ve been found involved in corruption and fraud,” he said. “They’ll be banned from participating in any bidding process until the suspension period ends.”

With the Agency’s law, companies that have been involved in fraud and corruption are subjected to two years of suspension. Companies that failed to meet the contract will be banned for half a year to two years depending on the gravity of the fault. Blacklisted companies will not take part in the bidding process of public offices.

Teda Trade Works was banned by the Agency in April due to its failure to deliver on time five of the 60 laptop computers it was awarded to supply to Gonder University. Its customer payment order (CPO), which amounted to 89,000 Br, was confiscated.

Usually, the company was getting projects in June, and this year it did not get business following the suspension, according to Betelhem Ezezew, general manager of Teda.

“We’ve been very discouraged because of the economic and psychological damage following the ban,” said Betelhem.

Promising International Trading Co., a Dubai-based firm operating five offices worldwide, won a bid to supply 200,000tn of wheat for 1.39 billion Br in June 2018. However, the company failed to meet the contract due to claiming that the cost of shipping had increased, leading to a one-year ban on the company issued last December.

Busha Temesgen (PhD), an associate professor of procurement and supply chain management at Addis Abeba University, advises the Agency to be careful in this act to not encourage offenders.

“The sector lacks skills and knowledge,” said Busha, who urges the public procurement process to be advised by experts and to employ efficient technologies to upgrade the service.

During the last fiscal year, the Public Procurement & Property Disposal Service spent 5.1 billion Br for the procurement of goods and services for the over 189 public offices. Out of the total procurement, 2.1 billion Br was spent through the framework agreement. The remaining was used for strategic procurements including vehicles, wheat and other electro-mechanical products.

COVID-19: Through a Camera Lens and Beyond

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A tearful critical care nurse, heartbroken by the loss of a patient that reminded her of her mother; a young patient sitting with her back to the camera who had already written down her last words; a former soldier now working as a sprayer with protective goggles on his forehead and carrying a disinfecting kit – these are some of the moments that photographer Yonas Tadesse has managed to capture during his stay at Eka Kotebe General Hospital.

Every day for almost three months, he spent close to half an hour putting on protective gear against the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) before entering the nation’s first COVID-19 treatment centre. He would walk from his makeshift studio located in another building to have breakfast with the medical professionals on duty and then head over to the ward, camera in hand.

It was a lengthy but necessary part of the photographer’s daily routine as he documented the nation’s battle against the pandemic in its earliest days.

Bodysuit, face shield, face mask, goggles, gloves – all on top of one another with scotch tape binding the corners and gaps – were prerequisites before he set foot in the Hospital. Even his camera was not exempt. He would then spend at least four hours inside the treatment centre, trying to talk to patients and take pictures.

“It was difficult at first,” said Yonas. “People were reluctant. They didn’t know who I was or what I was doing.”

In one of his online posts where he captured doctors surprising a COVID-19 patient with a cake for her birthday, he explains how it is hard to build relationships with the people he photographs as there is no way they can even see him.

So he spent most of the first month introducing himself, initiating conversations and explaining the project. The camera was also left behind in his room during this time. Slowly but surely, the patients started warming up to him and opening up.

“I think she just wanted to speak to someone that was not a doctor,” he said, referring to one of the first patients he spoke to while doing his work. He became their confidant through time, sometimes serving as a much-needed link between the patients and the administration.

When he was not in the wards with the patients getting to know each other, Yonas was tagging along with the ambulance when it had to go and pick up an individual with a confirmed case or even to a funeral.

Entitled “Finding Meaning in a Pandemic” the photo project that he embarked upon documented frontline health providers and patients in their battle for survival and recovery, as he puts it. Yonas took 140,000 pictures during his three-month stay and gave the country a first-hand glimpse into what the frontline battle against the pandemic looked like. The photo series went on to be one of the winners of the Lens Culture Critics Choice Awards, an international photography award, and was featured in The Guardian‘s picture essay publication.

It was not just those receiving care at the Hospital that were surprised by what this 29-year-old photographer was doing. As he shared his first pictures online, explaining what he was doing, many were shocked, showering him with gratitude for offering them a look into what would otherwise have remained a shrouded affair when little was known about the treatment centres and the virus’s effect on patients in the country.

“It started with a simple question,” he said. “How will this pandemic affect us? I knew it would be answered differently by different people. Hence, I went out to find the answers in the way I know best.”

The photojournalist with almost a decade of experience under his belt went out with the only tool he needed: his camera.

