Aug 17 , 2019
Lilac Sanitary Napkins & Baby Diapers Manufacturing Enterprise finally became fully operational after five years on Tuesday, August 14, 2019. The company invested 100 million Br in 2014 to expand its facility; however, it could not be fully operational due to electric power interruptions and a dearth of foreign exchange to import raw materials. Lilac, a manufacturer of Lotex napkins and Makleen baby diapers, has been operating in Ethiopia since 1989 using machinery imported from Italy. About 90pc of the 12 types of raw materials used to manufacture the diapers are imported from America and Japan. The company, which has 54 permanent employees, 80pc of which are women, had entirely ceased operations for the last 10 months due to lack of forex. However, it retained all of its employees during the period. “To overcome the forex crunch, we’re considering a partnership with a foreign company,” Mohammed Yesuf, owner of Lilac, told Fortune. The company has a capacity of manufacturing 86 million sanitary napkins and 74 million baby diapers a year. The diapers can contain more than 500ml of waste, while the sanitary napkins can hold 100ml. Two decades ago the country used to import not more than two containers of sanitary napkins a month. Now the demand has grown, and imports have reached 100 containers a month.
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