Addis Fortune (Addis Ababa)
Abiy Wendiferaw
27 March 2009
Awash International Bank (AIB) is to construct the first ever four-storey building in Gimbi Town, West Wellega Zone of Oromia Regional State, 441 Km west of Addis to house its first outlying branch.
The Bank's Gimbi Branch was established in 1994, as an outlying branch outside of Addis Abeba. The bank floated a tender last week for the construction of Gimbi's first ever tall building, whose design work has been completed by Ultimate Plan Plc (Begziabhere Architects).
The 400Sqm land on which the building will be erected is located around the town's long distance Bus Terminal in Kebele 02.
Awash bought the land for 400,000 Br from the town's administration, according to sources.
Beyond helping the bank start enhanced banking services, the completion of the four-storey building, expected after a year, would save the 5,257 Br monthly rental charges Awash spends for the Gimbi Branch.
"In addition to its direct benefits, I hope the new building will strengthen our goodwill in the town," Kelbessa Gadissa, Branch vice manager, told Fortune.
The new building is likely to be shared by the sister company, Awash Insurance Share Company, which also operates in the town.
Gimbi is one of the 180 woredas in Oromia. According to data published by the Central Statistical Agency in 2005, Gimbi has an estimated total population of 147,701, of whom 75,078 were males and 72,623 were females. Some 40,162 or 27.19pc of its population are urban dwellers, which is greater than the zone average of 10.9pc. With an estimated area of 1,183.44Sqkm, Gimbi has an estimated population density of 124.8 people per square kilometre, which is greater than the zone average of 97.7.
The town is bordered by Haru, Yabdo and Lalo Asabi Weredas of the same Zone, Benishangul-Gumuz Region and East Wellega Zone.
Coffee is an important cash crop of the woreda due to which when the harvest season is on, banks in Gimbi, including Awash's branch, are swarmed by customers. Though the branch's 30 employees are not normally burdened at times like the coffee harvest season, they are restless, according to the Vice Manager.
"When the coffee harvest season comes, the number of people who need our service for loan and other facilities reaches its peak," Kelbessa told Fortune.
Awash is currently processing the design work on three buildings, including that of Gimbi Branch; the other two are for its Nekemte and Shashemene branches, which will be designed by the same architects.
"25pc of the work on the two buildings design is complete," Begziabher Alebel, CEO and major shareholder of Begziabher Architects, told Fortune.
Awash International Bank S.C. was established in November 1994 as the first private commercial bank in Ethiopia, with a 24.2 million Br capital and 486 founding members. AIB currently operates with more than 434 million Br capital and over 2,700 shareholders. The bank started operations in February 1995. Out of the total 59 branches the bank has, 31 are in Addis Abeba, while the balance is scattered across regional towns.
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