Many people whom I know have never been big fans of change. In fact, they have experienced very little or no change in their lives. They held very few surprises and were content to live “inside the box”. However, this is not the case for every body in a given society at all times.

Every change in a society be it positive or negative affects each member of the community in its own way. In order to materialize positive results out of all-embraced social changes, participation by each and acceptance by many is a requirement. Negation of self esteemed interest and generous contribution of the most conscious members of the community will have positive impact on the overall development of the society. Needless to say, democratic changes require more to score success.

The current business community, as an entity, is facing challenges in the historical juncture through which Ethiopia is making evolutionary democratic changes in different aspects of the lives of the people. Enormous number of people have been pulled to the center of democracy whereby the business community could not stay aloof. For business to flourish, conducive business environment has to develop within the framework of the laws of the land which must be proclaimed, amended if needed, with the growth of democracy in the country.

If such a conducive economic climate is to be effective, i.e. for democracy to flourish, it requires the participation of all including business leaders. It is within this belief that as the Chief Executive Officer of MIDROC Ethiopia, I volunteered to chair one of the recently held political debates’ fora organized by Inter-Africa Group.

Business leaders, particularly those with the knowledge and experience of democratic society, must contribute to the realization of their dreams, growth, and development in a democratic society in which their business entities operate.

Educated leaders of the business community should not confine themselves within mere suggestions that suffer from academic “Over-Labouring”. A good deal of ideas can certainly be applicable when we get into skillfully influencing public opinion, explain the essence of reform, its welcome and adverse implications and the consequences of foot-dragging. Influencing changes in public attitudes, winning over politicians to the very concept of change through well designed constructive engagement, not stopping the dialogue even at the stage of implementation, could result in bringing about a high-level development of democracy in the country.

Personal involvement of the CEO and the participation of the management of MIDROC Group Companies are examples of our contribution to the success of democracy in this country. This, I believe, in return can serve as a back bone to the growth of our business activities.

For a country which has just started the process of systemic transformation and is on the road towards full democracy, contributions offered by experienced business leaders would mean a lot and would be hard to enumerate in a review.

The lesson learned from the experiences of many countries show that participation and contributions by the business community in the process of installing democracy helps in bringing constructive changes by their respective governments & regulatory agencies. Democratic system allows citizens to choose among service providers by letting competition be an important element of business interaction. Development of democracy in a country completely erodes the fear on the part of any body in the country. We all need to contribute to bring positive and value adding changes to the democratization process of the country. Towards this end, business leaders must play their role and contribute generously what they have. Our participation so far, therefore, is just a question of contribution as responsible citizens.