Massive Chinese factory complex changing the landscape of rural Ethiopia

Dukem, Ethiopia, is about a 35-kilometre drive southeast of the capital, Addis Ababa. Like many rural areas in the country, it’s made up of houses, shops and schools. But it’s also home to a sprawling Chinese industrial park, which dominates the town. 

Every morning, thousands of workers arrive at the gates of the roughly two-square-kilometre Eastern Industrial Zone, looking to start their day. More than 130 companies — encompassing shoe manufacturing, car assembly and pharmaceuticals — operate there and are partly why Ethiopia has experienced such rapid urban growth and why it has one of the fastest-growing economies in Africa. 

Built in 2008, the park has created over 20,000 jobs for local Ethiopians. Globalization in the once dusty farming town has meant prosperity for some, but big challenges for others. 

In the documentary Made in Ethiopia, three women whose futures are closely tied to the park navigate work and life in a rapidly changing world. 

The film explores China’s impact on Africa and is a portrait of contemporary Ethiopia at a pivotal moment.

Fighting for influence in Africa

The industrial park’s formidable Chinese deputy director, Motto Ma (Ma Futao), is in constant motion. 

“They export to many countries, including the U.S., Canada and Brazil,” she says while giving a tour of the complex to Chinese business executives. “They’re one of the biggest shoemakers in the world.”

Chinese projects — including roads, dams and rail systems — have amounted to billions of dollars of investment in Ethiopia, and manufacturing hubs like the Eastern Industrial Zone are just another sign of China’s influence.

“The other day, my Ethiopian friend living in America went out to buy shoes,” Ma said. “When she saw the label ‘Made in Ethiopia,’ she was so moved she cried.”

Between guided tours to visitors and investors, Ma has been pushing the local government to approve Phase 2 of the park, which would take over another 1.67 square kilometres of the surrounding farmland and create even more jobs than the original facility.  

“For the second phase, we are going to create another 30,000,” Ma says in the documentary. 

In 2017, the park’s owners paid the Dukem government about $5.2 million for the expansion. However, the land transfer that was promised has not yet come through.

And as time passes, more problems arise. “First a pandemic, then a civil war — in just one year, everything that could have happened has happened,” Ma says. 

In the meantime, the undeveloped land remains in the hands of the farmers, who are waiting to receive the replacement property they’ve been promised. 

Local farmers are stuck in limbo

Ethiopian farmer Workinesh Chala and her family live on the territory earmarked for the park’s expansion. The Dukem government has promised financial compensation and alternate land to the farmers who will be displaced. 

Chala is ready to move with her family to a more urban area, but her husband is less eager.

“My husband wants to stay living on the land,” she says in the film. “Like the other men, he finds it hard to adapt to urban life. Farming is the past; this is our future. So we have to embrace it.” 

And with the replacement land uncertain, Chala and her family are in limbo.

“When I pass by the land that was promised to us, I imagine the kind of life I would have,” she says.

‘Our dream is out of reach’

Betelihem (Beti) Ashenafi is a factory worker who had hoped to become a designer. Out of a desire to be more independent, she left her family and staked her future on the park. 

“At the beginning, it was scary because we’d never been with so many people before,” she says. “I’d never had a job before, so I had no idea what a factory even looked like.”

Ashenafi soon discovers that despite the steady work, the cost of living has become out of reach. 

“On average, we get around $50 US [$65 Cdn] a month — it’s not enough,” she says. “Sometimes we run out of money. When that happens, we borrow from our friends. That’s how we survive, but we can’t save anything.”

Throughout the film, Ashenafi works in various positions, including an office job, and she tries to learn Chinese.

“Every year, I plan to study [design], but in the last two years, I didn’t manage to,” she says. “Our dream is out of reach. We don’t follow our dream. We just go where life takes us.”

Watch Made in Ethiopia on CBC Gem and the CBC Docs YouTube channel.