My Opinion | May 28,2022
Araya Gebregziabher (right), former president of one of the oldest private banks, was honoured as Wegagen Bank celebrated its silver jubilee at the Hilton Hotel on Saturday night, June 11, 2022. Yinager Dessie (PhD) (centre-right), governor of the central bank, was alongside Wegagen’s current leadership, Board Chairperson Abdishu Hussein and Aklilu Wubet, president (left). The Bank has been celebrating the milestone for months, starting with a one million Birr donation to the Children’s Heart Fund of Ethiopia.
It was a jolly event. There was a live band, a dance performance, dinner and champagne. There was also a short documentary narrating the Bank's 25-year journey, with humble beginnings in two branches, 16 shareholders and 30 million Br in paid-up capital. Today, it has thousands of shareholders, 3.4 billion Br in paid-up capital and 41 billion Br in assets. It owns a landmark property as its headquarters on Ras Mekonnen Avenue, across the Addis Abeba Stadium.
Wegagen’s quarter of a century has not been without its challenges, especially in the past two years. The civil war that broke out in late 2020 has bruised the Bank more than most of its competitors in the industry. Its executives were honest about this. The Board Chairman recalled the Bank lost around two billion Birr in deposits due to a bank run after allegations of storing "illegal weaponry' was recycled by the mainstream media, without verifications. Wegagen Bank's performance in the previous year was disconcerting. Its profit was down 85pc compared with the year earlier, leading to a management shakeup, witnessing two presidents over the past two years before Aklilu took the helm.
The tumble the Bank has gone through over the past two years is manageable as far as the new leadership is concerned. They put on a brave face, defiantly looking forward to a future that resembles the first 23 years of the silver jubilee.
PUBLISHED ON
Jun 11,2022 [ VOL
23 , NO
1154]
My Opinion | May 28,2022
Sponsored Contents | Jul 24,2022
My Opinion | Jan 05,2019
News Analysis | Dec 23,2023
Commentaries | Sep 16,2023
View From Arada | Nov 14,2020
View From Arada | Aug 27,2022
Fortune News | Sep 16,2023
Fortune News | Dec 04,2021
Sunday with Eden | Nov 23,2019
Aug 18 , 2024 . By AKSAH ITALO
Although predictable Yonas Zerihun's job in the ride-hailing service is not immune to...
Jul 13 , 2024 . By AKSAH ITALO
Investors who rely on tractors, trucks, and field vehicles for commuting, transportin...
Jul 13 , 2024 . By MUNIR SHEMSU
The cracks in Ethiopia's higher education system were laid bare during a synthesis re...
Jul 13 , 2024 . By AKSAH ITALO
Construction authorities have unveiled a price adjustment implementation manual for s...
Dec 7 , 2024
For decades the Ethiopian Petroleum Supply Enterprise (EPSE), a state-owned giant ent...
Nov 30 , 2024
In the corridors of government offices worldwide, the question of how much to pay mem...
Nov 23 , 2024
The fiscal puzzle deepens as the Council of Ministers approved a supplementary budget...
Nov 16 , 2024
In the realm of public finance, balance sheets speak louder than rhetoric. In such do...
Loading your updates...