Botswana I Ethopia I The Gambia I Ghana I Kenya I Malawi I Mauritius I Namibia I Nigeria I Senegal I South Africa I Swaziland I Tanzania I Togo I Uganda I Zambia I Zimbabwe Despite social conditions that might be thought to curtail normal business activity – part of Ethiopia experienced a famine in 2005 and hostilities with rebel groups in the country have escalated – the Ethiopian economy grew at a cracking 8.9% in 2005. Dashen Bank, the leading private sector bank in the market, has taken advantage of this growth and kept admirably focused on growing its operations profitably and introducing new products and services to its customer base.
By the end of the first half of 2005, its assets had increased by almost 28% and although Dashen is still a 10th of the size of state-owned market leader Commercial Bank of Ethiopia, its growth is outpacing it, with deposit and loan balances growing by 30.1% and 32.7% respectively in 2005. At the same time, Dashen has sensibly convinced its shareholders to bolster its capital as it expands.
The 10-year old bank is also innovating in the market and recently launched the first Visa cards in Ethiopia, which will provide the first dependable electronic payment system as well as significantly improve banking efficiency.