Ries Engineering Share Company (RESCO) held a Komatsu Open House event at the Addis Ababa Golf Club on November 21, 2024. The event was graced by esteemed guests, including Engineer Habtamu Tegegn, the Minister of Mines, and Eric Perben, General Manager of Komatsu Africa Division.

The gathering drew a diverse crowd of state ministers, government officials, construction and mining company representatives, valued customers, and media personnel, showcasing RESCO’s significant role in Ethiopia’s industrial landscape.

Founded in 1961, RESCO has grown from a modest team of 40 employees to a robust workforce of 507 skilled professionals, establishing itself as a leader in providing world-class machinery across various sectors, including mining, construction, power, agriculture, and automotive.

At the event, RESCO highlighted its key partnerships with industry giants, including Komatsu, Cummins, Massey Ferguson, and Ford, emphasizing their contributions to national development. The company has played a pivotal role in major projects such as the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), supplying essential construction machinery and technical support.

In observance of Global Entrepreneurship Week 2024, the U.S. Embassy successfully conducted a series of events fostering insightful and engaging discussions among women entrepreneurs, university graduates, U.S. alumni, startups, and others involved in Ethiopian business and entrepreneurship to share practical solutions to sustain businesses amid ongoing currency fluctuations. 

Held under the theme “Entrepreneurship is for Everyone” the series of events facilitated discussions on the challenges and opportunities arising from currency fluctuations, in partnership with panelists from the American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM)-Ethiopia, Ethiopian Economic Association (EEA), USAID- Ethiopia, Bank of Oromia, Addis Ababa University and Samra Leather, who shared their insights and strategies for navigating economic challenges.  In her remarks, Counselor for Public Diplomacy Naomi Fellows said: “We are excited to celebrate GEW 2024 with such a diverse group of entrepreneurs and leaders. This dialogue is key to understanding the challenges Ethiopian businesses face and finding actionable strategies to ensure their success.”

Africa is experiencing numerous successes, yet these achievements go unnoticed as the positive stories of the continent’s progress are not being told. This lack of a positive narrative perpetuates negative stereotypes.

“This continent has suffered from being viewed through a negative lens,” said Ahunna Eziakonwa, Director of the Regional Bureau for Africa at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). She was speaking during a fireside chat on Global Geopolitical Complexities and Africa’s Development Pathway, moderated by Gogontlejang Phaladi-Morokotso, Founder and Executive Director of the Pillar of Hope Project.

“There is always this sense that Africa is this place where donors have to dump their charitable acts. Because we are going to Africa with aid we have people there with no strength and brains,”  Eziakonwa said during the 2024 African Economic Conference in Gaborone, Botswana.

“This is one of the burdens of the continent. It is very important to change that narrative. It will have to come from Africans to tell their story of the dynamism of the continent and its diversity”.

“Energy poverty remains a significant barrier to development. Approximately 50 percent of the Southern African population, and over 600 million people across the continent lack access to electricity. Millions still rely on biomass fuels, such as firewood and charcoal for heating, which leads to severe indoor pollution and health related adverse effects”. Said Mr. Credo Nanjuwa, Provincial Minister, Southern Province, speaking during the official opening of the Intergovernmental Committee of Senior Officials (ICSOE) and Experts of Southern Africa Session that took place from 20-21 November 2024 in Livingstone, Zambia.

The Minister’s speech at the 30th ICSOE Session on the theme, “Addressing the energy deficit in Southern Africa through investments in new and renewable energy technologies to reduce energy poverty and accelerate sustainable industrialization and structural transformation”, was delivered by Mr. Peter Mumba, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Energy, who applauded the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) Secretariat for mobilizing consensus among member States on development issues and encouraged the eleven member States to maintain the momentum on Southern African efforts to address the absence of harmonised policy and regulatory frameworks as well as long-term policies that could de-risk the electricity markets to encourage private investment.

He cited other major constraints that the region is facing including limited access to affordable financing for the capital-intensive energy projects, insufficient transmission infrastructure, and the uncompetitive electricity market due to low tariffs, including feed-in tariffs. He advised that, “expanding into these renewable sources could be one of the quickest and most effective ways to bridge the energy gap and advance development goals”. (Press Release)