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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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YOUTHFUL ADRENALINE

A chic young man speeds along Ras Mekonnen Avenue near Addis Abeba Stadium on his skateboard, his eyes fixed on the road ahead as he makes swift movements with every push. As skateboarding and cycling become increasingly visible on Addis Abeba's streets, bystanders, including street cleaners, carry on with their routines, seemingly unbothered by the display of youthful adrenaline. But with heavy traffic close by, a millisecond's lapse in concentration could have serious consequences. In a city w...


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AFRICA’S DESTINY

Policy experts and researchers focused on Africa's future gathered at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Addis Ababa last week for the fourth annual U.S.–Africa Futures Summit, discussing the continent's role in a changing global order, development, critical minerals, migration and governance...


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SCHOLARS’ DINNER

UK Minister for Development Kirsty McNeill MP and Darren Welch, British Ambassador to Ethiopia and Permanent Representative to the African Union, attend a dinner for Ethiopian winners of the Chevening Scholarship programme. The gathering brought together scholars preparing to pursue postgraduate studies in the United Kingdom...