Here is a roundup of some headlines of the Ethiopian capital market from recent weeks:

Progress on listings

Six banks are working towards getting their shares listed for trading on the Ethiopian Securities Exchange (ESX), with more news expected soon. They are Awash, Dashen, Abay, Anbesa, Amhara and the Bank of Abyssinia.

At the end of January, Bank of Abyssinia announced a rights offer for 3.2 million new shares as part of preparations for listing. The new shares were offered to existing shareholders at Birr 1,600 each, to raise up to Birr 5bn ($32m). Shareholders currently hold 15m shares. The share offer is covered in this roundup by Ethiopian Business Review. On 21 March the bank announced (here in Amharic) that it had completed registration of the securities into electronic form on the Central Securities Depository (CSD), which is run by the National Bank of Ethiopia for the capital market.

Dashen Bank had offered 2.2m new ordinary shares to existing shareholders at Birr 2,900 each, aiming to raise Birr 6.4bn ($41m). The initial plan, according to our story and Capital Ethiopia news, was for the new shares and the existing 14.3m shares to start trading on the ESX in February. However, this was extended when the Ethiopian Capital Markets Authority (ECMA) approved an announcement (in Amharic here) to widen the offer to qualified institutional investors, high-net-worth individuals, and retail investors with a closing date of 16 March.

The Dashen capital raise is to fund a boost to regulatory capital buffers, expanding digital banking channels such as the Dashen Bank SuperApp, and supporting growth across banking segments including corporate, retail, MSME (micro-, small and medium enterprises) and interest-free (meeting Islamic ethical principles). The bank announced profit of ETB 6.7bn ($42.7m) for the 2024/25 fiscal year.

As of February, the exchange had granted listing approval in principle to all six of the banks in the pipeline. Once the ECMA has given final approval to each prospectus and once the share offers are finalized they will be able to list. The banks have been working closely with the ECMA and ESX and they are well regulated by the National Bank of Ethiopia.

So far the ESX has two companies listed for trading: Gadaa and Wegagen banks. This ESX webpage gives access to listed company details such as recent financials, corporate announcements, etc. There is some trading in the shares each day:

• Wegagen Bank (ticker WGBX) has listed 6,218,635 shares of nominal value ETB 1,000 each and has 14,549 shareholders. It listed on 10 January 2025. The prospectus can be found here. On 13 April the price closed at ETB 1,030.09.
• Gadaa Bank (ticker GDAB) has 1,232,728 shares of nominal value ETB 1,000 each listed for trading and 31,136 shareholders. It was listed on 13 June 2025. The prospectus can be found here. On 13 April the price closed at ETB 1,150.00.

Ethio Telecom SC (TELE) with 10,690,149 shares and 47,305 shareholders has been removed from the list.

The ESX lists 5 trading members: Wegagen Capital, CBE Capital and Awash Capital investment banks, and Ethio Fidelity and Gadaa securities dealers.

The ECMA has licensed 5 investment banks, 9 securities investment advisors and 2 securities dealers.

Our previous article in December overviewed some of the listing progress, with some 70 companies in the pipeline at ECMA and the ESX. According to CEO of the ESX Tilahun Kassahun, the target is 9 listings before the end of the Ethiopian fiscal year (7 July 2026).

The ECMA and Addis International Convention Center announced on 30 January that the shares are registered. The prospectus (the cover date “January 2025” is misleading as the signed approvals on p191 are 29 January 2026) can be found here with other documents.

Corporate tax incentive for listing

In March the ESX announced that the Council of Ministers have introduced a tax incentive for companies – apart from financial institutions – to list their shares. The concession is cut in the business income tax rate, from 30% to 25%, for three years from the date of listing. It comes under Article 16 of the Council of Ministers Regulation No. 586/2026 – Investment Tax and Customs Incentives Regulation (get a copy from Law Ethiopia Comment website by Daniel Fikadu).

According to the ESX press release: “This reform sends a clear signal by the government of Ethiopia of its commitment to support the development of a vibrant securities market in Ethiopia and serves as a strong call to ambitious companies ready to scale, formalize and access long-term capital through listing in the public markets.”

(Graphic by the ESX)

It applies to companies listed on the main board, but not to those traded on an over-the-counter (OTC) trading facility set up the ESX.

