The Trade Bureau of Addis Abeba has begun allowing street vendors to trade in designated areas of the city. This comes following the issuance of a directive by the Bureau to formalise their trading.
Of the 117 weredas in the 10 districts of the capital, 47 of them agreed to accommodate the street vendors. There will be 45 marketplaces all over the city, with one wereda having up to three or four, or vice versa, according to Meketa Adafre, an advisor in the Bureau.
Around 19,500 street vendors in Addis Abeba have already registered to take part, with the Bureau still open to accepting new ones. A raffle will then be drawn to provide vendors with a place in the market.
“A lottery helps fend allegations of favouritism in the handing out of slots,” Meketa told Fortune. “Those that do not make it in this round would be included in another one.”
Of all the districts, only Kolfe Keranyo was able to finish all the necessary procedures to draw lottery. There are 15 weredas in the district, out of which only eight plan to have the marketplaces.
Of the close to 3,219 registered vendors, the requirement of having a local identification (ID) card narrowed their number to 1,500. The lottery further narrowed down the list by 253 awarded street vendors this past week, to start trading in the marketplaces of the district.
“The marketplaces have no shelter for these vendors, but it gives them a place to trade legally,” said Meketa. “We are also considering helping some of the vendors get a local ID card.”
According to the directive, the vendors need to, amongst other things, pay a 70 Br registration fee and wear an ID badge at all times of trading.
“The vendors must follow specific rules when working in these marketplaces like timeliness, tidiness, and obey the law,” Meketa told Fortune.
Only a capital under 10,000 Br is recognizable by the directive as a street vendor inside the informal sector.
The sorts of goods the street vendors are allowed to trade are clothes, shoes, electronics and some food items such as biscuits and sandwiches as well as packed juices and soft drinks.
Hassen Ibrahim, who sells used shoes and clothes, was one of those allowed to start selling legally in the Kolfe Keranyo district. The marketplace opens the opportunity to trade without being chased by the police, according to him.
“The government should have given the vendors training on saving and customer handling, but something is better than nothing,” says Getie Andualem (PhD), assistant professor at Addis Abeba University’s (AAU) School of Commerce. “It would have been worthwhile if the facilities are sustainable and with all the necessary things that a market needs such as water, shelter and attractive market structure for customers.”
There are currently close to 80,000 informal traders in Addis Abeba, according to Belayneh Woldesenbet, head of communications of the Bureau.
Ethiopia’s informal sector is estimated to account for over 38pc of the nation’s total gross domestic product (GDP), according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Close to 32pc of the nation’s labour force is employed in that sector.
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