Congratulations to icehawassa (and iceaddis) – and entrepreneurs in and around Hawassa – for yesterday’s launch of icehawassa.The launch event was attended by more than 50 participants celebrating the opening of icehawassa – an incubator and startup’ hub affiliated with iceaddis and a consortium partner in BIC Ethiopia (part of BIC Africa). Our colleague Biruk Yosef Zenebe attended and shared the launch.

The opening of icehawassa signifies the growth and expansion of incubators and hubs beyond Addis Ababa availing entrepreneurial support to aspiring entrepreneurs and innovators across Ethiopia.

The hub will stimulate the entrepreneurship spirit in the city of Hawassa and the surrounding with the plan to provide entrepreneurial skills enhancing training, co-working space, hosting of experience-sharing events, and startup support programs. The hub will also serve as a knowledge transfer and collaboration point between incubation spaces at Hawassa University and ecosystem players in other parts of the country. As the first fully-fledged branch of a hub from the capital city, it will be interesting to follow how icehawassa’s experience will encourage and facilitate cross-country linkages and collaboration.

In his keynote address, State Minister of the Ministry of Labor and Skills, Ato Negussu Tilahun, attested that the government of Ethiopia would fully support such expansion of hubs, incubators, and accelerators. He furthermore shared that the government of Ethiopia has the new startups and innovative businesses act ratification as its priority and that he hopes the ratification will happen in the near future.

We look forward to collaborating with icehawassa and expanding the support to entrepreneurs across Ethiopia.

Congratulation: Markos Lemma, Fikir belete, Tewodaj Guale, Merhawit Moges, Florian Manderscheid