Putting best foot forward in Africa

Chinese shoemaker ups investment to create job opportunities in Ethiopia

Chinese footwear maker Huajian Group plans to make Ethiopia the hub for the global footwear industry and create more than 100,000 jobs locally in the next 10 years.

The company, which first moved to Ethiopia to offset rising labor and raw material costs in China, says it has teamed up with the China-Africa Development Fund and the Ethiopian Ministry of Industry to establish a light-manufacturing base in Ethiopia.