Jebena is a solo exhibition by Robel Temesgen that opened at the Fendika Cultural Center on February 22, 2018. In this Exhibition, Temesgen walks visitors through the “Nu Bunna Tetu”; the highly proliferating small scale coffee drinking spots and their emergence as alternative public spaces.
In the fast changing character of Addis Ababa, the coffee spots have become an integral part of everyday life in areas ranging from the fancy multipurpose malls to the demolished as well as new construction sites in the city.
Using the painting approach the artist developed over the years, Robel elevates the Jebena coffee pots beyond the customary. Owing to their compelling presence, Jebena looks into coffee pots as adapting to survive, to make it through the hustle and bustle and continue to offer a platform that affords customers a shared place for conversations as they sip on their cup of coffee.
Imagining sites of “Nu Bunna Tetu” as spots that somehow connect ‘strangers’ constitutes part of his continued interest in the socio-political dynamics of the social, sociality, and sociability and spaces at which this manifest. After years of exhibiting abroad, this Exhibition is Robel’s first Solo show in Addis Ababa.
Born in 1987 in Ethiopia, Robel Temesgen received an MFA from Tromsø Academy of Contemporary Art, University of Tromsø, Norway in 2015, and a BFA in Fine Art (Painting) from Addis Ababa University in 2010.
He recently took part in the Junge Akademie Program of the Akademie der Künste, Berlin, and was a resident artist at IASPIS, Stockholm, the Swedish Art Grants Committee’s International Programme for Visual and Applied Arts. Temesgen’s work has been exhibited at the Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin (2017), Marabohparken, Stockholm (2017), Akademie der Künste, Berlin (2016), Kurant Visningsrom, Tromsø (2015), Addis International Video Art Festival, Addis Ababa (2015), Art Future/Future Signs, Riga (2015), RomeAfrica Film Festival, Rome (2015), Lumen Festival, New York (2015), Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin (2014) and Modern Art Museum/Gebre Kristos Desta Center, Addis Ababa (2013). He currently lives and works in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The current exhibition is set to be open for public until March 24, 2018.
Jebena in the modern Ethiopia
About debts
One thing that keeps many people up at night is debt. Debt is a major cause of stress, but not all debt should keep you up at night worrying. In fact, some forms of debt should let you dream of a more financially secure future. All debts are not the same; there are good debts and bad ones. If a debt increases your net worth or has future value, it’s good debt. If it doesn’t do that and you don’t have cash to pay for it, it’s bad debt.The next question is then, how do you know you have too much debt? To find out, an accepted formula is your debt-to-income ratio.Add up all your monthly debt payments and divide them by your monthly gross income to get your debt-to-income ratio. For instance, if you have a ETB 15,000 monthly mortgage, ETB 2,000 car payment and pay ETB 3.000 a month for other bills, your monthly debt is ETB 20,000.If your gross monthly income is ETB 40,000, it means your debt-to-income ratio is 50%. It also means you should be losing sleep. Anything over a 43% debt-to-income ratio is a red flag to potential lenders. Evidence suggests that borrowers with a higher ratio are more likely to have problems making monthly payments. In most cases, you can’t get a mortgage if your ratio is over 43 percent.That’s bad, because mortgages are probably the best form of debt!Good debt allows you to manage your finances more effectively, to leverage your wealth, to buy things you need and to handle unforeseen emergencies.Examples of good debt are taking out a mortgage, buying things that save you time and money, buying essential items, investing in yourself by borrowing for more education or to consolidate debt. Each may put you in a hole initially, but you’ll be better off in the long run for having borrowed the money.There is probably no better debt than a mortgage. For one thing, you must live somewhere. For another, you might as well live somewhere that gains value every year.
If for example you buy a home for ETB 2,350,000 and it appreciates 3% a year, it will be worth ETB 4,850,000 when your 30-year mortgage is paid off. If it appreciates 4% a year, that initial ETB 2,350,000 investment will be worth ETB 6,490,000.Now that’s good debt to have.These are basically offshoots of a mortgage. You get a loan using at a relatively low interest rate using your house as collateral.
A lot of consumers use that to pay off other higher-interest debts, while some use it to make home improvements like solar panels that could save money on utility bills and increase the value of your home.The only stress comes from the prospect of having your house foreclosed if you can’t make the payments.
Now, your chances to become financially well off are much better if you start your own company and work for yourself. Small business loans are tougher to get because they are riskier to the lender.
Almost one-third of small businesses fail to survive their first two years, but if you have enough ambition, savvy and luck, borrowing money to start your own business could be the best investment you’ll ever make.
Anything that decreases in value the minute after you buy it is bad debt. Unfortunately, that describes many of life’s necessities, like clothes, automobiles and the flat screen TV you need to watch the Champions League.If you can’t pay cash for them, you should at least consider settling for off-brand clothes and 43-inch TV. Here are examples of bad debt.
While in Ethiopia we are only using debit cards, in many other countries, credit cards are used commonly. Credit cards can ruin your financial health, and interest rates are the silent killer. Figuring them out is confusing, and that’s fine with credit card companies. In the USA, the average household with credit card debt has a balance of $16,784, according to a 2016 NerdWallet survey. That indicates a lot of people are way over the recommended 30% credit utilization ratio.
