PRIVATE SECTOR INVESTMENT IN GEDEO ZONE: CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS.

The aims to examine opportunities and challenges of private investment activities in<br> Gedeo zone with the Intention of providing valuable information about the investment<br> environment of the zone to the potential investors. Descriptive type of research design<br> has been used in this study by giving more emphasis on qualitative data analysis method.<br> The study used both primary and secondary data. The researcher had prepared<br> structured questionnaire and has been used to collect primary data. The investment<br> bureau documents have been used in gathering the primary data in this study. In order to<br> obtain primary data, based on stratified sampling techniques through 368 total<br> population 30% were selected, which is 110 questionnaires were distributed to investors<br> and investment office staffs found in Gedeo zone and 108 of them were filled and<br> returned to researchers. The outcome of this study revealed that, the major bottlenecks of<br> investment in Gedeo zone are Administrative and policy Related factors, Infrastructure<br> related factors, and Market related factors, technical support and promotion factors and<br> financial institution integration factors are considered in Gedeo zone. On the other<br> handGedeo zone has adequate resource bases like agriculture products (sufficient input<br> for production), high demand for use of product (specifically coffee and powder), low<br> degree of market computation, low labor cost, relatively well trade regulation and tax<br> administration. Lastly I recommended Local government should work on investment<br> promotion, providing adequate infrastructure, integrating investment sector with<br> financial institutions, providing healthier investment environment, providing clear<br> investment procedures, providing integration with higher education institution to produce<br> required manpower, avoiding bad beurocracy and corrupt practices