diff --git a/apps/wizard/utils/env.py b/apps/wizard/utils/env.py
index d98a1e75e70..7e84c20b3f6 100644
--- a/apps/wizard/utils/env.py
+++ b/apps/wizard/utils/env.py
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ def name(self) -> str:
             return "local"
         elif self.env_type_id == "staging":
             return f"{self.conf.DB_HOST}"
-        raise ValueError("Unknown env_type_id")
+        raise ValueError(f"Unknown env_type_id (DB_NAME/DB_USER={self.conf.DB_NAME}/{self.conf.DB_USER})")
 
     @property
     def base_site(self) -> str | None:
diff --git a/etl/grapher_helpers.py b/etl/grapher_helpers.py
index 68d90e16f01..11914907b43 100644
--- a/etl/grapher_helpers.py
+++ b/etl/grapher_helpers.py
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 from pymysql import IntegrityError
 from sqlalchemy import text
 from sqlalchemy.engine import Engine
+from sqlalchemy.orm import Session
 
 from etl.db import get_engine, read_sql
 from etl.files import checksum_str
@@ -312,12 +313,12 @@ def _get_entities_from_db(
 
 def _get_and_create_entities_in_db(countries: Set[str], engine: Engine | None = None) -> Dict[str, int]:
     engine = engine or get_engine()
-    with engine.connect() as con:
+    with Session(engine) as session:
         log.info("Creating entities in DB", countries=countries)
         out = {}
         for name in countries:
             try:
-                con.execute(
+                session.execute(
                     text(
                         """
                     INSERT INTO entities
@@ -328,12 +329,13 @@ def _get_and_create_entities_in_db(countries: Set[str], engine: Engine | None =
                     ),
                     {"name": name},
                 )
+                session.commit()
             except IntegrityError:
                 # If another process inserted the same entity before us, we can
                 # safely ignore the error and fetch the ID
                 pass
 
-            row = con.execute(
+            row = session.execute(
                 text(
                     """
                 SELECT id FROM entities