Ethiopia’s Ministry of Industry, in partnership with state-owned Ethio Telecom, has launched a new business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce platform named E-Tamirt. This initiative is a strategic move designed to modernize industrial transactions by providing a centralized digital marketplace where manufacturers can efficiently source raw materials, connect with suppliers, and sell their finished products to buyers across Ethiopia and regional African markets. Industry Minister Melaku Alebel stated that the platform directly addresses long-standing supply and distribution bottlenecks that have hindered factories, providing a unified digital channel for transactions that is expected to increase national production capacity, foster innovation, and improve the long-term competitiveness of Ethiopian goods against imports. Ethio Telecom emphasized that E-Tamirt is poised to strengthen the shift from a retail-based trade model to a more robust manufacturing-driven economy.
This initiative is a core component of the government’s broader digital transformation agenda and the “Made in Ethiopia” movement. The GSMA, the global association for mobile operators, projects that the continued expansion of digitalization across Ethiopia could add 319 billion birr (nearly $2 billion) to the economy by 2028, with major gains anticipated in sectors like agriculture, transport, health, and especially trade and industry. The industrial sector alone is projected to generate 108 billion birr, create an estimated 180,000 jobs, and add 9 billion birr in tax revenue. While Ethiopian manufacturing is currently concentrated in agro-processing, digital technologies like E-Tamirt are crucial for facilitating diversification, raising industrial output, and increasing local value creation. The GSMA highlights the potential for digital platforms to dramatically raise the percentage of manufacturing exports from 13% in 2019 to 48% by 2030, solidifying the platform’s role as a cornerstone of the country’s economic strategy.
