SIL has started the rollout of the IFMIS solution across the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia in November 2016. This implementation will last for two years. It follows the allocation to SIL of the technical implementation of the new system for the Government Finance and Budget, as per a tender from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Cooperation (MoFEC) of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia.

The project has two major components. One is an assessment of the existing system and measures for addressing identified gaps so as to enhance the IFMIS solution. The other one is the rolling out of the enhanced IFMIS system to 125 federal sites in Ethiopia over two years. Most of the sites are located in the capital city Addis Ababa. The ultimate objective of the client is to roll out the system to other sites in the future, so as to implement IFMIS in all the federal sites across the whole country. The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia is known to have one of the fastest growing economies in the world, with GDP increasing by over 10 on average for the past 10 years.

SIL was awarded this technical contract as part of a bid with a partner, for complete implementation and management of the new financial system. Other major international companies from Europe and Asia also responded to the tender.

SIL has currently deployed six expert staff from Mauritius to Ethiopia to start the rollout implementation. Other staff will join the implementation team as the rollout goes forward in the coming months. This will be another opportunity for the capacity building of SIL and Mauritius as an IT hub serving the African continent.

This IFMIS solution is based on nine modules from the Oracle E-Business Suite: Public Sector Budgeting, Cash Management, Accounts Payable, Fixed Assets, Accounts Receivable, General Ledger, Oracle Purchasing Inventory Management and Oracle Payroll. Oracle E-Business Suite provides 360-degree view of finances, customers and supply chains, enabling faster and better decisions making for optimal performance and growth. This project also involves training and capacity building for approximately 7,500 end users.

This achievement confirms the level of expertise that SIL has acquired in developing, implementing and providing continuous and long-term support for key solutions for governments in Mauritius and in mainland Africa. SIL has provided such services for over 250 projects in more than 15 countries to date. In order to provide delivery of this project, SIL has built on its domain expertise gained mainly during previous implementations of such solutions for Mauritius, Kenya, Botswana and Namibia. Our resources expertise is key to undertake such project on a large scale.

The IFMIS project for Ethiopia is yet another showcase for the action of SIL, in line with its vision for Africa as well as with the ambition of Mauritius to be a key player in the IT field for that continent.