COURTING CONCRETE


COURTING CONCRETE

A street vendor around Debrezeit Road steadily walks a crossing bridge balancing his locally made plastic water cans. The shortage of foreign currency has increasingly challenged the 4,000 local plastic manufacturers in the country who require significant chemical inputs. A recent restriction on the use of partialized letters of credit to import materials has fueled a rising panic across the manufacturing landscape. As nearly half of the industrial input for most manufacturing plants in the country relies on the import of materials, the fate of the industrial sector is intimately tied to the country's forex status.

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AUTO MARINES

Braving Addis Abeba's flooded streets like seasoned sailors, these cars navigate murky puddles and sudden waves with ease. Each splash exposes the city's drainage problems, turning morning commutes into off-road adventures through urban waterscapes that challenge both patience and suspension systems. As the rain pours, vehicles become submarines sailing through floods caused by infrastructural failures. Prolonged exposure to these floods risks serious damage to engines, brakes, and electrical sy...


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DOMESTIC MUMMY

In the city's daily scramble, a lone porter hauls six stubborn black barrels meant to hold water but not so great at holding second chances. Like mummies wrapped in dark plastic, these containers conceal their hidden fate: hard to recycle, easy to forget, yet still pressed into service. Mercato, the country's largest market, holds these barrels and many more appliances...


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INFINITE FEATURES

Temesgen Gebrehiwot (PhD), Founder and CEO of ETTA Solutions, Asfaw Alemu, president of Dashen Bank, and Seid Aragaw, chief marketing officer of Ethio telecom, officially launched ‘Zoorya' on July 12, 2025, at the Sheraton Addis Hotel. Zoorya is an ERCA-compliant business automation platform that generates official receipts for the Revenues Office and can be customised for different business needs. The platform is expected to modernise Ethiopian enterprises through a partnership between Ethio...