Ethiopian Garment Factory

[Hilmaam]

capitalism and progress comes with better standard of living but also devours alot of people

 

[Hilmaam]

POV | Made in Ethiopia | Season 38 | Episode 3

Three women navigate hope and change as a Chinese industrial zone transforms Ethiopia.

www.pbs.org

 

[Hilmaam]

Adis Ababa

 

[Hilmaam]

Need somali verion of manifest destiny westward expansion ethiopian highland good as it gets

 

[Idilinaa]

The market dictates that, it’s hard to predict what people will buy made in country vs outside. It’s issue a lot of American companies dealing with and why Trump enacting tariffs. Yet many still go China route for products instead of made in America. It’s possible this garment business fails but it’s still good learning those warehouses will be there the power distribution will be there. The jobs and knowledge created building this industry will stick around. Any goverment putting money into projects like this i salute shows some initiative. Kacaan for all its shortfalls was at least able to build factories. Many of ports roads today from back then which lifeline of country. Even kacaan ended in faiure in the end it left something behind . Same thing Ethiopia doing know with projects it will be legacy for generations gerd and these warehouses and this knowledge

Yeah, I get that the market can be unpredictable, but that’s why you build a strong domestic base first it cushions you when exports slow or demand changes. The Kacaan left behind ports, roads, and factories because they were tied into the local economy from day one, not just built for foreign buyers.

Ethiopia’s projects might leave warehouses and some know how, but without a real local market to feed into, a lot of that potential just sits idle. If they paired these big investments with small business growth, retail spaces, and domestic supply chains, they’d get way more long term benefit.

I can't stress this enough since i've been a big critic of vanity projects. Legacy isn’t just physical buildings, it’s having an economy that keeps running and evolving after the first phase of investment ends.

 

[Idilinaa]

Yeah, I get that the market can be unpredictable, but that’s why you build a strong domestic base first it cushions you when exports slow or demand changes. The Kacaan left behind ports, roads, and factories because they were tied into the local economy from day one, not just built for foreign buyers.

Ethiopia’s projects might leave warehouses and some know how, but without a real local market to feed into, a lot of that potential just sits idle. If they paired these big investments with small business growth, retail spaces, and domestic supply chains, they’d get way more long term benefit.

I can stress this enough since i've been a big critic of vanity projects. Legacy isn’t just physical buildings, it’s having an economy that keeps running and evolving after the first phase of investment ends.

@Hilmaam you can see this with the complaints Ethiopians make when others showcase the massive projects. But they don't feel like it improved their lives much at all.

You can see what i say is true in the complaints by Ethiopians under this video:

And this person is right:

It's disheartening to see it because everytime i scroll through Ethiopian tiktok there is a cry for help at every turn. The average Ethiopia wa qof miskeen ah who yearn's to see their life improve and it such a betrayal what Abyi Ahmed is doing.

I think he says life is better in Kenya or Somaliland or something to that end.




I also discussed this with @Barkhadle1520 before that if Ethiopia built a strong domestic market economy and supply chains within the country it would lift many people out of poverty give them a decent earning power to support themselves, it would even boost agricultural production and make sure food , goods, money and resources are widely dispersed. Especially if they connect rural areas to urban centers, which are poorly connected in Ethiopia. So the solution seems very obvious to me.

There is a reason why Somalis have higher purchasing power because it's a market driven, urbanized, service heavy economy with huge diaspora capital inflows, whereas Ethiopia’s economy is still state heavy, rural, and subsistence based, with wages kept deliberately low for export competitiveness. It's as if they operated more like a feudal society in a way.

They also need to open more technical schools. Galbeed has led with this, and Somalia is shifting its educational system to be more market demand specific, boosting youth employment. Here even Somalia has the added advantage that there’s already a strong domestic market ready to absorb these skills. Because a lot of the skills from technical and vocational training can be immediately applied in the local economy because there’s an existing demand for them.


In Ethiopia, a big part of the challenge is that even if they train people, the domestic economy is weaker in absorbing them into good paying jobs , much of the manufacturing is export oriented, agriculture is still subsistence based not strongly linked to market systems that would create steady supply chains and income, local consumption is also limited.