Money market trading

Total cumulative trading on the interbank money market has passed ETB 2 trillion ($12.7bn) in value in March 2026, according to this report on Stockmarket.et. The trading system is provided by the ESX and the market is run by the National Bank of Ethiopia. It was first launched in October 2024 (see our story) and passed ETB 1trn in cumulative value traded in September 2025.

Neway trading app

The exchange has also unveiled a mobile trading app called Neway, developed with Infotech Private, the company that supplies the ESX trading and brokers’ back-office systems (see our story). According to the ESX announcement “The mobile application is integrated into the Broker Back Office (BBO) and Order Management System availed by ESX to its trading members to streamline brokerage operations, including client onboarding, order management and reporting.”

Tilahun Esmael Kassahun, CEO of ESX, said: “This day represents a significant milestone in the realization of our vision of building a world-class securities exchange in Ethiopia. With the launch of ‘ንዋይ / Neway,’ investors can now access the market anytime and anywhere. The name ‘Neway’ itself means wealth or asset, and this platform truly democratizes it.

“By putting the market in the hands of every Ethiopian, we are empowering them to participate directly in the country’s economic growth, while making capital market participation more inclusive, transparent, and efficient.”
There seems to be some room for improvement when it comes to trying the app on Google Play and reading reviews on the Apple App Store.

Ethiopia announces $13.1bn in foreign direct investment

Ethiopia announced $13.1bn in investment commitments at the end of the “Invest in Ethiopia 2026” forum, held 26-27 March in Addis Ababa.

The announcement by the Ethiopian Investment Commission said the deals cover key sectors including manufacturing, agriculture and agro-processing, energy and construction: “These investments are widely regarded as a strong vote of confidence in Ethiopia’s economic trajectory. Beyond capital inflows, the projects are expected to create jobs, generate foreign exchange and accelerate technology transfer.”

The pledges include

• A combined $10bn investment by China’s Ming Yang Smart Energy Group to develop infrastructure in renewable energy, hydrogen ⁠and green ammonia.
• Global Future Investment to invest $2bn to develop a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) focused on manufacturing, supporting Ethiopia’s industrialization agenda. (Note – no English website found).
• Liaoning Fangda Group, also from China, is to invest over $500m in steel and pharmaceutical manufacturing plants
• Rashmi Group  has committed $235m for future exploration. The company focuses on global mining, gold, lithium, and other precious minerals, the company .
• Sun King, headquartered in Benin, will invest $150m to install off-grid solar ‌systems ⁠for homes and businesses over 5 years.
• Gobez Electric Manufacturing Plc, established in renewable energy, announced an additional $150m investment to expand its solar cell manufacturing capacity. (Note – this company does not seem to have any Internet presence apart from trade deals, we are open to be corrected).
• “Quantum-Everest” expressed interest in real estate development and commercial investments, committing $100m to facilitate investment from Poland into Ethiopia. (Note – we could not find any Internet presence but we are open to correction).

The projects are expected to create jobs, boost foreign currency earnings and support technology transfer, supporting the economic transformation agenda. An analysis published on 13 April by the FDRE Institute of Foreign Affairs highlights the strategy behind the investments. “Ethiopia is not merely competing for a larger share of investment. It is trying to shift regional competition toward sectors where scale, energy, and production capacity matter more than intermediation alone.

“This is not what an investment profile looks like when investors are mostly chasing short-cycle consumer demand or speculative paper returns. It is what it looks like when a state is trying to assemble a production system.

“Ethiopia appears to be signaling that the next phase of its growth model is not simply about attracting more investors, but about attracting them into activities that harden economic structure. Manufacturing and agro-processing matter because they keep more value inside the country. Construction and logistics matter because they reduce the frictions that make inland production expensive. Energy matters because without reliable power, the rest remains an announcement rather than a strategy.”

Government reforms including exchange rate liberalization, removal of foreign exchange restrictions in special economic zones and a gradual opening to private investors have attracted $2.3bn in investment in the first half of the 2025-2026 fiscal year, according to a report by Charlène N’dimon on Ecofin Agency. Reuters and Bloomberg also report.

Ecofin Agency reports that the 2025 forum secured $1.6bn in agreements, which officials say are already operational and contributing to economic growth.

Photo: Gadaa Bank was the second listing on the ESX. More listings are expected soon (photo supplied by ESX Comms).