Ethiopia has rapidly transformed itself as one of the fastest-growing and promising economies. With a large workforce, alongside strong government incentives, competitive labor costs, and low energy costs, the African nation has garnered interest from foreign investors and buyers. In recent years, the garment and textile industry has developed rapidly in terms of machinery and technology due to the rise in investment. The Belgian company ERVE has made use of the growing potential in Ethiopia’s garment industry and opened two state-of-the-art factories, named Beconnected Labelling plc and Beconnected Printing plc. This, however, gives rise to the need to ensure the development of a socially and environmentally sustainable textile and garment industry and appropriate skill development alongside the upgrade of technology in the industry. For the implementation of advanced social standards, ERVE has collaborated with the local International Labor Organization (ILO) representation. To build a bridge between the theoretical and practical world, ERVE has cooperated with Bahir Dar University (BDU) and provided students with internship opportunities per year either in their factories.
ERVE has also set up a training center and provided training for a total of 105 trainees across a span of 2 years. The trainees have engaged in an intensive vocational training and afterwards, they have been certified as multi-skilled operators. ERVE has then hired some of these trainees while the rest of them have been ready to serve the needs of the growing industry of Ethiopian garment and textile industry.
