Ethiopian training regulator says Breakthrough programs lack accreditation
Breakthrough Trading says it has trained more than 100,000 people, but Ethiopia’s Education and Training Authority says it has not licensed or accredited the company’s personal-development programs.
In short
- Breakthrough Trading says it has trained more than 100,000 people, but Ethiopia’s Education and Training Authority says it has not licensed or accredited the company’s personal-development programs.
Ethiopia’s Education and Training Authority says it has neither licensed nor accredited personal-development programs offered by Breakthrough Trading Share Company, despite the company’s claim that it has trained more than 100,000 people over roughly six years.
The Reporter Ethiopia published the findings on August 22, 2026, after reviewing company documents and interviewing Breakthrough chief executive Milkias Ayele, the regulator and former participants. Milkias, who is also an outgoing member of Parliament, acknowledged that the programs had not been registered with the authority. He argued that the company’s business licence and tax payments permit it to provide personal-development training.
The regulator takes a different position. Education and Training Authority spokesperson Martha Admasu told The Reporter that Breakthrough had not received the sector-specific licence or accreditation required for its programs. A 2024 directive governing higher education and technical and vocational training says institutions providing covered training or related services must obtain approval for their programs and materials.
Breakthrough sells a series of personal-development packages that the company says range from about 3,800 birr to 52,000 birr. After completing training, participants can become what the company calls independent business owners and earn commissions by referring people who purchase packages. Company documents reviewed by The Reporter describe direct-referral commissions of 10 to 19 percent and team-development commissions of 8 to 15 percent, as well as points-based incentives.
Former participants interviewed by the newspaper questioned whether recruitment had become central to the commercial model. Breakthrough describes its operation as legitimate multilevel marketing. The available reporting does not establish that the company is operating an illegal pyramid scheme, and no finding by a court or competent enforcement authority was reported.
That legal distinction matters. Ethiopia’s Trade Competition and Consumers Protection Proclamation prohibits pyramid sales schemes in which rewards are tied to purchases, financial contributions and inducing additional consumers to join. Whether a particular operation meets that definition depends on how revenue and rewards work in practice and is a matter for regulators or courts.
The investigation also identified inconsistencies between company documents and the chief executive’s account of the training. Documents referred to methods associated with neuro-linguistic programming and hypnotherapy, while Milkias said Breakthrough neither employs trainers in those subjects nor teaches them.
The questions raised by the regulator’s statement are especially relevant because students and young people were among those approached for training, according to former participants cited in the report. The matter now turns on whether Ethiopian authorities conduct a formal assessment of the programs, their advertising and the recruitment-linked compensation system.
