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November 25, 2008
Business delegation sets off for Ethiopia
RUADHÁN Mac CORMAIC, Irish Times
A TRADE mission of 40 Irish lawyers and business people left for Ethiopia
yesterday to develop links between the two countries and encourage
investment in the African state.
The delegation is travelling as part of an initiative led by lawyer Philip
Lee and businessman Brody Sweeney. It includes Minister for Food Trevor
Sargent and former attorney general Harry Whelehan.
Connect Ethiopia, the group founded by Mr Lee and Mr Sweeney in 2005, sends
biannual missions from Ireland to exchange expertise and harness the
knowledge of Irish professionals.
This week, a group of 10 lawyers will hold training workshops for judges and
anti-corruption officials, while business representatives will host an
insurance seminar and attend a joint taskforce to develop tourism in
Ethiopia.
Mr Sweeney, founder of O’Brien’s Irish Sandwich Bars, said Connect Ethiopia
was attempting to help remedy one of the main causes of poverty – a lack of
business activity. “There’s very little business being done and, because of
that, there’s very little wealth being created, very few jobs being created
and very little taxes being paid to the government,” he said before
departing.
“We’re trying to help the business community there to upskill. We’re trying
to introduce them to western ways of doing business, we’re trying to give
them contacts in Ireland or Europe that they can use to help sell their
products. We’re trying to encourage Irish investment there.”
Mr Sargent and Philip Lynch of One51 Charitable Foundation, an offshoot of
the Irish Agricultural Wholesale Society Co-op, will tomorrow launch the
Hamara Digital Hub near capital Addis Ababa.
The hub is a partnership between Camara, an Irish charity that sends
second-hand computers to schools and colleges in Africa, and Harambee
College, an Ethiopian private third-level college. It will provide
teacher-training courses and support for the schools receiving the
computers.
More than 100 Irish and Ethiopians will have travelled between the two
countries under the initiative by the end of the year. Last week, a group of
senior Ethiopian bankers visited Dublin as guests of the Irish Bankers
Federation and the Institute of Bankers.
Mr Sweeney said Connect Ethiopia would be relatively insulated from the
recession because it asked donors for time rather than money.
© 2008 The Irish Times |
