Firm marks US$100m export milestone

Writer:   | Editor: Holly Wang  | From: Xinhua | Updated: 2018-11-22

Few Ethiopians have heard of Transsion, a Shenzhen phone maker. However, millions of Ethiopians use its mobile handset products.

Two of Transsion’s affordable and quality mobile brands, Tecno and Itel, are wildly popular in Ethiopia and other parts of Africa.

Transsion employs 1,800 Ethiopians in its three local plants that produce around 1 million units annually.

On Monday evening, Transsion celebrated a milestone of its presence in Ethiopia, clearing the mark of US$100 million in exported mobile phone products manufactured in its Ethiopian factories in the past two and half years.

Speaking at a ceremony in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, Yu Weiguo, senior deputy general manager of Transsion Holdings’ business unit, said the company has faced serious challenges since its debut in the country seven years ago.

“In 2011, we started our business in Ethiopia at a very small warehouse, and at that time we faced different challenges and together with government support we resolved all of the issues and now we reached this achievement,” Wu said.

“For countries like China and Vietnam, this amount may be very small, but in Ethiopia I think it’s a great achievement,” he said.

Transsion is among many Chinese companies that have established manufacturing plants in Ethiopia.

Liu Yu, economic and commercial counselor at the Chinese Embassy in Ethiopia, said Chinese companies are encouraged to make at least US$10 billion in investments in Africa in the next three years.

She praised Transsion for continuing and expanding its investment in Ethiopia over the years, even when the country faced a severe foreign exchange shortage, which particularly affected manufacturing firms.

China is now Ethiopia’s largest trading partner and Chinese firms are the single biggest source of foreign direct investment in Ethiopia, according to Teka Gebreyesus, deputy commissioner at Ethiopia Investment Commission.

“We are expecting more from Chinese phone makers, especially on the export side,” he said. “Transsion is planning to manufacture some of the mobile phone parts in Ethiopia.”

“It’s amazing for Ethiopians seeing the country exporting mobile phones to other countries. Transsion is an exemplary company for other Chinese companies as well,” Gebreyesus said.