Ethiopia’s Sovereign Wealth Fund Signs Cooperation Agreement With Russia’s Wildberries E-Commerce Platform

The Wildberries & Russ joint venture (RWB LLC) has signed a cooperation agreement with Ethiopia’s sovereign wealth fund, Ethiopian Investment Holdings (EIH).

The agreement provides for joint efforts to localize RWB products for the Ethiopian market, as well as partnership and support through investment and technology initiatives that promote e-commerce and infrastructure development in Ethiopia, according to RWB.

RWB CEO Robert Mirzoyan said, “We plan to tap the Ethiopian and other African markets in the near future. The Russian and Ethiopian markets are very appealing and offer very good export potential for manufacturers in both countries. RWB’s entry will bring the expertise of an international digital platform to the country’s logistics infrastructure, boosting the development of entrepreneurship and the advertising market.”

EIH is the Ethiopian government’s sovereign wealth fund and strategic investment vehicle, managing a diversified portfolio of state-owned enterprises to support national economic transformation. It manages assets worth over US$150 billion and controls key assets in the financial, infrastructure, energy, logistics, manufacturing, and agriculture sectors.

Wildberries & Russ was formed via the merger of the Wildberries online retailer and the Russ outdoor advertising operator in order to create a digital trading platform. The JV currently operates in Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, as well as China and the United Arab Emirates, with goods imported from these countries.

Maxim Reshetnikov, the Russian Economic Development Minister, also commented following a meeting of the Russia-Ethiopia Intergovernmental Commission on economic, scientific, technological, and trade collaboration just held in Moscow.

Reshetnikov said, “We are promoting our marketplaces in Ethiopia and promoting them from two points of view, of course—as an export opportunity and as an opportunity to import from Ethiopia and neighboring countries. And as an entry onto the market, the technology that we as a country can supply and export to foreign markets, which will allow the Ethiopian economy to develop.”

A logistics issue to note is the easier access now to markets in Northeast Africa due to the multi-modal International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) coming into operation, with direct access from Russia to Iran’s Persian Gulf ports. Shipping from Iran’s Bandar Abbas Port to the Port of Sudan (which services most Ethiopian trade) takes about 16 days.