Africa Gets New Stock Market as Ethiopia Seeks to Woo Investors

Ethiopia is opening a stock exchange after a five-decade gap, in its latest step to lure investors to a nation that’s struggling to control regional strife as it recovers from a civil war.

Ethiopia Investment Holdings, which controls 40 state-run companies, is selling shares in Ethio Telecom to raise as much as 30 billion birr ($234 million) in an initial public offering. The company’s debut, along with the government’s plan to list other firms, will herald the start of the new bourse, according to Tilahun Kassahun, chief executive officer of the Ethiopian Securities Exchange, which opens on Friday.

Abiy Ahmed, Ethiopia’s prime minister

Photographer: Valeria Mongelli/Bloomberg

Eastern ...