Women in Business – Fuel Briquette Manufacturing in Ethiopia

Background

Ethiopia ranks 169th out of 177 countries in the United Nation’s most recent Human Development Index, which measures indicators that go beyond GDP and look at life expectancy, education, and standard of living. Addis Ababa currently has a population of five million – double that of the 1994 census – and the country’s highest concentration of poor. Unemployment is estimated at 40%, a result of little investment, capital or saleable skills. As in many communities, women are often the most marginalized group with lower literacy rates, job opportunities or earning power. Additionally, in an effort to curb deforestation, the government has put restrictions on the amount of wood and charcoal that can be brought into the city for fuel use.

Program

The overall goal of this project is poverty reduction in Addis Ababa through the creation of businesses manufacturing cooking fuel briquettes from organic waste, testing the market and increasing employees’ incomes. The idea is to manufacture cooking briquettes out of organic waste, creating employment opportunities for 30 poor women that would enable these women and their families to rise above poverty line. It will also make available cheaper and healthier alternative cooking fuel, and contribute to the environmental sanitation. Finally, it will create a source of additional income for about 30 poor people of suppliers of organic waste who are already doing the garbage collection job for the surrounding people.

Local Non-Government Organization, WISE (Organization for Women in Self Employment), has trained the women in manufacturing and business, and will mentor the five Saving and Credit Cooperatives (SACCOs) to refine their business plan. They will lend them start-up capital, and coach them through their first year of business in which the businesses would be sustainable. Mercy Corps monitors the project regularly and will provide business advice. Both Mercy Corps and WISE are appealing to a range of follow-on donors in order to scale up the initiative

Specific objectives include:

1. Establishing five sustainable businesses, employing six staff each and bringing profit to the saving and credit cooperatives (SACCO).
2. Assisting at least 30 woman-headed households in rising above the Ethiopian poverty line, i.e. annual income of $602/woman (sole income for household of five)
3. Assisting at least 15 households rise above the Millennium Development Goal poverty line, i.e. annual income of $1,825/woman.
4. Increasing the capacity and professionalism of five managers.
5. Increasing the income of at least 30 supplier businesses of raw organic waste.

Budget

The total budget for the program is $50,000.