Hundreds pardoned as Ethiopia celebrates New Ye

By Tesfa-Alem Tekle September 11, 2015 (ADDIS ABABA) – Ethiopians on Thursday celebrated the country’s New Year of 2007, pardoning almost 1,000 inmates previously held in various detention facilities. The East African country, unlike the rest of the world, relies on the ancient Coptic calendar, which has 13 months. Each of the 12 months on the calendar has 30 days, except one, which has either five or six days depending on whether it’s a leap year or not.

At least 995 prisoners from different detention centres were also pardoned by the government as the country celebrated the New Year. They were freed after Ethiopian president Mulatu Teshome granted an amnesty to those who met the criteria set by the federal pardoning board. According to the board, those released were prisoners who had sincerely regretted the crimes they committed and those who demonstrated good behaviour during their stay in jail. The federal police said No official p

ardon was granted to prisoners who had committed serious offences such as murder and rape. Teshome urged those pardoned to learn from their past mistakes, and be productive citizens by actively participating in the various ongoing development endeavours in he country. The president, in his new year’s message, urged all Ethiopians to join hands to realise the renaissance of the country seeking to join the middle income nations by 2025. He further stressed the need to give attention towards attracting investment in the manufacturing sector.

Several festivities, involving slaughtering of animals and birds, prayers, traditional dances and family visits, characterised New Year celebrations. (ST)`

Ethiopian govt provides land for modern apparel factory

September 10, 2014 (Ethiopia)

The Government of Ethiopia has provided 100 hectares of land in the Tigray region in Mekele city to Velocity Apparel Plc for construction of a modern garment factory with an initial investment of US$ 150 million, Ethiopian News Agency reported. The State Minister of Industry Tadese Haile said that project is important for Ethiopia, as it has major economic benefits. The President of the Tigray Regional State, Abay Woldu, said Tigray has a huge investment potential and a developed infrastructure, making it suitable for investments in industries and manufacturing. The CEO of Velocity Apparel, Siharz Sinaha, said construction for the project will begin this month and it will take about five years to complete. Velocity Apparel has also received a loan from the Development Bank of Ethiopia for the establishment of the garment manufacturing factory. The company, which has plants in Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan, was established in 1990 and had a turnover of US$ 100 million in 2013 and supplies its products to well-known international companies like Gap, Target and Walmart. At present, Ethiopian textile and garment industry comprises of 115 factories that together employ 40,000 people. Under the Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP) of the Ethiopian Government, the target for textile and garment exports is set at $1 billion by 2015. In comparison, Ethiopian textile and apparel exports stood at $99 million in last fiscal year. (GK)

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India

Haile Gebrselassie Confirmed As Keynote Speaker At AHIF

Bench Events today announced that Haile Gebrselassie, the former Olympic and world athletics champion, has been confirmed as a speaker at the Africa Hotel Investment Forum (AHIF) - Africa's top event for hotel investors, which takes place from the 29th September to 1st October in Addis Abeba, Ethiopia.

Haile Gebrselassie won two Olympic gold medals at 10,000 meters and four world championships at the same distance. He also won major titles at all distances from 1,500 meters to the marathon and during his career he broke 27 world records. He is widely considered as one of the greatest distance runners of all time.

Although he is still a keen runner, with a daily grueling schedule, he is also a prolific business man. Haile is the owner of three resorts in Ethiopia and an organic coffee farm. He is also the exclusive distributor of Hyundai in Ethiopia and the organizer of 'The Great Run Ethiopia', which attracted over 40,000 runners from around the world last year. Additionally, he is the owner of a real estate company, whose holdings include a cinema dedicated to showing Ethiopian films.

At the AHIF conference he will be interviewed on his life and times as a sportsman and how this has aided him in business and his thoughts on Ethiopia's potential as a tourism destination.

