By Andualem Sisay Gessesse – Time and again it has been proven that the world belongs only to the strong ones. Nonmatter how innocent a country is or fights for a just cause, a strong country can put pressure or send its army violating the sovereignty of the weaker nations. Ethiopia is one of these countries considered as weak and invaded by military powers in different times.
With an attempt to control the source of the Blue Nile, which is Abbay River, Egypt has attacked Ethiopia several times over the past few centuries. In its recent history Ethiopia has never invaded its neighbor. Meanwhile from Somalia to Sudan and far from Italia, many countries have invaded Ethiopia.
These attempts has continued till now in the 21st century though it has changed its form from direct invasion to proxy war using traitors like Tigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF), Oromo Liberation Front known as OLF-Shene, and other ethnic extremist groups. Egypt is arming and supporting such extremist group to destabilize Ethiopia and slice the nation of over 110 million into small pieces of small countries.
By doing so, Egypt will not only continue using the water of Abbay in monopoly but also continue selling it to Israel through the tunnel and road that links the two nations. Neither Egypt nor Israel, the United States and its allies care about the people of Ethiopia continue to be example of famine and drought.
Instead of allowing Ethiopia to fairly utilize its water resources of the Abbay River and other resources, these countries prefer sending wheat and other food aid to Ethiopia every year. I strongly believe that such deliberate action of these countries to keep Ethiopia under their influence creating divisions among different ethnic groups should come to an end once and for all.
We, Ethiopians be those in the diaspora or living within Ethiopia can end the conspiracy of these countries by standing together and invest in Ethiopian troops. When I say invest, I am talking about a sustainable business, which can generate lucrative return on investment 50 percent to 200 percent every six months.
And one doesn’t need to invest in thousands of dollars. If an Ethiopian in the diaspora or at home invests only $100, she/he can earn at least $100 net profit every year.
This $100 one-time investment in my opinion is insignificant for the Ethiopians in the diaspora, who at the moment are mobilizing millions of dollars to support the millions of displaced Ethiopians because of the ongoing war and to finance the Ethiopian army.
Other than the return on investment to the Ethiopian diaspora and Ethiopians investing in the idea I am going to explain below, this investment will help Ethiopia to build a strong army of up to five million soldiers, who will also be shareholders and participants of this business.
Feasible business
Now I think I seduced you enough about my lucrative business and it is time to tell you what I am thinking and help you understand if it is feasible. The business I am thinking is a tripartite business venture to be established among three shareholders – the Government of Ethiopia, the Ethiopian soldiers, and the Ethiopians in the diaspora as well as any Ethiopian living in Ethiopia.
In this ideal company the Ethiopian Government will have 40 percent, Ethiopian soldiers will have 30 percent, and the remaining 30 percent can be owned by the Ethiopians in the diaspora as well as other Ethiopians at home interested to invest that one-time investment of $100 (around 5,000 Ethiopian Birr).
Now, what is the project that gives 100 percent return on investment and help Ethiopia build a strong military with five million soldiers? The answer is …Agriculture! – mega farms and agro-processing.
Why Ethiopia needs five million troops
Before I explain detail financial contributions of the three shareholders, let me say a few words on why Ethiopia needs five million soldiers and see a few countries with millions of soldiers.
The number of soldiers a country can have is not directly related to its population size. The number of its soldiers is related to the danger the country anticipates, the geostrategic location of the country and the potential conflicts of interest with its neighbors.
For instance, China with over 1.4 billion population has a total of around four (4) million soldiers including active, reserve and paramilitary. On the contrary, North Korea with a total population of around 26 million, has a total of 7.7 million soldiers including active, reserve and paramilitary. South Korea with a total population of around 51 million, has a total of 6.7 million soldiers including active, reserve and paramilitary, while India has 5.1 million.
Based on the above my argument that Ethiopia with 110 million plus population needs a total of five (5) million troops including active, reserve and paramilitary, is realistic based on the threats the country is facing at the moment and future threats.
Especially in relation to the growing interest of many countries in the internal affairs of Ethiopia, it is normal for one to think of the possibility of Ethiopia to be invaded by a coalition of its enemy soldiers from near and far. Let me go back to my investment plan in which I am also willing to gladly invest in.
Why agriculture?
In order to make this article shorter, the reason I selected agriculture is because we have the basic inputs required – huge arable (including land suitable for irrigation), water (river and ground), and human resource (can create jobs for millions of Ethiopian youths with almost no special skill).
As business means solving a problem, investing in agriculture in Ethiopia means, ending food import and food aid, which makes the country vulnerable to donor countries intervention in our internal politics / sovereignty.
Agriculture is highly profitable though its initial investment is high. I personally have tested the water by investing some of my savings in the labor and skills of local young farmers. For the past several years we have been sharing the profit equally. So, I am talking based on my personal experience in the sector both as a business journalist and as telephone farmer.
But most of the agriculture project I am proposing can generate a huge amount of hard currency for Ethiopia after setting free the country from food import and foreign food aid.
Feasiblity
The recent sample irrigation wheat farms in different parts of the country show that all the four corners of Ethiopia – from Afar in the north and Benishangul and Gambella in the Western, to Somali in the Eastern and Southern Ethiopia, have millions of hectares of land suitable for commercial agriculture.
