When Brook Taye became chief executive of Ethiopian Investment Holdings (EIH) in August, he was taking on one of the biggest jobs in Ethiopia: reforming the country’s state-owned enterprises (SOEs). The institution was established in 2021 as the strategic investment arm of the Ethiopian state and now boasts a portfolio of 40 companies, collectively worth tens of billions of dollars. They include the national airline, the state-run telecoms company and the country’s dominant bank, as well as state firms involved in electricity, manufacturing, construction, trading, chemicals, hospitality and insurance. “We think of ourselves as an entrepreneurial state,” says Brook, who also sits on the committee that steers Ethiopia’s economic policy.