Car loans are generally considered bad debt. On the other hand, if the interest of the loan is relatively low and you need a car to get to work, you may consider going for it. The most financially prudent move is to avoid a Mercedes when a Hyundai will do. If you want to eventually can afford that expensive car, you will need your dents to be good debts.
Remember, many small holes can sink a big ship!
Source: Bill Fay, Debt.org
Ton Haverkort
Sonia’s Secret Ethiopian takes a risk and taps unseen market
Sonia-K Lingerie was established in 2013 by Sania Ahmed, following her ambition to create quality lingerie in Ethiopia. According to the owner and designer, starting the business was difficult but, during the last 4 to five years, there has been huge progress. Now eyeing the export market, Sonia-K looks forward to an exciting future with expansion plans. Capital spoke to Sania Ahmed about her accomplishment.
Capital: Tell us about your background and how you got into this business.
Sania Ahmed: I taught French literature for a long time. I lived abroad for quite a while, primarily in Djibouti, it’s been around 15 years since I returned back to Ethiopia and when I came back I wanted to accomplish something. Looking at how I came into this business, for a country of over a 100 million people, most consumer goods are still being imported including undergarments. This is something that shouldn’t happen.
The other reason was that whenever I came to Ethiopia for a visit, I has noticed that there weren’t places that sold lingerie; panties or bras were hard to find, there was basically only one place that specialized in these items but even that store lacked variety. It was a very interesting situation for me so I decided to move back here and start manufacturing these things.
Over 15 years ago, it was a different time in Ethiopia, there weren’t that many consumers for these kinds of garments, especially bras. When I told my friends that I had the interest in starting this type of manufacturing they said there wouldn’t really be a market for it and that people wouldn’t be interested at that time and nobody would by it.
So, then I put the plan on hold and went back to teaching at the International Community School for six years. It was after those six years that I got bored and so I decided to revisit the idea of opening a manufacturing business and that is what I did.
I wanted to start it; it seems in this country nobody has the courage to start something new unless someone does it first. Even if I was not successful in the beginning, I wanted to start it and show people that it can be done, these things can be produced here and we don’t need to depend on imports.
Capital: What about after you launched the business, what was the process like and how did people accept the products?
Sania: It was challenging. What is interesting is that until recently, my products were not highly successful because consumers were used to imported Chinese products. It is during the last 4 to 5 years that people became more aware and started buying my products.
The perception is that just because it is produced locally, the garments should be cheaper than those that are imported from China; they don’t consider things like, China produces all the raw materials and doesn’t need to import anything, plus they do mass production and they do get a lot of support from the government. We don’t have that here; I have to import things, I have to pay tax and so on.
When I started I really didn’t know anything about the business; both the creation and marketing sides of it. I had to teach myself through the Internet, through reading books and through collaboration with others in a similar field. I still have a lot to learn but I am at a solid stage now.
Capital: Another challenge could be sourcing skilled labor, was that difficult for you?
Sania: It wasn’t that challenging. As long as they had the knowledge of sewing and if they could do that well, then that is enough. I just needed to give them a training for a week or so on how to work with different designs and different cuts. So those that have worked in the garment industry were fast to catch on.
Capital: You also hire only female employees. Why did you decide to do that?
Sania: To empower women and reason is because they would be more suitable because they are direct consumers and would know better what other women like and feel comfortable in. In the production process, they will look at each step, comment on it and connect with the product as if they are the consumers themselves.
Capital: You source a lot of raw materials from abroad. Do you source any fabric locally?
Sania: Yes, I do. We don’t only focus on panties and bras or even those products are not exclusively made from lace, we also produce them using cotton and that cotton we source locally. We also previously sourced other things such as plastic straps for bars and so on locally but unfortunately, the company producing them closed. Our hope is to find and work with other companies locally who are producing the things we are looking for.
Capital: Do you have plans to export?
Sania: Yes, I want to do both local market and export. I really do want to focus on well made affordable undergarments for people in rural areas and other cities outside of Addis. For exporting, cotton made garments are my focus and I have actually exported some already.
Capital: How can people get access to your product in Ethiopia?
Sania: Right now our products are only available in our workshop and production center. We have hired marketing professionals who go around promoting the products and finding interested people to place orders. But this is not enough, I want to take out a loan and open two shops, it is very necessary.
When we ask other shops to take our products, they said they don’t source products locally and are only interested in bringing in imported products. So, we will definitely open our own shops.
There are different challenges now in the import sector; there are problems of hard currency for example so we have an opportunity to fill that gap.
The Bag Show shows off excellent designs
The Bag Show, which has become an anticipated event, was held at the Sheraton Addis Hotel on Friday, February 23, 2018. It showcased products from different designers based in Ethiopia.
Among those that participated were Kabana Leather, Ayni’s Design, African Mosaique, Undken, Leather Exotica as well as Si-Bago.
The event was a platform for the work of some of Ethiopia’s top bag designers through a fashion show and a pop-up shop at the Sheraton Addis Hotel. Great emphasis was given to female designer and local workmanship. The pop-up shop where fashion lovers were able to get their hands on some of the featured products was held the next day Saturday, February 24,2018.
Ethiopia’s leather industry has shown considerable improvement over the last decade and is currently one of Ethiopia’s thriving industries. Using modern technology allows Ethiopia to be globally competitive. The Bag Show encourages designers to design, create and benefit from the final product versus the raw product.
