As part of TDB’s Covid-19 Emergency Response Programme (CERP), the Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank (TDB) is donating
160,000 Made-in-Ethiopia masks to Ethiopian healthcare workers in collaboration with the country’s Ministry of Health.
In view of supporting Ethiopian business and employment during these difficult times, TDB procured the masks from Everest Apparel Ethiopia S.C., Everest Textiles’ garment factory in Hawassa Industrial Park, Hawassa, Ethiopia, employing 2,000 workers, most of which are youths. Ahmed Shide, Ethiopia’s Minister of Finance and the country’s shareholder representative on the TDB Board of Governors handed over the masks during a ceremony
which took place on the 8th of July in Addis Ababa, to Dr. Lia Tadesse, Minister of Health of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia.
“We are pleased that TDB purchased these PPE materials from a well-regarded factory in the Hawassa Industrial Park here in Ethiopia, supporting local industry and jobs” said Ahmed Shide. “We trust that this PPE contribution to the Ministry of Health, which is at the forefront of Ethiopia’s fight against the pandemic, will be helpful in the very important preventive measures that we are all mobilizing.”
TDB President and Chief Executive Admassu Tadesse said that “to boost our Member States’ efforts in mitigating the effects of the Covid-19 crisis, TDB has launched CERP via which essential supplies are procured mostly from regional factories, to address healthcare sector imperatives, while supporting local private sector and employment, including of women and youth. With this donation, we are pleased to team-up with Ethiopian public and private sector partners – Everest Apparel Ethiopia, Industrial Parks Development Corporation, Hawassa Industrial Park, Ministry of Health, and others – to help protect healthcare workers and make sure that the system continues to have the capacity to treat everyone in need, whether Covid-19
patients or others”.
Mr. Roger Yeh, President of the Everest Textile Group said that: “with the vision to propel the apparel manufacturing industry of Ethiopia onto the global stage, Everest brought innovation as a global sport apparel brand partner to the country. I believe that supply chains are in the process of changing globally and that Ethiopia will become an important hub worldwide for the manufacturing of apparel. We are pleased to cooperate with TDB in the fight against Covid-19 in Ethiopia and look forward to further engagements with the Bank in the future”.
Including during the pandemic, TDB continues to support Ethiopian imports of vital commodities such as, wheat and fertilizers, to ensure that the country continues enhancing productivity levels in agriculture, supporting employment, and ensuring food security. This is even more critical
now, as large international correspondent banks are pulling-out of African markets.
TDB is implementing similar interventions in 20 of its Member States as part of CERP, as well as continent-wide, via a USD ½ million grant which was extended to the African Union’s Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC). A wider set of financing interventions are also under way with enterprises and financial institutions via re-prioritized and special operations, in collaboration with global and regional partners, with which, the Bank is working closely to scale-up and synergize.