LEGACY Businesses in a Liminal Space
At first light in Addis Abeba’s Qality District, the smell of freshly roasted Yirgacheffe beans drifts into the yeasty haze from Shoa Bakery’s ovens, a blend that sums up Ethiopia’s family firms. Such outfits are scarce everywhere, yet in Ethiopia, roughly 40pc are run by second-generation heirs and a small but rising troupe by a third. On average, these “legacy” businesses are 30 years old, teenagers in company terms, old enough to feel the strain of succession, governance and capital.
