Abebech Dansa says she could not be happier. Last year the 25-year-old single mother from Hawassa, 275km south of the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, quit her job at a beauty salon. She moved to TAL Apparel, a Hong Kong-based garment manufacturer that was setting up a factory in Hawassa’s newly built, state-of- the-art industrial park.
After several months’ training at TAL’s factory in Indonesia, Ms Dansa works stitching shirts on the company’s rapidly expanding production line in Hawassa, which has just started exporting to the US. She earns 1,040 birr ($45) a month plus benefits — 50 per cent more than in her previous role — making shirts for a company that supplies JCPenney, J Crew and Burberry.
“There’s a good mood here, there’s a good feeling,” she says. “Many people were unemployed and unhappy but now they are getting jobs and making good money. The city is unrecognisable compared with a few years ago. There are new buildings, modern roads and big industries.”