A Luncheon event was organized by Dubai Chamber International Office – Ethiopia on November 15, 2018 at Marriot Hotel Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The luncheon that was hosted by the Dubai Chamber International, focused on Women investors in Ethiopia, on how best they can get connected with the Women investors in Dubai.

The roundtable luncheon started with an opening remark made by the new Head of Office of the Dubai Chamber International Office in Ethiopia, Mrs. Tewabech (Teba) H. Molla. Where she thanked the guests for coming and remarked that having the first roundtable luncheon with Ethiopian women investors in Dubai chamber was a huge step towards addressing the needs of both the Ethiopian and Dubai Women investors.

She further underlined that this luncheon is mainly aimed on the following three points:

1.  Share best practices among the guests who are women in export;
2.  Address the challenges women investors face and
3.  Discuses on how business connections can be made.

Present as the guest of honor was also Mr. Ahmed Al Badawi, Head of Political, Economic and Media Affairs Section from the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, where he delivered a remark on how this kind of event helps, both Ethiopia and Dubai, to get connected and facilitate business linkages, where he mentioned that, the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates is ready to offer any kind of assistance and help to facilitate the market linkages of both countries.

After the introduction made by each of the participants, the roundtable discussion was opened by a brief remark made by Mrs. Nigest Haile, the Executive Director of the Center for Accelerated Women’s Economic Empowerment (CAWEE) and also the Founder and Board Member of Enat Bank. The Director, who also moderated the meeting, congratulating Mrs. Tewabech in becoming the first woman heading an office of the Dubai Chamber International, the Ethiopia Country Office, suggested brief points expected to be discussed at the first roundtable.

The discussion focused on the following three major areas:

• Priority Sectors,
• Areas that Need Focus to Facilitate the Business Relationships and
• Way Forward.

The discussion was participatory, where all the invited guests, women investors, were able to contribute their views, ask questions and further discuss on what needs to be done next. In this respect, the following summary is drawn from the discussion.

Priority Sectors:

During the discussion it was noted that, every sector here in Ethiopia can get connected with the Dubai market, as Dubai is a business hub and also Ethiopia being a gateway to Africa. The current peace and security of the country is also mentioned as an opportunity to attract buyers.

The following were mentioned relevant as priority sectors to the Dubai market: 

•  Agricultural Products;
•  Oil foods, Pulses and Spices;
•  Manufacturing Apparel;
•  Tourism and
•  Every Single Sector.

Areas that Need Focus to Facilitate the Business Relationships:

As a summary, the following issue areas were noted as concern that need focus to facilitate the business relationships among the two countries:

• Packaging and Labeling;
•  Certification;
•  Marketing;
•  Tourism – Creating first impression and
•  Producing exclusive products for the leather as well as the other sectors that Ethiopia can be able to provide for the Dubai market.

Way Forward:

In concluding the roundtable, the following issues were mentioned for the way forward:

•  Bringing potential buyers from Dubai to Ethiopia and also taking Ethiopian investors, a delegation to Dubai to physically meet potential buyers.
•  Facilitating meetings with the concerned one’s on the export standards for Dubai;
•  Bringing Dubai sisters in business in the next roundtable event;
•  Establishing in-depth relations among the two chambers (Addis Ababa & Dubai Chambers).
•  Establishing a small working group to take the partnership to the next level.
•  Establishing close contact with the Dubai Women Business Council.
•  Developing Mentor- Mentee relationship among women
•  Sharing an information between themselves
•  Capitalizing the opportunity where the countries have already started.

Discussing one many more points and great ideas raised a closing remark was made by Mrs.Tewabch leading the guests to lunch and allowing them to connect through. At the end of the luncheon the invited guests were given the opportunity to express how they felt about the event, and they said these was a great opportunity to discusses on such matters and also suggested the Dubai chamber to organize this kind of events quarterly and should not be a onetime thing if we all want progress to be visible on the market linkage and Business opportunities to grow.