✅ 100 Gigawatt of electricity per 53 million people of Kenya, by 2040.

This excellent, smart and certainly ambitious goal was presented by Kenyan president Mr. Wiliam Ruto at the African Climate Summit few days ago.

✅ Ethiopian population is at least 220% of Kenya, so we shall aim at 220 Gigawatt.

#ethiopia #solarpower #10G

We at 10 Green Gigawatt for Ethiopia are certain that Ethiopian energy generation will increase at least 10 times (sic!) in the next 15 years. Such rapid growth calls for substantial development of job markets for engineers and other relevant professionals. In a strategic partnership with AASTU we will soon reveal new project in this area.

Meanwhile our super-intern Neeraja Kulkarni have attended African Union’s Job Creation Forum in order to get most up-to-date information on topic. Here are her notes:

“Being in the Nelson Mandela Plenary Hall in the AU and listening to government officials, primarily brainstorming solutions and policy reform, was exemplary. These solutions aimed at mitigating the increasing unemployment across Africa.

Participants from the private sector and leading SME business leaders expressed their concerns and suggestions. This Forum also focused on the youth and women of Africa, recurrently highlighting that it is the youth that would make Agenda 2063 a reality.

While the discussions included a diverse range of emerging industries, here are the following are the key takeaways from the Forum;

? Forming a Pan-African data repository. While the subject of Africa being an 'investment bottleneck' resurfaced, a need for knowledge and capacity for fund disbursement toward coherent policymaking was highlighted. This lack of channels to accumulate and access information about economics and financial circumstances highlights the requirement for a Pan-African repository.

? Stronger job creation ecosystem. Participants from the SMEs highlighted the need for a more robust job creation ecosystem that would increase their access to up-to-date infrastructure, information, exposure to experts/mentors, finance for scaling up, and markets across the continent—forming more stable markets within Africa. Some critical parts of the discussions also included; the need to address and update industrial design aspects of manufacturing African products to create sustainable demand in the international market, add value in the continent wherever feasible, and the role of energy as a critical job creator for the youth.

? Strengthen financial infrastructure. Some government officials stressed the need to boost the country's financial infrastructure to sustain AfCFTA. This evolution would include updated technology, digital banking, capacity building, maintaining security, and, most importantly, increasing access to financial resources for SMEs. It would also involve a gradual approach to address the depreciated 'trust' factor in African markets.

? Defining the role of religious leaders. Across the continent, they have been mobilizers toward sustainable growth. For instance, in both religious institutions, local leaders on specific days discuss current affairs and empower the populace. Some have even formed their collective to sell coffee and are ready to export it!”

? What is the biggest obstacle to the adoption of solar energy for Ethiopian development? Is it technology or skills or market demand? No! The biggest obstacle is shortage of forex, so Ethiopian businesses just cannot get dollars to pay for equipment.

Addis Insight have published a text saying that “the National Bank of Ethiopia has made a decision to allow foreign currency guarantees for foreign companies engaged in joint ventures with government or private companies on key or strategic projects. This will enable these companies to repatriate their profits in foreign currency and easily pay off loans taken from foreign financial institutions for their projects in Ethiopia”.

The media is referring to the Deputy Governor of the National Bank, Ato Fqadu Degfe, who explained that the government will provide foreign currency to foreign companies investing in areas considered to be of strategic importance.

“According to the recent decision of the National Bank Board, only foreign companies operating in Ethiopia who agree to develop a framework for government-to-government or public-private partnership will be allowed to obtain foreign currency guarantees on key developments identified by the government as being of national interest”.

? Those words do not sound as a straightforward and easy way to solve the obstacle that I have mentioned in the beginning of my post, but it is certainly a good signal for foreign investors.

??‍♂️ I am happy to thank Dagim Teshome for helping me better understand this issue.