“It wasn’t even about trying to be helpful. It was more of understanding and fulfilling my role in this. I was trying to find meaning,” he said.

But despite his interest in the project, when he started there was little known about it in the country, and overcoming his own personal fear was challenging.

“It took time to get over it – to face the fear. I was so interested to go and work on this project, but I was also scared,” he said. “It was at a very early stage, and we had no clue how the situation with the pandemic would pan out.”

But he decided to do it. He pitched the idea to then newly appointed Minister of Health, Lia Tadesse (MD), who was fully on board.

“She chose to allow this project to happen,” he said, “to document such an important part of the country’s history.”

When Yonas started the project, there were only 16 cases in the country and no deaths. At the end of last week, there was over 72,000 confirmed cases, and over 1,100 have lost their lives to the virus.

But death was an all present factor even then when he first began.

Facing death in the pandemic and dignifying the lives of those that have lost their battle was one of the project’s missions, according to Yonas.

Every day as they took time to carefully layer one protective gear on top of another, it was a subtle reminder of what lay ahead and what was at stake. Working in such conditions was a safety requirement, but the heat inside the gear made it challenging. Five minutes into walking to the wards, the heat inside the bodysuits would be high and his vision already blurred due to the fog from his breath.

“On my third day there, I was talking to one patient when my face mask kept slipping down,” he said. “The plaster wasn’t sticking properly. The girl that I was talking to told me she could see my eyes.”

That was one of the scariest moments for Yonas as he ran to get his face sprayed with disinfectant. Experiencing symptoms every now and then out of paranoia was common for him. But Yonas ended up contracting the virus himself.

“I’m not sure at what point I may have gotten it, but I started feeling strange all of a sudden one day about three months into my stay there,” he said.

He had finished the first phase of this project and was planning on post-production work. He took a COVID-19 test, a mere formality that ended up turning the tables.

It was not a result he nor the health workers at the Hospital, with whom he had developed a close friendship throughout the months, had expected.

“I didn’t know how to react,” he said. “I was shell-shocked.”

He was taken from where he was, at a site for the newest additions to the Hospital, in an ambulance that he had already ridden in multiple times. But this time he was the patient.

“I didn’t know who to tell or who to talk to,” he said. “I thought to myself that I had one life and that I had gambled with it.”

Yonas spent the next three nights lying in his bed, listening to the beep of hospital machines coming from the Intensive Care Unit one floor above with an overactive imagination and a fast-beating heart.

“I was having panic attacks,” he said. “I didn’t want to get an X-ray done, because I was scared that it would reveal something much worse.”

His X-ray revealed that he was physically fine, and with a doctor’s reassurance he started getting back on his feet. And so, he ventured once more into the wards to continue his project, this time from the viewpoint of an insider.

“Some of the patients yelled when they saw me walking in with just a mask on,” he said.

After learning why, a patient or two reprimanded him, telling him he should have listened and stayed far away. He continued documenting, the work easier this time with fewer barriers between him, the patients and his camera. Even in the face of death, however, Yonas says he saw love, courage and strength in families in the treatment centre.

“One of the most inspiring people I covered there was a pregnant woman,” he said. “She was admitted initially with no symptoms, and her whole family had come to be with her.”

As the first COVID patient to give birth in the Hospital, her delivery was celebrated with a gift from the Office of the Prime Minister. But the risk of contagion was too high, and the baby was taken to another ward as quickly as possible.

“She saw her child through my camera lens,” said Yonas. “She was crying, happy to see her child. We made an appointment with her to publish those pictures of her the next day.”

But the woman had suddenly hit a critical stage and required intubation. The woman, with previous experience in health, knew the risk of intubation and was adamant about not undergoing it. After a push from the medics and the support of her husband, she was finally convinced to undergo the procedure.

“In the end, she didn’t make it,” says Yonas.

That was a tough day. It was sad, but there is another side to it, according to Yonas.

“It showed me the power of love and having someone in your life in those hard moments,” he said. “I don’t know how to put it into words.”

He left the Hospital after three months, both as a photojournalist and patient. The project is not over, and the second stage will focus on a follow-up on a few patients and how they are doing now, according to Yonas.

As for the one he has just completed, Yonas is still figuring out the many ways it has changed him.

“Love and appreciation of family and friends is something I have realised more strongly through this experience,” he says.

The way health workers put themselves on the line has shown him the importance of playing his part as well.

“They gave their best, and it changed people’s lives,” he said. “It’s made me realise that we’re all heroes every time we show up for our community.”