Fashioning textile exports

The Pearl Academy of Fashion in association with the North India Textile Research Association has bagged a project for setting up an institute of fashion at Adis Ababa in Ethiopia.

The project worth $24 million will be completed in two phases by July 2007. PAF and NITRA will send a team of 32 professionals, which will take care of the various aspects of the project.

"The Ethiopian government has already started shortlisting people for faculty and management positions. We will send our first team by August and they will primarily recruit people according to the needs of the proposed institute. Successive teams will be sent as and when required," said Ashok Sanghi, director, PAF.

In the first phase, PAF and NITRA will collaborate with the Ethiopian government in training operators and various supervisers.

"We had presented a full business plan about how to go about the project. The plan was duly ratified by the Prime Minister of Ethiopia himself on April 15. Our first job is human resource development and reducing the manpower gap," said Sanghi.

Sanghi said the Ethiopian government had recognised the textile industry as the sector where it could make widespread gains.

"The project was devised because the government felt that with investments in the textile sector, they could literally go places. With the coming up of this institute they hope to achieve a textile exports target of $500 million from the current $13 million," he added.

The second phase of the project will market Ethiopia as a sourcing destination for apparel and textiles and provide consultancy services for the industry.

"The second phase will be a long drawn out process and there is no time limit earmarked for it," said Sanghi. He also said this phase held great importance in the overall mission to establish Ethiopia as the largest textile exporter in the whole of Africa.