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
www.connectethiopia.org
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
www.connectethiopia.org
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)
www.connectethiopia.org
BUSINESS TWINNING
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Coffee
Textiles
IAWS
Tourism
Venture Capital Fund
Agri-business
IT outsourcing (M/A Com – Lava Solutions)
Telecommunications
Microfinance & banking
Photography
www.connectethiopia.org
KEY PROJECTS
• Rule of Law
• Coffee
• Textiles
• Tourism
• Venture Capital Fund
• IT & Telecommunications
www.connectethiopia.org
TEXTILES
SME producers
• Business Development Training
• Mentoring
• Expanding design element
• Distribution – department
stores/boutiques
Industrial - Garment Manufacturing
• Establishing business links
www.connectethiopia.org
Information Technology
• Outsourcing component
manufacturing (M/A Com - Lava
Business Solutions)
• Facilitate the establishment of
Ethiopian IT providers on virtual
outsourcing platform
www.connectethiopia.org
OVERVIEW OF LAVA BUSINESS SOLUTIONS
RELATIONSHIP
• MANAGER: AIDAN MAGNER
www.connectethiopia.org
Cork Operation
• “Core” products are very labour intensive hand wound sub miniature
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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
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Mid 2008 a decision was taken to look to new low cost manufacturing solutions.
www.connectethiopia.org
Search
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Short listing of countries by GDP per capita, Human Development Index,
Industrial Developments, Social & Political stability, Education Standards, etc
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Indentified possible solutions in Sri Lanka and Ethiopia
Connect Ethiopia provided perfect platform for accessing and entering Addis
Ababa
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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
www.connectethiopia.org
Lava Business Solutions
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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
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Projected 250 people by November 2010
3 year plan to scale to 450 people
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Potentially 600 people
www.connectethiopia.org
What will it mean
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Lava benchmarked local wage levels
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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)
www.connectethiopia.org
What will it mean
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Sustainable employment
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As Lava develop, bring more customers, career paths develop
Assist in local economy development
Next generation entrepreneurs
Age of workers
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