When it comes to entrepreneurship, Ethiopia is riddled with contradiction. A stunningly beautiful, tremendously friendly and fiercely independent country- the only one in Africa never to be fully colonized- its tech startup culture is on the rise, if only the government could stop tripping over itself.

In recent years, the government has taken large steps forward to support entrepreneurship in information and communications technology (ICT), yet it has largely underestimated the challenge of suddenly developing a country with only 1% internet penetration.

Take, for example, the new $250 million technology park the government has decided to build, Ethio ICT. Historically, the country’s GDP has been directly correlated with rainfall, as agriculture still accounts for the majority (46.3%) of the country’s GDP and 80% of its employment.
Yet, despite abysmal internet penetration and mobile penetration below 20%, the government is insisting upon a tech park.

A few years back, the government also decided that 70% of students must study engineering. The country’s growth will depend on it, they reasoned, forgetting that students need jobs when they graduate.

As a quick fix, the leadership then decided that entrepreneurship would solve the problem for these graduates (the government now says 10% of graduates should be entrepreneurs, a friend told me), forgetting that the barriers to entrepreneurship, especially in ICT, remain enormous.
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