www.connectethiopia.org. what is connect ethiopia? established in 2005 by philip lee & brody...

www.connectethiopia.org


WHAT IS CONNECT ETHIOPIA?

• Established in 2005 by Philip Lee & Brody Sweeney

• Business-to-business charity• Offices in Addis Ababa & Dublin• Addressing the cause, not the symptoms• Focusing on capacity building, trade and

investment


OUR GOAL

• CONNECT: the efforts of the Irish business community

• FOCUS: the combined efforts on one country – Ethiopia

• BUILD: capacity to help stimulate the economy

WHY ETHIOPIA?• Dynamic country with huge

potential• Low corruption• Safe• Sense of nationhood• Politically stable• Excellent relations with Ireland• Identifiable with emotional ties• Full embassy• Priority country for Irish Aid• First class Ambassadors in Addis

& Dublin


SECTORAL TWINNING

Coalition of Irish stakeholders

• Irish – Ethiopian tourism taskforce• Chamber of Commerce (Dublin - Addis)• Law society• Engineers Ireland• Institute of Bankers• Trinity College• Insurance Federation• Community twinning (Sodo – Skerries)


BUSINESS TWINNING

• Coffee• Textiles• IAWS • Tourism• Venture Capital Fund• Agri-business • IT outsourcing (M/A Com – Lava

Solutions)• Telecommunications• Microfinance & banking• Photography


KEY PROJECTS

• Rule of Law

• Coffee

• Textiles

• Tourism

• Venture Capital Fund

• IT & Telecommunications


TEXTILES

SME producers• Business Development Training• Mentoring• Expanding design element • Distribution – department

stores/boutiques

Industrial - Garment Manufacturing• Establishing business links


Information Technology

• Outsourcing component manufacturing (M/A Com - Lava Business Solutions)

• Facilitate the establishment of Ethiopian IT providers on virtual outsourcing platform


OVERVIEW OF LAVA BUSINESS SOLUTIONS RELATIONSHIP

• MANAGER: AIDAN MAGNER


Cork Operation • “Core” products are very labour intensive hand wound sub miniature

transformers.• In 1990 we started outsourcing of manual labour to China and gradually

evolved to a full turnkey product solution. Currently 1600 employed at that site

• In 2000 we worked with a local factory in HoChiMinh City, Vietnam. There are currently 1200 employees engaged on our products in this facility.

• In 2006 we launched contract manufacturing in two locations in India, currently they have a combined employee base of 300 people.

• A core element of our manufacturing strategy is to have our assets in low cost countries and close to our largest emerging markets.

• Price competition in the market increased significantly during 2008

- Mid 2008 a decision was taken to look to new low cost manufacturing solutions.


Search • Short listing of countries by GDP per capita, Human Development Index,

Industrial Developments, Social & Political stability, Education Standards, etc

- Indentified possible solutions in Sri Lanka and Ethiopia

• Connect Ethiopia provided perfect platform for accessing and entering Addis Ababa

- Local knowledge - Recognised brand name - Access to political support - Work around for investment proclamation 207/2002 that states that any FDI must be $100k minimum investment


Lava Business Solutions

• Initial visit August 2008• Company registered Jan 2009. 1st electronics company in Ethiopia • $10K seed money invested in Lava• Engineers and equipment sent in March 2009, initial samples sent in May

2009• Decision taken to install “hybrid” solution. Vietnam factory would subcontract

to Lava for manual operation.• Visit in February 2010 coincided with real business need to scale operations• Decision taken in March 2010 to move 3 high volume lines to Addis Ababa

- Projected 250 people by November 2010- 3 year plan to scale to 450 people - Potentially 600 people


What will it mean

• Lava benchmarked local wage levels

- They are paying above average wage- Incentive schemes in place

• Clean, low risk manufacturing environment

- Training and Mentoring scheme (business management, accounting, working capital, manufacturing, logistics, quality controls)


What will it mean

• Sustainable employment

- As Lava develop, bring more customers, career paths develop - Assist in local economy development

• Next generation entrepreneurs Age of workers

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www.connectethiopia.org. what is connect ethiopia? established in 2005 by philip lee & brody...

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