By Kebour Ghenna
In the heart of Addis Ababa, where crumbling sidewalks once told the story of neglected infrastructure, something strange has happened.
They’ve paved paradise… and put up coffee shops.
Bole Road, one of the city’s main arteries, now looks less like a thoroughfare and more like a caffeine lover’s dream – or an economist’s nightmare. Every 50 meters, as if summoned by some urban barista cult, a new café appears. Sleek signage. Glass façades. Barista who looks like he moonlights as a DJ. Wi-Fi passwords scribbled on chalkboards. Cold brew on tap. Avocado toast optional.
This is not commerce. This is theater.
And yet, behind the frothy cappuccinos and artisanal beans lies a quiet tragedy, one that few are talking about.
These so-called “coffee shops” are not engines of growth. They are not pillars of enterprise. They are not even profitable little gems waiting to be discovered. No. These are small businesses, typically employing 5–10 people, run by hopeful entrepreneurs who think that putting a logo on a cup means they’re running a Fortune 500 company.
Let’s get something straight: Small businesses don’t make profits. At least not the kind you read about in glossy business magazines.
What they offer, at best, is a wage-like income to the owner. Maybe a modest salary if things go well. But profit? Real, surplus-generating, risk-absorbing, investment-enabling profit? That’s rare. Like rain in Afar.
So what does it say when a city – a developing capital city no less – suddenly decides that its future prosperity rests on a row of espresso machines?
It says someone got a bad idea from a TED Talk.
Maybe it was the planners. Or the consultants. Or the foreign advisors who think that if you build enough cafés, middle-class consumers will magically appear, wallets open, latte orders ready.
But here’s the thing: A coffee shop is not a business model. It’s a hobby, unless you own a chain, a roastery, and a marketing budget. For everyone else, it’s just another job dressed up as entrepreneurship.
And if Addis thinks otherwise, it might want to lay off the espresso and get back to building things that actually create value. Yes, coffee shops don’t create jobs. They shift them. From street vendors to baristas. From roadside coffee sellers to franchise employees. It’s musical chairs, with better lighting and Bluetooth speakers.
And now, thanks to the city’s makeover, these micro-businesses are competing not just against each other, but against rising rents, imported equipment, high operational costs, and a customer base that still prefers to drink coffee at home, brewed in clay jebenas, not steel espresso machines.
Welcome to the economy of the coffee shop: powered not by innovation or investment, but by caffeine and hope.
Editor’s Note : The article appeared first on the personal SM page of Kebour Ghenna
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It’s typical for a developing economy to copy paste other’s businesses.
Where I live in East Europe trends were changing every 3-4 years. There was a wave of restaurants, then mini markets, garages, tyre changing shops, veggie markets, children toy shops, etc.
Boring and sad, especially when big shopping malls and chains came and killed the small business.
Entrepreneurs need more education, global thinking and freedom to dream.