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FM AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7669
INFO RUEHZO/AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE
RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE
RUEPADJ/CJTF HOA
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC
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RUEWMFD/HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC
RUEHLMC/MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORP
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ADDIS ABABA 000245 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EEB/IFD/OMA - JWINKLER AND EEB/CBA - 
DWINSTEAD 
USAID FOR AFR/EA HELLYER AND DALTON 
DEPT PASS TO USTR FOR PATRICK COLEMAN, CECILIA KLEIN, AND 
BARBARA 
GRYNIEWWICZ 
DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC FOR ITA MARIA RIVERO 
DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC FOR REBECCA KLEIN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ETRD EINV ECON PGOV AF ET
SUBJECT: UNDER SECRETARY OTERO'S MEETING WITH WOMEN 
ENTREPRENEURS - FEBRUARY 1, 2010 
 
ADDIS ABAB 00000245  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED.  NOT FOR INTERNET DISTRIBUTION. 
 
¶1. (SBU) February 1, 2010; 6:30 pm; Chief of Mission 
Residence, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Participants: 
 
United States 
------------- 
U/S for Democracy and Global Affairs Maria Otero 
Charge d'Affaires John Yates 
Special Assistant to U/S Otero Caroline Mauldin 
Special Advisor to U/S Otero Nicole Goldin 
Kary Hintz-Tate (notetaker) 
 
Ethiopia 
-------- 
Nigest Haile, Executive Director, Centre for African Women 
Economic Empowerment 
Hikmet Abdella, Country Manager, Association for Chartered 
Certified Accountants 
Martha Getachew, General Manager, ABBA Garment Design PLC 
Samrawit Moges, Managing Director, Travel Ethiopia 
Sara Abera, General Manager, Muya Ethiopia PLC 
Genet Kebede, Owner, Paradise Fashion and GMM Garment 
Hadia Gondji, Managing Director, Hadia Flowers PLC 
Bogaletch Gebre, Executive Director, KMG Women's Self-Help 
Center Ethiopia 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) U/S Otero met with eight members of the Embassy's 
Women's Entrepreneur Group (WEG) to discuss the challenges 
faced by women in business in Ethiopia.  The WEG members 
highlighted lack of access to finance and unsophisticated 
banking knowledge as the major challenges facing women today. 
 The participants explained the plans for their 
newly-established commercial bank--Enat Bank--focused on 
assisting women with these highlighted challenges.  Finally, 
the discussion turned to how these women are serving as role 
models by sharing their knowledge with others.  In 2006, 
former Charge d'Affaires Vicki Huddleston started the WEG as 
an informal group of those interested in promoting women in 
business in Ethiopia.  The group currently has about 130 
members.  End Summary. 
 
Access to Finance A Major Challenge 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) U/S Otero met with eight members of the Embassy's 
Women's Entrepreneur Group (WEG) to discuss the challenges 
faced by women in business in Ethiopia.  U/S Otero opened the 
informal discussion detailing her experience working with 
women and micro finance and asked the group what were the 
major challenges they faced in starting their businesses. 
Ms. Abera cited access to finance as a significant obstacle, 
as women lack assets in their name to serve as loan 
collateral.  Most assets are usually listed in the husband's 
name.  Abera applauded USAID's Development Credit Authority 
program which provides 50 percent of the collateral for local 
women in business; however, all agreed that it is even 
difficult for women to come up with the remaining 50 percent 
in collateral.  Ms. Abdella pointed out that Ethiopia's 
private sector is relatively young and small, so it is even 
more difficult for women to gain entry into this undeveloped 
and limited business arena.  Ms. Gebre added that low skill 
levels and lack of banking knowledge disadvantaged women in 
business. 
 
¶5. (SBU) The discussion then turned to how women are working 
 
ADDIS ABAB 00000245  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
to improve their access to finance and the recently licensed 
women-focused bank called Enat Bank (Note: Enat means 
"mother" in the local language of Amharic. End Note.).  U/S 
Otero inquired about how they have gone about starting a 
private women's bank in Ethiopia.  Ms. Haile, one of the 13 
promoters of Enat Bank, stated that they just licensed the 
bank with the National Bank of Ethiopia in January 2010 and 
are in the process of selling shares to investors through two 
local branches.  The bank is selling shares at a five percent 
premium to cover the start-up operational costs and does not 
plan to begin banking operations until 2011.  Enat Bank plans 
to operate as a commercial bank with a focus on capacity 
building for women who seek assistance with business plans, 
loan paperwork, etc.  U/S Otero cited the need for experts to 
assist with such an undertaking, with a specific focus on 
market research to determine the best product mix and design 
so that loans have a low default risk. U/S Otero noted the 
importance of planning for sustainable, break-even operations 
within three years.  She went on to say that someone, such as 
the World Bank/International Finance Corporation, could cover 
th risk initially.  Abdella added that product innovation is 
something that does not exist in Ethiopia today, but should 
be pursued.  (Comment:  U/S Otero remarked to Econoff 
privately after this discussion that this new bank faces a 
tough road ahead and would greatly benefit from a outside 
technical expert that could help them avert failure.  Econoff 
will continue discussions with U/S Otero's office to 
determine what resources could be explored to assist in this 
effort.  End Comment.) 
 
Women as Role Models 
-------------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) As the final topic of discussion, U/S Otero asked 
how these women see themselves as leaders in this economy. 
Ms. Kebede discussed the growth of her fashion design 
business and said that she now employees about 70 young women 
who are learning the design trade.  Ms. Getachew spoke of her 
work with the group Aid to Artisans, which is working to 
develop the product design and production capabilities of 
rural women.  Getachew's efforts are focused on rural women 
supplying goods to their respective nearby tourist areas. 
Ms. Moges, owner of a travel agency, then spoke of her work 
to boost the overall image of Ethiopia abroad to assist with 
tourism and the economy as a whole.  She said that Ethiopia 
has a lot to offer in terms of history and natural beauty, 
but suffers from poor infrastructure, lack of luxury 
facilities, and public image.  U/S Otero wrapped up the 
discussion thanking the participants for sharing their candid 
opinions on the challenges facing women in business in 
Ethiopia and encouraged them to continue to seek advice in 
overcoming these barriers. 
 
Background 
---------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) In 2006, previous Charge d'Affaires Vicki Huddleston 
started the Women's Entrepreneur Group (WEG) as an informal 
group of those interested in promoting women in business. 
Ambassador Huddleston and later Ambassador Donald Yamamoto 
remained active with this group throughout their tenures in 
Ethiopia.  Currently, the WEG has about 130 members.  Due to 
the re-registrations of existing organizations under 
Ethiopia's new Civil Society Organization (CSO) law, the WEG 
has been unable to officially register itself as a new 
organization.  The Ethiopian Government will hopefully allow 
new organizations to register in the coming months.  Once 
allowed, the WEG plans to formalize itself as the Addis Ababa 
chapter of the international group Organization of Women in 
International Trade (OWIT). 
 
 
ADDIS ABAB 00000245  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
¶8. (U) U/S Otero cleared this cable. 
YATES