"We are delighted to be able to welcome the world and Olympic champion Haile Gebrselassie as a speaker at our conference," Matthew Weihs, Managing Director of AHIF - Bench Events, said. "Gebrselassie is a name synonymous with excellence on the athletics field and it is always fascinating to hear how a sportsperson's motivation, dedication and vision enable them to transition to business. To actually have the opportunity to hear the journey and commitments he has made in his lifetime will be an honor. When you visit Addis Ababa it is obvious by the numerous billboards with his face on them that he holds great sway with the local communities so to hear more of his thoughts on the future of the tourism industry will be very interesting."

However, Ethiopia is not the only subject of the conference entitled "Reaching New Heights". The event will focus on the geopolitical and economic climate across the whole continent and the latest developments in the hotel sector. Big issues such as the importance of conserving Africa's tourism assets and connecting each of the African countries through decent, new infrastructure will be discussed too. The feasibility of investing successfully in Africa in general and in hospitality specifically will be explored in a series of panel discussions led by a group of experts on each topic.

Other speakers are drawn from the ranks of government, hotel chains, banks and a range of prominent consultants.

AHIF is the premier hotel investment conference in Africa, attracting many prominent international hotel owners, investors, financiers, management companies and their advisers. It is organized by Bench Events (www.benchevents.com) which is known for producing, alongside Questex Travel + Hospitality and MEED Events, several top-level hotel conferences around the world including Berlin (IHIF), Dubai (AHIC), Istanbul (CATHIC) and Moscow (RHIC).

Source: AllAfrica

Beauty Queen Aids Ethiopia’s Homeless Children

Beauty Queen Aids Ethiopia’s Homeless Children

When she was crowned Miss Africa USA at a national pageant on August 8 at the Music Center at Strathmore in the Washington area, the tall and striking model and youth recreation director Meron Wudneh paid tribute to the country where she was born. “I am honored and delighted to represent Ethiopia,” she said. Wudneh described her homeland as “an ancient African country with amazing bio-diversity, people who take pride in preserving their diverse culture, its great warriors, kings and queens.”

Meron Wuhib's Voice of America interview “I love dancing our traditional dances Eskista, playing sports and bringing visibility to our culture through our fashion which inspired my greater love of modeling.” Wudneh currently works in New York as a model while she continues her career developing youth programs for Montgomery County in Maryland. She is represented by a Christian Ruart Fashion Group.

She wanted to build children’s futures Wudneh was seven years old when her family emigrated to the United States. The family settled in the state of Maryland where she attended Wheaton High School. As she and her sister grew up, their parents wanted them to remember their African roots, so the girls had to always speak their native Amharic at home.

The six-foot tall student received an athletic scholarship to attend Bowie State University, where she played women’s basketball and earned a Bachelor’s degree with a major in biology. Last year she spent six months in Ethiopia working with some non-government organizations supporting then needs of Ethiopian children. She volunteered with the Mary Joy Foundation in Addis Ababa serving destitute seniors, people living with HIV/AIDS, orphans and disadvantaged Ethiopians.​ She witnessed the plight of the children first- hand, an experience that has energized Wudneh to further hers cause for Ethiopia’s children.

“I learned how one person can truly change a child’s future,” she says. “Since I was a child growing up in Ethiopia I always had the desire to help people, especially kids.” In high school in Maryland, Wudneh spent more than a thousand hours working with children in community service projects (athletic programs, health programs?) in her Maryland neighborhood. She founded her own NGO Two years ago she founded Kids First Ethiopia , to send school supplies, clothes and shoes to Ethiopian children who lost one or both parents to death from HIV/AIDS or are homeless.

Ethiopia has one of the largest populations of orphans in the world: 13 per cent of children throughout a country of 96 million are missing one or both parents. This represents an estimated 4.6 million children – 800,000 of whom were orphaned by HIV/AIDS. After winning the Miss Africa USA competition, Wudneh wants to strengthen her Kids First Ethiopia project to develop strategies and funding to help needy children in Ethiopia to continue in school, graduate and become successful. She also hopes to expand these

services to other countries in Africa. “The pageant is not only about beauty but goes way more than that,” she says. “As contestants and goodwill ambassadors, the organizers demand that we constantly work for the betterment of Africa.”

Read the full text here

Enkutatash: Ethiopia today wishes you a happy Ethiopian new year