If we take the Tana Beles project abandoned deliberately during the TPLF-era, it has the potential to create jobs for several millions of youths.
As we have seen in the past Ethiopian soldiers whenever they are off duty used to help smallholder farmers including in Tigray region where they were massacred by the traitor TPLF terrorists in the evening after helping Tigray farmers during the day.
So, if we assume that two or three million of the total of five million troops of Ethiopia which I am envisaging for my country to have are reserve military, these troops can be engage directly in this investment farms in which they also own 33 percent.
As I mentioned in my intro, one important benefit of this investment is to help Ethiopia build strong army with self-sustaining financial backing. This allows Ethiopia as a nation to use new technologies within the army, make better the lives of the families of its troops.
Currently in Ethiopia one family is estimated to have an average of five family members. Finding a way for the imagined five million troops to invest in this lucrative agriculture business means improving the lives of 25 million Ethiopians.
For the Ethiopians in the diaspora and those Ethiopians at home, investing in this lucrative agriculture investment only for one time means, is like planting an evergreen tree that changes Ethiopia’s history of begging for food aid once and for all.
But most of all, it is liberating their motherland from interference of donors such as the United States and its allies. By doing so, we are also protecting Ethiopia from future land grabs by the fake foreign direct investments (FDI) like that of Karaturi, MIDROC Gambella farm, Turkish Ayka Addis and the like. I hope you all agree with that this is not the time we talk about ideologies promoted by our neo-colonizers such as market liberalizations etc…
This is the time for Ethiopians to craft their own home-grown development model. Ethiopians especially those in the diaspora and whose families are sacrificing their lives to rescue their motherland, should get priority to invest in government priority development sectors including agriculture, tourism and mining, among others.
I urge the Ethiopian diaspora agency, the ministry of finance, the economic planning commission and the prime minister office, and Ethiopian national defense force, to take seriously my idea and develop it into a more practical business in a short time.
As a concerned Ethiopian me and my friend who is engaged in business projects development are willing to help you in taking our idea into real business.
I hope we agree that the war to save Ethiopia from the current and future threats is not only limited by what we do at the battle field. All of us have the responsibility to do something that can help Ethiopia and Ethiopians become stronger and powerful in Africa at least.
Share of investments
Shareholder category 1- Ethiopians in diaspora and other Ethiopians (27 percent) – We assumed that out of the around four (4) million Ethiopians, only 500,000 of them can participate in this agriculture and agro-processing investments.
We assumed that one Ethiopian diaspora can invest $500 (five hundred U.S. dollar). The half a million Ethiopians in the diaspora can contribute a total of $250 million (two hundred fifty million U.S. dollar), which is around 12.5 billion Ethiopian Birr. This amount represents 27 percent of the total investment of the project, which is 46.87 billion Birr.
This total 500,000 diaspora assumption includes a few thousands of Ethiopians living in the country who could also invest in this project including me and my friends.
This one-time investment of Ethiopians in the diaspora can also save them from throwing their hands into their pockets whenever there is national emergency like the current displacements and the like. When needed the one can donate from the profit of the $500 she/he has already invested in Ethiopia.
Shareholder category 2 – Ethiopian troops (33 percent) – We assumed that five (5) millions of troops including active, reserve and paramilitary will invest in this agriculture and agro-processing investments.
If we assume that each soldier contributes a quarter of one Ethiopian diaspora’s contribution, it will be $62.5 (around 3,125 Birr). In the current circumstance, it will not be realistic for an Ethiopian soldier to make this amount of contribution at once. But she/he can invest in 12 months by deducting some amount of money every month.
Based on this assumption, a total of five (5) million troops can invest a total of 15.625 billion Birr. This figure represents 33 percent of the total share of the agriculture and agro-processing businesses.
Shareholder category
3- Shareholder catagory 3- The Government of Ethiopia (40 percent) – In our assumption, the Government of Ethiopia will be a major shareholder of this agriculture and agro-processing investment with a total share of 40 percent.
The Government can easily divert some of its recurrent expenses into investment in this project. The profit coming from this project can easily enable the government to modernize its army with the latest technologies. In our assumption the 40 percent share of the Government is equivalent to 18.75 billion Birr. The government can raise the money lending from banks /selling treasury bills.
Total investment – Based on the above assumptions, the total investment of this farm and agro-processing projects will be 46.87 billion Birr. This project can be scaled up or scaled down based on the phase-by-phase implementation plans of the whole project.
Regulation of the Investment
The success of investment in the banking and insurance sectors over the past few decades, suggest that share companies involving tens of thousands of people can be successful in Ethiopia if properly regulated.
At the same time investments like Habesha Cement, which has collected hundreds of millions of Birr from thousands of Ethiopians including me has almost failed to make profit for the shareholders even today after a decade.
The reason the investment in banking and insurance succeeded is because the National Bank of Ethiopia daily regulates all the banks. On the contrary, other share companies were subjected to abuses because of absence of a regulatory government body.
The above two experiences tell us that if the National Bank of Ethiopia, which has the experience in regulating financial transaction can open a window to regulate such mega investments.
The sooner we act the better so that Ethiopia and Ethiopians in millions can benefit easily financially and we rescue our motherland from the clear and present danger coming in different directions. We all know that this war is not with the TPLF… #NoMore! #EthiopiaPrevails…