NIMBLE COMMERCE


NIMBLE COMMERCE

Street vendor lays out his merchandise at a bus stop around the Mexico roundabout. He looks to instigate impulsive purchases from pedestrians through a shifting marketplace. The Addis Abeba Trade Bureau is drafting regulations that restrict the type of products sold by street vendors. High levels of urban unemployment fueled in part by elevated rural-urban migrations contribute to the thriving informal sector. Recent estimates of the informal sector are around t 69pc in the capital compared to the national average, which lies below 15pc.While the term informal often sparks a raised eyebrow a majority of the economic activity in urban areas in developing countries is conducted through such channels. The informal sector currently accounts for over half the global employment, involving an estimated 1.8 billion people as compared to the 1.2 billion of the formal sector according to data from the International Labor Organization(ILO).

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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...