Hey crew, here’s to another week of cutting through the noise and focusing on what actually moves financial minds forward.

No buzzwords, just clear shifts you can use:

⚡️BUZZ: “Hello, We’ve Listed”

🧱 Bricks vs Banks: 24 Million Reasons NOT To Buy An Apartment

📈 Your Wallet Doesn’t Vote, But It Cares

Here’s to the 110th edition

Let’s dive in.

The cricket’s chirping noise was probably louder than the ringing bell at ESX’s trading floor when Ethio Telecom went public on May 26.

Yes, it was that (un)dramatic.

The telecom giant was always going to air out its laundry in public (Get it? ‘in public’, listing ‘publicly’?…). It now joins 3 other companies that have led the way in publishing their shares on the stock market.

Tele is unique in that it is the first state-owned enterprise to do so. Much to our surprise, no one received an SMS declaring the milestone which is a bit ironic!

Some numbers for you:

This strategic move offers liquidity to early believers who, about a year and some change ago, bought pieces of the business for 300 birr each. Now those holders get to sell them on a regulated market. 

It also is a sign of support to the nascent stock market pushing other state owned enterprises and the private sector to come and choose their shinny tickers

How Does This Affect Me? Well, don’t expect your internet bill to go down dramatically overnight. Listing is not a magic wand.

Companies list to collect much needed growth capital. This could be for future expansion purposes, potential mobilization of funds for debt repayment, opportunity for early investors to cash out or create talent retention by creating stock options for employees.

For retail investors, like you and us, it is the opportunity to be part owners in an established brand.

Less barrier to entry, better participation.

That doesn’t necessarily mean success right away but we get slices of the አምባሻ while the company tries to generate more value for shareholders with earnings expectations and investors pressure from the stock market now being applied.

Want to be part of the action? Download Neway (Apple iOS or Playstore), set up your brokerage account (read the fine print first!) and start buying low and selling high.

This is not investing advice but just enough encouragement for you to make sure that your money exercises instead of lounging non-chalantly in your bank’s savings quarters…

24 million birr sounds random.

It is not.

That is the recent estimated median price of an apartment in Addis Ababa. Median. Not mansion. Not villa. Just a normal-ish, middle-of-the-market Addis apartment.

Which is already a little offensive.

Now, putting aside the tiny detail that someone earning the estimated median 27,000 birr a month salary would need around 75 years of saving every single dime to reach 24 million, let’s pretend you somehow have the money.

The classic Ethiopian instinct is simple: buy property.

Property feels safe. You can see it. Rent it. Borrow against it. Point at it when relatives ask what you’ve done with your life.

But what if the apartment is not the best income play?

A 24 million birr apartment in Addis should give you around 60,000 to 115,000 birr per month in net rent, depending on location, furnishing, tenant quality, maintenance, taxes, and whether the building’s elevator doesn’t have opinions about operating 7 days a week.

Not bad.

But also not exactly passive income. Rental property comes with vacancies, brokers, repairs, repainting, late payments, and tenants who discover plumbing problems only after 9 p.m.

The asset may appreciate over time. But you can't sell your bathroom when you urgently need cash.

Now take the same investment and buy Zemen Bank shares on the secondary market, which sells for about 1,400 birr per share. That means 24 million birr buys you about 17,143 shares.

Zemen paid a 47.8% dividend per share last year. Since bank dividends are usually quoted against par value (1,000 birr per share), that works out to 478 birr per share.

So:

17,143 shares × 478 birr = about 8.19 million birr a year. That is roughly 683,000 birr per month, ~6 times what you’d likely earn on the apartment.

This is the part where yield matters.

If your apartment earns ~1 million birr a year after costs, that is about a 4% net return.

If your Zemen shares earn 8.19 million birr in dividends on a 24 million birr investment, that is about a 34% effective dividend yield based on the 1,400 birr market price.

Same money. Completely different outcomes. Suddenly, the apartment starts avoiding eye contact.

Of course, dividends are not guaranteed. The Ethiopian Stock Exchange (ESX) is still young and secondary market liquidity is thin, meaning selling 17,000 shares quickly isn't the same as listing an apartment. Dividend payouts also vary year to year depending on profit and what the board decides to retain. And concentrating ETB 24M in one bank is its own kind of risk.

But the comparison still teaches an important lesson: as Ethiopia’s capital market develops, investors have to ask better questions.

Not just: what can I buy?

But: what does this asset actually pay me? What are the hidden costs? Can I sell it when I need cash? Is the return coming from income, appreciation, or just hope wearing Chanel?

Property still has advantages. It can appreciate. It can be used as collateral. It gives control. It feels real, especially in a country where many financial products still feel like paperwork with ambition.

But shares, especially in profitable banks and insurers, can produce serious income if bought at the right price.

So if you have 24 million birr hiding under your pillow, first of all, sleep carefully.

Second, don’t just ask what apartment can I buy? Ask what else can this money do? Sometimes the better investment is not the one with tiles, balconies, and parking.

Sometimes it is the one quietly sending dividends while someone else deals with the leaking pipe.

Ethiopia went to the polls this week.

We are not here to discuss the politics of it. This is Frank Digest, and the frank of the matter is we’ll poke fun at you regardless of which way you sway.

After all your bank account doesn’t have political opinions. It only believes in deposits, withdrawals, and embarrassing SMS balance alerts.

The real issue is confidence.

Ethiopia is trying to sell a big economic story right now: GDP growth near 10%, foreign exchange reform, a new stock market, telecom competition, and eventually foreign banks entering the market, to name but a few.

The question is whether people believe the environment is predictable enough to act.

A factory owner does not hire 50 people because GDP looks cute in a report.
An importer does not place a big order because someone said forex reform.
A diaspora investor does not wire money because a conference banner said opportunity.

That is why election week is a test of whether Ethiopia’s reform story feels stable enough for investors and other people to stop saying let’s see and start saying let’s do.

Ethiopia’s economy is not short on ambition. It is short on certainty. For ordinary people, confidence is not an abstract economic concept.

It is whether you sign a one-year lease without panic.
Whether you start renovating before costs change again.
Whether you believe today’s salary will still make sense next month.

That is the part that matters.

The economy works better when people can plan without adding “እንደ ሁኔታው” to every sentence.