Trace the business from its name to its licence
Ethiopia's e-Trade services provide separate tools for company-name checking and business-licence verification. Those tools answer different questions: an available name is not evidence that a business has completed commercial registration, and a registration does not by itself describe every licensed activity. Obtain the identifiers appearing on the documents and compare the legal name carefully, allowing for differences between Amharic and English spellings without assuming that similar names identify the same entity.
Confirm the competent registration and licensing authority
The Ethiopian Business Portal describes commercial registration and the later licensing stages, including the involvement of the Ministry or relevant trade bureau. Use that guidance to identify which authority should clarify an unclear record. A licence-check result should be read for the activity and particulars it actually confirms; it is not a substitute for unrestricted access to a corporate file. Retain copies of the registration and licence evidence separately so their different purposes remain clear.