(ILM)–Stakeholders involved in a project focused on developing an ‘Ethiopian Highland Leather’ brand will be displaying their finished leather products at the upcoming Première Classe Paris exhibition, taking place September 7-10. The Ethiopia based leather and leather products manufacturers have been receiving ongoing practical support from Japan based industry experts.
The industrial project promotes exports from Ethiopia centered on adding value to local hide and skin raw materials through leather and finished leather products manufacture and by improving the business and technical skills of the companies engaged in the project.
Ethiopian Highland Leather (EHL) has been created following a technical co-operation project that began in 2017 between Ethiopia’s Ministry of Trade, the Ethiopian Leather Development Institute (LIDI), the Ethiopian Leather Industry Association (ELIA) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
Known as the Champion Product Approach (CPA), the project is aimed at improving the image of Ethiopia through its exports, leather in this case, as well as link the products to Ethiopia’s rich culture, landscape and history that dates back millions of years and is believed to be the birthplace of human beings. The CPA set long-term goals to provide a better image of its “champion products” which will be displayed at the upcoming Première Classe show in Paris this coming September.
Despite Ethiopia’s improving GDP, its secondary industries have suffered from low growth, especially in manufacturing. In addition, the vulnerable domestic private sector has been recognized as an obstacle to foreign and domestic investments. To overcome these problems and achieve further industrial development, the Ethiopian government has expressed an interest in Asia’s industrial development experience and has exchanged dialogue with JICA on strategies since 2009. The CPA approach is to discover champion products that embody the uniqueness of Ethiopian culture and history which are made to high-quality standards that are promoted to overseas premium markets. As a result of this approach the EHL brand and concept was created.
Japanese experts supporting local enterprises including Ethiopian Highland Leather
During the project expert teams from Japan, including from leather chemical makers TFL, visited seven Ethiopian partners to support various activities such as marketing, design quality and production line management, and more. One of the experienced experts is from a well-known Japanese designer brand and another that has experience in presenting footwear collections in leading fashion centers such as Paris. The Japanese experts demonstrated to the Ethiopian partners how they should display and market their leather products during the fair and allow visitors at the show to establish business opportunities in Ethiopia through the project.
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