Radar | Dec 08,2024
Dec 14 , 2019
By TEMESGEN MULUGETA ( FORTUNE STAFF WRITER )
Tulip Addis Water, a local manufacturer that specialises in water treatment technology, invested 60 million Br to set up a tabletop water filter company in Debre Birhan, Amhara Regional State.
Having a capacity of producing 500,000 filter units a year, the plant that is located some 130Km from the capital city will supply 13lt and 20lt filter models to the market. The company plans to sell the smaller filter for 700 Br and the larger version for 1,000 Br.
The construction of the plant was started four months ago and is expected to start trial production in May. The owners imported the machinery from China, Germany and Turkey and are currently working on the fence of the plant. The plant is expected to hire 60 workers.
The product is a two-bucket water filter and water storage facility in one. The top bucket will be filled with water and will be filtered through the tulip candle filter into the lower bucket.
The Tulip Table Top lasts up to 7,000lt and the candle can easily be replaced. Currently, the company is dealing with agents that will distribute the product in regional states, according to Getaw Mekonnen, founder and manager of the plant, who also says that the
forex crunch and the shortage of electric power supply were the main challenges during construction.
Hailemariam Kebede (PhD), a lecturer at Addis Abeba University's School of Commerce and a marketing expert, appreciates the investment of the company in terms of saving forex by substituting locally-produced items.
Hailemariam also says that the company will not face a problem selling its products, as there is a high demand for water.
In Ethiopia, 62 million people lack access to safe water, according to Water Org, an American nonprofit development organisation.
“But they have to consider the price factor and sell the products at a lesser price than the imported products,”
Hailemariam added. The water bottling business is also growing in the country with close to 90 water bottling companies that produce more than 3.5 billion litres of water a year.
The company secured 3,000Sqm of land in May 2019 from the Debre Birhan City Administration, which is recently attracting more investments.
The town has 467 active investments with a registered capital of 29 billion Br.
Out of the total investments, 250 of them are involved in manufacturing,while 137 are in the service sector and the rest are in agriculture.
"In the past four years, investment flow to the area has significantly increased," said Birhan Gebrehiwot, Debre Birhan's Industry & Investment Bureau head.
Last year the Bureau issued 250 investment licenses, of which 70pc of them are in the manufacturing sector. Out of the total investment, 29 of them have already started operations and created job opportunities for 12,000 people.
PUBLISHED ON
Dec 14,2019 [ VOL
20 , NO
1024]
Radar | Dec 08,2024
Viewpoints | Dec 31,2022
Radar | Dec 25,2023
Agenda | Oct 26,2019
Radar | Dec 26,2020
Radar | Oct 19,2019
In-Picture | Nov 24,2024
Fortune News | Nov 16,2019
Agenda | Feb 25,2023
Agenda | Oct 10,2020
Dec 22 , 2024 . By TIZITA SHEWAFERAW
Charged with transforming colossal state-owned enterprises into modern and competitiv...
Aug 18 , 2024 . By AKSAH ITALO
Although predictable Yonas Zerihun's job in the ride-hailing service is not immune to...
Jul 28 , 2024 . By TIZITA SHEWAFERAW
Unhabitual, perhaps too many, Samuel Gebreyohannes, 38, used to occasionally enjoy a couple of beers at breakfast. However, he recently swit...
Jul 13 , 2024 . By AKSAH ITALO
Investors who rely on tractors, trucks, and field vehicles for commuting, transporting commodities, and f...
Jan 18 , 2025
Adanech Abebie, the mayor of Addis Abeba, addressed last week a warm-up session for h...
A severe cash shortage squeezes the economy, and the deposit-to-loan ratio has slumpe...
Jan 4 , 2025
Time seldom passes without prompting reflection, and the dawn of 2025 should nudge Et...
Dec 28 , 2024
On a flight between Juba and Addis Abeba, Stefan Dercon, a professor of economic poli...