About Ethiopia
Ethiopia is Africa's oldest independent country and its second largest in terms of population. Apart from a five-year occupation by Mussolini's Italy, it has never been colonised.
It served as a symbol of African independence throughout the colonial period, and was a founder member of the United Nations and the African base for many international organisations.
Ethiopia is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north and northeast, Djibouti and Somalia to the east, Sudan and South Sudan to the west, and Kenya to the south. With nearly 100 million inhabitants, Ethiopia is the most populous landlocked country in the world, as well as the second-most populous nation on the African continent after Nigeria. It occupies a total area of 1,100,000 square kilometres (420,000 sq mi), and its capital and largest city is Addis Ababa.
Ethiopia offered a greater richness in archaeological findings and historical buildings which makes it a country of rich heritage. It is being regarded as the cradle of both mankind and civilization. It is one of the largest Christian Nation in the world, who has welcomed and accommodated Islam signaling it as the land of religion tolerance.
Ethiopia is a country of highly diverse population with more than 80 different ethnic groups living together in peace and harmony while maintaining their language, culture and history. Thus, is regarded as the land of diversity and unity. Moreover, is an ecologically diverse country with three climatic zones: the cool, the temperate and the hot zones, and it is rich in both flora and fauna. Ethiopia is also the origin of coffee.
Ethiopia's ancient Ge'ez script, also known as Ethiopic, is one of the oldest alphabets still in use in the world. The Ethiopian calendar, which is approximately seven years and three months behind the Gregorian calendar, co-exists alongside the Borana calendar.
Ethiopia is one of the founding members of the UN, the Group of 24 (G-24), the Non-Aligned Movement, G-77 and the Organisation of African Unity. Ethiopia's capital city Addis Ababa serves as the headquarters of the African Union, the Pan African Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, African Aviation Training HQ, the African Standby Force, and many of the global NGOs focused on Africa.
Leather Industry in Ethiopia
First in Africa and tenth in the world in terms of cattle population, Ethiopia possesses ample business potential opportunities for leather industry, employment generation, export earnings, and expediting nation's pace towards industrial development.
As sources indicate, the country has about 2.5 percent of the world livestock population with about 57.83 million cattle; 28.04 million sheep and 28.61 million heads of goat. Every year, the nation produces 5 million tons of hides, 8.1 million tons of sheepskins and 7.5 million tons of goat skins.
In view of these resources and identifying the multifaceted rewards in terms of creating more jobs, boosting export and overall economic growth, in the past decades, the government has been striving to develop the leather sector. This is being done mostly through attracting local and foreign investors from across the world and facilitating conducive environment to export high-end leather products rather than semi-processed outputs. And the country has made significant strides in the sector over the last few decades.
Currently, the leather industry is thriving remarkably. Anchor foreigner companies, for instance from Italy, China, UK, India, and Turkey, are operating within the country and the number of tanneries are increasing from time to time. Concurrently, international market destinations are expanding and the amounts of products that are supplied to the global market have increased in volume, variety and quality.
Tourism in Ethiopia
The natural beauty of Ethiopia amazes the first-time visitor. Ethiopia is a land of rugged mountains ( some 25 are over 4000 meters high) broad savannah, lakes and rivers.
The unique Rift Valley is a remarkable region of volcanic lakes, with their famous collections of birdlife, great escarpments and stunning vistas.
Tisisat, the blue Nile falls, must rank as one of the greatest natural spectacles in Africa today. With 14 major wildlife reserves,
Ethiopia provides a microcosm of the entire subsaharan ecosystem. Birdlife abounds, and indigenous animals from the rare Walia ibex to the shy wild ass, roam free just as nature intended. Ethiopia, after the rains, is a land decked with flowers and with many more native plants than most countries in Africa.
