This Culture Is Killing Ethiopia: “If We Didn’t Start It, We Don’t Support It”

Dr. Jibril Mohamed Ahmed, Founder of Sahan Investment Group, SLab Ethiopia

When we founded SLab, Ethiopia’s first multilingual platform focused on financial literacy and capital market education, we weren’t trying to reinvent the system — we were trying to make it work for more people.

We believed in the government’s ambition to build a vibrant capital market. We believed institutions like the Ethiopian Securities Exchange (ESX) and FSD Ethiopia would welcome fresh, citizen-driven contributions. After all, both claim to champion inclusion, market literacy, and broad public engagement.

But what we encountered wasn’t interest. It was silence.

We reached out — formally, respectfully, and with a clear proposal: let’s collaborate to make financial education more accessible to the public. We didn’t ask for money. We weren’t selling anything. We simply said, “Here’s something we’ve built that aligns with your mission — let’s talk.”

Neither ESX nor FSD Ethiopia responded. Not even a brief acknowledgment. Nothing.

And that’s when a painful truth began to set in: in many corners of Ethiopia’s institutions, there’s an unwritten rule that kills innovation before it’s even considered:

“If we didn’t start it, we don’t support it.”

This culture is quiet, but corrosive. It rewards hierarchy over initiative. It confuses control with leadership. And it blinds institutions to value — unless that value comes stamped with the right logo or introduced through the right internal channel.

The tragedy is that this mindset doesn’t just hurt SLab or any one initiative. It hurts Ethiopia. Because the future we are trying to build — inclusive, modern, empowered — cannot survive in an ecosystem where collaboration is stifled by ego or institutional pride.

Take FSD Ethiopia as an example. They publicly promote financial inclusion and capital market development. And yet, when presented with a ready-to-deploy tool built exactly for that purpose — not only in English, but in Somali, Amharic, and Afaan Oromo — they remained silent.

Or the ESX, tasked with democratizing the capital market. One would expect a public education initiative to be seen as an ally. But instead, we were met with indifference. It’s not that they said no. They simply said nothing.

That’s worse.
Because silence doesn’t just reject an idea — it discourages effort. It teaches innovators to keep quiet. It tells young people that unless they are inside the circle, their contributions don’t matter. But here’s the thing: the circle is shrinking, and the public is watching.

Ethiopia is changing. New platforms are emerging. Citizens are organizing, building, learning. And our institutions — if they truly want to lead — must learn to listen, to partner, and to uplift.

At SLab, we’re not going to stop. We’ll continue building tools that make the capital market understandable for the taxi driver, the student, the small shop owner — not just the finance professional. Because that’s where real economic change begins: when the public is informed, equipped, and included.

And maybe one day, the institutions that are supposed to support that mission will see value in ideas they didn’t originate.

Until then, we keep building — for Ethiopia, not for applause.

Because this culture — the culture of “if we didn’t start it, we don’t support it” — must end.

Not for our sake. But for Ethiopia’s.