I have an Ethiopian friend who usually makes a point of using local products especially shoes. He works for one of the international institutions in Addis Ababa and once was on a mission in Brussels with four of the local staff who took a shopping excursion together. He told me that all of them bought nice shoes for 80 Euros and were so happy with them until they learned that the shoes are made in Ethiopia and can be found in one of the shops in Piazza just for about 10 Euros.
Top quality jams from Ecopia, a maker of Ethiopian Organic Food and Cosmetic products.
It is a bit difficult to tell whether such things happen because of lack of trust in local products and media imperialism, which tells us everything from the West is the best, or poor marketing and quality of the local products. I believe that using local products requires nationalism amongst other things. I am usually amazed to observe that most of the Indian businesspeople in Addis Ababa drive Tata or Mahindra vehicles. It is not because there are no other cars available with better quality and cheaper prices; they buy Indian because they are proud of Indian products and are rewarded with the knowledge they can also buy Jaguar and Range Rover as Indian interests recently acquired the two companies. Though it is difficult to tell how much attention to quality of the local product should be compromised for the sake of supporting the national economy I strongly believe that if we keep on using ‘Made in Ethiopia’ products with acceptable standards and quality with a common vision to supporting infant industries and an eye to future improvement, the time won’t be far when a strong industrial economy will emerge.
Yosef Tesfay, secretary general of the Ethiopian Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral Association, thinks the same as he says that buying Ethiopian products has a lot to do with a national feeling. “Every Ethiopian should think about the employee behind the product, the owner, the foreign exchange the country saves and other benefits the nation gets when he/she buys a locally produced product,” says Yosef. “People know that they should not buy things just for the sake of love for the country as there are many Ethiopian products with amazing quality and affordable prices.”
Ethiopian scarves - an example of one product embraced both locally and abroad.
He says that the issue of creating a strong culture of consuming local products in Ethiopia is not all about promoting the culture but also promoting the quality. “Believing that the culture will grow just because of promotion campaigns is being naïve”, according to Yosef. “We should equally consider promoting the quality and affordability of the products.”
Yichalal, an Amharic term for ‘It is possible’ is probably one of the strongest and most extensively used mottos in recent Ethiopian history. The term that was probably coined by the former head of the Ethiopian Chamber of Commerce (name??) and later used by legendary athlete Haile Gebreselassie to show that everything including changing the country’s economic scenario was possible. The motto raised the spirit of many and it really helped reduce the strongly held pessimism Ethiopians had about the future good of their nation. The resurgence of nationalistic feeling triggered by the Ethiopian Millennium should also sustain a momentum to be effectively used for such purposes.
Regarding promotion and use of the media and other means to promote the Ethiopian products, Yosef says that nothing significant has been done to harmonize them. He says that the chamber, which should have been the one to initiate and run such activities, has been troubled structurally and financially.
“Now we have dealt well with the structural one, and hopefully we will solve the financial problem soon,” the secretary general says. “The issue is on the top of our agenda and Buy Ethiopian was the motto of the 60th anniversary of the chamber at the beginning of this month.”
President of the Ethiopian Manufacturing Industries Association, Mohammed Nur Sani, says that, though there are different challenges and threats affecting the culture of buying Ethiopian products, his association is doing its job to strengthen the habit and, like the chamber, the motto of the industry week event last November was ‘Ethiopian products for global market’. “We are trying to raise the awareness amongst the public that using the local products will be benefiting the nation while dealing with quality questions,” says Mohammed, who claims poor promotion and cheap exports,= (mainly from China) flooding the market are the biggest challenges his members are facing.
EXPORT QUALITY?
Terms like export standard and export quality are ambiguous for many. Yosef says that people should not be deceived by the terms as it helps sustain the dominant misconception that what is available for the local market is of poor quality. “Yes there is a variety in quality but this has a lot to do with the price of the good and the buying power of the consumer,” says Yosef. “Support now, over time, will help to bring the desired quality.”
Comments
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About the girl wearing the scarf written by makeda , October 20, 2008
This writing is really amazing, it has inspired me to buy more products of my country. The thing that also inspired me to buy stuff from our country is also that lovely girl wearing the ethiopian tebeb scarf and also the way she is wearing it,the way she posed for the camera makes u wanna "esskes".
Appreciation !!! written by Mahi , October 20, 2008
Is the girl who wears the scarf, is she also a product of Ethiopia or from others Abeit webeit, aye kumana yestanew.
u know,,,i live outside ethiopia, my mail goal in life is to move ack to my native ethiopia...i belive that inorder to increase our nations economy we all need to support our own economy ..like bying ethiopian!! love
