Digital Shift for Commodity Exchange
The Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX) is looking to expedite the process of developing technology for an online trading system, by the end of the second quarter of 2013. After developing the technology, it is expecting to launch online trading on the exchange floor and six other remote trading sites, by the end of June 2014. The project is estimated to cost 4.1 million dollars. The 2013 deadline is part of the conditions that the Investment Climate for Africa Fund (ICF) requires the ECX to meet, in order for it to sign a revised financing agreement for the project. In a rush to meet these conditions, the ECX has started working on the technology in-house, and has extended the contract of Solomon Edossa – part of the original Ethiopian Diaspora management team that served as chief information officer for five years and had stayed back to serve as an advisor until mid 2013. Now his contract has been extended until 2014, in order for him to head the project. The ECX is also loo