Muya Ethiopia PLC makes handwoven home decoration items for
discerning consumers.
Muya now exports to the United States, Canada, Austria
and Israel. It employs about 120 people, a quarter of whom are
women. Trade Forum interviewed Sara
Abera, who founded the company in 2005.
Q: What were the main problems you faced to
reach Western buyers and how did you overcome them?
A: In an international market flooded with
inexpensive textile products from Asia, we knew we had to
differentiate our African fashion. We thought to inject value to
our products by drawing on our African heritage and local
craftsmanship.
Q: Which market do you target and why? Is a
"Made in Ethiopia" label an advantage?
A: Realizing the worldwide trend for authentic,
handmade household products, we concentrated our design efforts on
closing the gap between our very local, handwoven products and the
tastes of global consumers. We created soft furnishings such as
pillows, runners, throws, table settings and dinner sets which
foreigners love to introduce as the "Ethiopian art of weaving" in
their machine-made goods environment.
Q: As a woman entrepreneur, do you face more
obstacles in terms of financing and growing your business compared
to your male counterparts?
A: In principle, there is no discrimination
between women and men in obtaining financial help; in practice,
there is!
Q: Ethiopia is a poor country. What does this
mean in terms of how you develop your business?
A: Weaving in Ethiopia is a cottage industry,
traditionally done by men from home. Quality control and management
of scattered weavers are not compatible with developing high-end
products. So we set up a workshop to bring together and retrain
local weavers and also to make them feel part of a business - one
in which crafts are no longer a family venture.
We are also training women to become weavers, so they can earn
their own income.
Weavers in Ethiopia - although they are hardworking and very
talented craftspeople - work in very poor conditions at home and
lack exposure to consumers. We help them to work in improved
conditions and eventually find higher-value markets for their
products. By giving the craftspeople the respect they deserve, and
the means to keep their age-old traditions intact, we are
safeguarding a precious inheritance for future generations.
Q: How does being part of "Brand Africa" affect
your business?
A: It is obvious that in general Africa suffers
from a heavy image "deficit", with a regrettable impact on African
products. However, we are committed to reversing this tendency.
We never denied the fact that Ethiopia is, currently, a poor
country (potentially, a very rich one!) but we convinced our
audience that we are proud of offering global consumers our
culture-based collection - not as low-cost producers, but focusing
on high-quality products and, if necessary, slightly higher
prices.
Q: What should be done to improve Africa's
business prospects?
A: Africa's cultural heritage has long been a
source of inspiration to the big designer labels and luxury brands.
So far, however, Africa sees no economic benefits for its
craftspeople - the heirs of the traditions - from this "cultural
borrowing".
Significant changes can only take place when entrepreneurs
around Africa have the opportunity to meet buyers and investors, to
help expand the most potentially rich sector of this continent.