Fueling up1

Fueling up goes digital in Addis Ababa

As part of modernizing Ethiopia’s economy, it was announced recently that as of April 24, 2023 fuel transactions in Addis Ababa, shall be conducted through online payment methods only. Starting from July 8 it is planned to be implemented throughout the whole nation. This was stated by the Ethiopian Petroleum and Energy Authority following the meeting that was held in collaboration with the Ministry of Transport. Ethio Telecom, the fuel station owner, and other concerned parties in Addis Ababa. The government has also highlighted the importance of technology in ensuring traceability, preventing traders from cheating on taxes.

Biruk Adhane, Chief Mobile Money Officer of Ethio Telecom said that Tele Birr has done an effective job in making fuel transactions go digital. For this reason, in the last nine trial months, they mentioned that more than 30 billion Birr of fuel was transacted through telebirr alone. And there are about 1,250 gas stations in Ethiopia, serving nearly two million vehicles. Also over the past decades, the demand for fuel has grown immensely throughout the country.

Benefits of cashless transaction 

  • Convenience
  • Safety
  • Faster Transaction 
  • Track expenses

Following this drastic change, online payment platforms such as Telebirr Super App, and Nedaj of CBE have emerged to serve the large pool of gas users.

When using Telebirr, the internet is not required and the customer needs to transfer money to their telebirr account through a telebirr agent or service center assigned to each gas station. Next, the gas station staff will fill in the customer’s phone number and the amount of money to be paid. After that, the customer will receive a confirmation message on their phone. The customer will check that amount is correct and enter their PIN code. Finally, the customer will receive a confirmation message, and a receipt from Telebr verifying that the payment has been made. With this simplified digital means of transaction, Ethiopia is one step further into the digitalizing market. Ethio Telecom mentioned they are actively working on improving the network capacity to handle all transactions and address any concerns as well as issues that might occur.

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Capture kanessa

Who is Kanessa Muluneh ?

𝐊𝐀𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐀 Muluneh was born in Ethiopia and raised in the Netherlands (Holland). Her parents fled their home country with her when she was just three years old. She grew up with a deep love for her heritage, but also a strong sense of responsibility to give back—both of which are important parts of who she is today. Kanessa is now a mother of two with a third child on the way. In addition to that, she is the owner of Mulu Manor, a plus-size clothing brand dedicated to educating women. As a woman who is driven to succeed and make an impact, she has taken the business sphere by storm with her ideas, products, and services. 

Social Media 

Kanessa has a YouTube channel that reveals her everyday life, from motherhood to entrepreneurship to viewers. She also shares fashion, beauty, business, and lifestyle tips. She is known for openly sharing her heart-felt opinions and feelings with her audiences.

  • Her Youtube channel, @europeanhabesha, has 3.29K subscribers and 874 videos,
  • has over 1.2 million viewers on TikTok,
  • 1.2K followers on Facebook,
  • 18,800 followers on Instagram.

Kanessa says “I don’t like to call myself a fashion designer. I am a problem solver. In fact, that’s the main reason why I created my own clothing line in the first place: because I knew I had a “problem” finding comfortable sportswear in my size as a plus-size woman. I figured out that it wasn’t just me who struggled with this problem; it was every plus-size woman who has ever had to shop for comfortable clothes in a store. How can this even be a “problem” in a world where the majority of people are plus-size? It was time for a change! It was time for MULU!”

This is not all Kanessa has done, she embarked on the world of NFTs to level up her businesses and designed an educational platform called Dire Leji- dedicated to teaching Ethiopian, Eritrean, and African people about Web3. She set out in doing this as she wanted to give back to her homeland by putting NFTs, crypto, and the metaverse to good use. We can certainly say that she has brought positive change by providing education and economic opportunities for her community. 

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