Ethio Lease, a subsidiary of Africa Asset Finance Company Inc, has received 44 tractors as part of the first equipment that will be distributed to farmers through the Agricultural Transformation Agency's (ATA) mechanisation centres. The company, which has already leased 13 tractors, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Agriculture and ATA in February 2020 to lease tractors to farmers. The collaboration is expected to reach over 60 centres and provide equipment worth 150 million dollars to be leased over the next three years. The tractors will be used by farmers that are unable to procure the tractors themselves. Ethio Lease, the first foreign-owned lease company in the country, operates by buying equipment and leasing it to customers with an option to buy the equipment from the company at the end of the lease period. The company became operational in August 2020 and buys equipment from abroad through its parent company and leases it to businesses in agriculture, healthcare, energy, food processing and manufacturing.
