Brook Taye (PhD), CEO of the Ethiopian Investment Holding (EIH), is stepping up his ambitions to make the sovereign investment fund a dominant force in the economy, seeking to expand its contribution to national output by eight percentage points to 20pc.

Tasked with overseeing more than 40 state-owned enterprises and managing 36 active projects valued collectively at five billion dollars, EIH under Brook is taking on an increasingly high-profile role in the administration's economic plans. Brook recently announced that the holding company had recorded asset of 8.2 trillion Br, a sum representing 12pc of the country’s GDP, with combined revenues over the past four years reaching 6.1 trillion Br.

Tax contributions from the 41 enterprises under the Holding amounted to 644 billion Br across the same period, with the most recent year alone accounting for 40pc of the four-year total. EIH also reported robust growth in annual revenue, which climbed 41pc from 201 billion Br to 2.1 trillion Br, while net profit increased by 50pc. Dividends remitted to the government increased by nine percent, reaching 32.9 billion Br.

Brook disclosed that EIH is targeting five trillion Birr in annual income and hopes to see dividends paid to the government climb to 100 billion Br. Industry experts estimate that three major firms, Ethio telecom, Ethiopian Airlines, and Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE), account for more than half of EIH’s total assets, uncovering a high level of concentration among the Holding’s portfolio companies.

EIH’s push comes as the government positions it at the centre of its development strategy. Brook announced a slate of new projects, including a joint venture with Toppan Securitiy Ethiopia, expected to begin operations within three months, and a series of ventures ranging from a crypto mining operation and gold refineries to a youth entrepreneurship investment bank, a business process outsourcing centre, and factories for vaccine production, caustic soda, pesticides, and potash.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) announced last week EIH’s formal entry into the cryptocurrency mining industry at the CBE headquarters, calling the move "a significant step" into high-technology sectors. The decision follows a memorandum of understanding signed in 2024 between EIH and the Hong Kong-based West Data Group’s Centre Service Plc to launch a quarter-of-a-billion-dollar Bitcoin mining venture.

The project is intended to lay the groundwork for data mining and artificial intelligence infrastructure in Ethiopia. The African data centre market could reach 5.4 billion dollars by 2027, according to industry analysts.

The Prime Minister spoke of past revenue, disclosing that a 200Mw operation could generate 10 million dollars, scaling up to half a billion dollars at 1,000Mw. However, Hhe cautioned that attracting foreign direct investment would require the government to share risks, citing the example of the planned fertiliser plant in a joint venture investment with Dangote.

The power sector has become an unlikely beneficiary. Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP) recently raised the electricity tariff for crypto miners, which now number more than 30 companies. According to the Ethiopian Energy Outlook 2025, mining operations currently consume about a third of the country’s electricity supply. Last year, EEP earned 338 million dollars from electricity exports, with 55 million dollars generated from Bitcoin mining over 10 months in 2024. That figure surged to 220 million dollars last year.

The state utility is set to implement a new time-of-use pricing system, beginning December 2025, with industry rates expected to rise from 3.14 US cents a kilowatt-hour to 7.2 cents by 2028, inclusive of VAT and regulatory fees.