Gebrechristos

This book explores the dynamics and challenges of building an industrial workforce and industrialisation in Africa. It highlights the potential for economic growth within the manufacturing sector and how industrialisation can provide employment, build industrial workforce and facilitate labour market opportunities. Government policies and the role of local and regional governments are analysed to examine why certain industrial parks perform better than others. With particular details drawn from Ethiopia’s apparel and textile industry, the historical relationship between capitalist development and the labour force is explored to show tensions between maximising profits and ensuring labour rights and better wages. Building an industrial workforce necessitates effective government policies, firm strategies, industrial ecosystems, and productive dialogue and collective learning between government and firms.

Dr Nigisty Gebrechristos is a Research Associate at the Centre of African Studies, SOAS University of London, and the University of Johannesburg. Her research focuses on African industrialisation, private sector development, gender, and the industrial workforce. She holds a PhD in Development Studies from SOAS.