Ethiopia: 'Mother Bets' Providing a Lifeline
Binyam Taye, 29, a teller in one of the branches of the Awash International Bank, located around the National Theatre, usually eats his lunch in one of the informal restaurants, called mother bet. These have become increasingly popular for their relatively fair prices. Challenged by his fixed income, Binyam is forced to eat his lunch and sometimes his dinner at the informal restaurant, paying 15 Br on average for one meal, since 2010. "The price is much cheaper than in common restaurants; this has helped me a lot to allocate my monthly income properly", Binyam told Fortune, while eating his lunch at the one of the mother bets located around Ras Abebe Aregay Street, close to the National Theatre. Informal restaurants - like the one Binyam regularly visits, owned by Tiruwork Negatu, a 70-year-old mother of seven - have become increasingly popular. Most of these venues are owned by older women, thus their rather unambiguous name. Tiruwork runs the business for more tha