Nipate
Forum => Kenya Discussion => Topic started by: Real P on November 28, 2016, 07:02:01 AM
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The head of Huajian Group, a Chinese shoe manufacturer that produces for the Trump’s eponymously named brand, this week discussed plans to relocate the company’s production to Ethiopia, where labor is cheaper.
“My goal is to create 30,000 jobs in Ethiopia by 2020, with exports reaching $1 billion to $1.5 billion,” Zhang Huarong told the French news agency AFP. Zhang is building a “light industrial city” complete with production facilities, dorms, and its own hospital in Addis Ababa. Keeping in theme, the complex will be in shape of a woman’s shoe.
Trump’s company declined to comment.
More here
http://qz.com/803626/ivanka-trumps-shoe-collection-may-be-moving-from-made-in-china-to-made-in-ethiopia/
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China is not doing anything new. They are basically following the same footstep of Japan and South Korea. Produce cheap stuff, make money, move wages up, copy, innovate, then finally create its own brand and technology. They are now just in the transition phase from export economy to consuming market with the rise of middle class. China won't be able to keep the same economy engine in next 10 years, wages is rising too high and there are so many other cheaper alternatives. The challenge now is no longer about moving the production to cheaper country, but to compete with autonomous system which now occupy more and more factory. Generate the job using cheap labour might no longer be the thing in next decades, countries like Ethiopia might be the last place that can do that before the robot coming in and mostly replace human labour.
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Ethiopia is no doubt the next China. Same government led development strategy that has been proven to work many times.
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That is right. If they can do 1.5B usd export from one company - that is really huge. We need to tightly couple with Ethiopia so we can benefit from this. We need to enter bilateral trade and labour agreements. Open up roads to Adis Ababa and start Lapset. Isiolo-Moyale road is already complete -so we need to just enter agreement for freer movement of people and goods.
Ethiopia is no doubt the next China. Same government led development strategy that has been proven to work many times.