Ethiopian ambassador Fisseha Adunga met with staff at Northampton University College’s British School of Leather at the London Embassy on November 30, to discuss the learning opportunities on offer to the Ethiopians from the resources available at the British Leather School. Discussions were based on assessing the possibilities of a partnership in teaching skills of leather manufacture and tanning to Ethiopians with a view to aiding economic regeneration in the country. As the second largest generator of external income in Ethiopia, the leather industry is pivotal to the country’s economy, and being the world’s largest producer of hairsheep – a source of possibly the most valuable and highest quality leather in the world – Ethiopia is naturally seeking to add value to the raw material through processing rather than simply exporting the unprocessed hides abroad.
“The leather industry is very labour intensive and consequently there are huge opportunities for creating employment in Ethiopia by building the capability for processing leather…The ambassador is seeking a suitable partner to provide the necessary education and as the world’s foremost facility for learning leather technology, the British School of Leather is a natural choice for this role,” said Mike Redwood, Visiting Professor at the University College Northampton and editor of World Leather.
