Background

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), through its Investment Climate Program in Ethiopia, is implementing the third phase of its private sector development support under the Creating Markets and Investment Opportunities (CMIO) Program. CMIO aims to catalyze private investment and private sector–led growth by addressing legal, regulatory, and institutional barriers across strategic sectors critical to Ethiopia’s economic transformation.

The program focuses on enabling investment in newly opened or underperforming sectors, including trading, logistics, energy transmission and distribution, telecommunications infrastructure, Special Economic Zones (SEZs), and pharmaceutical manufacturing. As part of its results measurement framework, IFC commissioned a baseline assessment to establish benchmarks for key indicators, validate program assumptions, and generate evidence to inform implementation and evaluation.

The baseline assessment serves as the reference point against which CMIO’s investment generation, regulatory reform outcomes, and institutional capacity gains will be measured over the project lifecycle.

Triangle Assignment

Triangle was commissioned by IFC to design and implement a comprehensive baseline assessment for the CMIO Program, covering both Ethiopia Investment Generation (Eth IG) and Pharmaceutical Manufacturing (Ethio Pharma) components.

Triangle’s assignment includes:

• Reviewing CMIO program documentation, theories of change, and results frameworks

• Designing a mixed-methods baseline evaluation methodology

• Conducting regulatory, institutional, and market assessments across priority sectors

• Assessing the capacity of key public institutions responsible for investment promotion, regulation, and facilitation

• Collecting qualitative and quantitative data through stakeholder consultations, investor surveys, and interviews

• Establishing baseline values for program indicators related to investment generation, regulatory reform, and institutional performance
• Producing a baseline report and presenting findings to IFC and relevant stakeholders