The "Flying Eight"
It took two weeks for Andreas Möller, a well-known hand weaving expert in Europe, to train Ethiopian weavers on how to use the improved hand weaving technology. Twenty weavers – 13 from Adama and seven from different regions of Ethiopia – took part in the training in the city of Adama, in the Oromia region. On the last day of their training, October 31st, 2007, His Excellency Ato Wondwossen Kiflu, State Minister for Education, along with Ato Yared Fekade, Senior Expert from ecbp’s Private Sector Development, handed out certificates to the participants.
“I have been using the traditional weaving machine all my life, which took a lot of time and a lot of energy,” Yegremachew Endazenaw, a trainee from Dire Dawa said. “The newly improved weaving machine is very effective in terms of time and flexibility.”
Weaving, one of the most important handicraft trades in Ethiopia, employs more than 500,000 people. To maximize their efforts and production capacities, ecbp, along with OTITB, are developing the entire Value Chain which starts with drawing the cotton, spinning and threading, hand weaving the yarn to fabric, tailoring the fabric to end products and finally accessing domestic markets as well as export markets.
Thorsten Becherer, ecbp’s management advisor, explains: “We developed an advanced hand weaving technology here in Ethiopia and started to transfer capacity. Through this capacity transfer we have been able to increase the living standards of Ethiopian weavers.”
This advanced handloom can produce more length and width in production. It is named the “Flying Eight” because of the flying shuttle which sometimes drives and sometimes flies. This new flying shuttle uses wheels to increase speed and comfort. It also has 8-16 shafts instead of the previous two, which increase the flexibility of design and innovation. This means that designs which used to take one week only take two days, increasing production capacity by seven and making the weavers more successful.
“Introducing the advanced hand loom is only one part of the Value Chain. It includes training weavers to train other weavers, conduct the same training in all the regions of Ethiopia” Ato Yared Fekade said. Jemal Mohammed, another trainee of the “Flying Eight”, said: “I will go back to Amhara and train my other colleagues on hand weaving and help them create jobs by themselves.”
This will bring prosperity to the hand weavers. Developing the private sector – especially micro and small enterprises – the “Flying Eight” will also contribute towards the development of the country. “This training will give my future trainees and me the chance to be well-trained experts” Yegremachew Endazenaw explained. “It will create job opportunities throughout the nation.”