The 3rd Ethiopian Diaspora Business Forum held on July 12, 2008 in Washington DC, USA, at the George Washington University, Jack Morton Auditorium. The forum had two panel discussion. The panelists were academics, professional experts and Ethiopian Diaspora businessmen. Panel participant are drawn from diverse walks of life.

The first panel discussion chaired by Dr. Liesl Riddle, Professor of George Washington University School of Business, discusses about the current economic situation of the country and various opportunities that exist to establish and run successful business in Ethiopia. The panel discussion also highlighted the potential and the role Ethiopians in Diaspora could play.

In the panel discussion it was mentioned that Ethiopians in Diaspora make per year around 20 billions USD and out perform the home country 13 billions USD GDP. It was also mentioned that Ethiopians in Diaspora formally sends around 500 million USD per year. This figure competes with other major export earnings like coffee. Eighty percent of investment in the country also comes from direct investment from this group. This clearly indicates Ethiopians in Diaspora are major players in the national economy of Ethiopia. The panel discussion also underscored the need for a more profound joint business venture to impact the national economy and to take advantage of the wide business opportunity available in Ethiopia.

The second panel chaired by Ato Henok Assefa, Economist and Private Sector Development Expert, Managing Partner, Precise Consult International PLC, is drawn from people in Diaspora who actively pursue businesses in Ethiopia in the field of agriculture and computing. The panelists has a total of over 2,000 employee working in their business. Their business area focus are in the field of agriculture to improve quality of agricultural products and to add value to processed products. In the area of computing their business is involved in technology outsourcing. The panelists in this group mentioned their achievement and various challenges they face to bring to establish and run their business. They highlighted the fact that in every business venture at any geographical location there exist challenges. In Ethiopia poor communication infra structure and bureaucratic red tapes are some to mention. They underscored that despite the challenges one can establish and run successful business and they set a good example for that.

The two panel discussion highlights the need for cooperative investment among Diaspora, the large impact investment from Diaspora playing in the country economy and the existent of favorable business opportunity in Ethiopia despite many challenges. The two panel discussion is followed by a brief question and answer session. All in all the forum created a good stage to share experience and to expose audience with the current business opportunity in the country.

by ePort Staff