A Tour Worth Giving

I am a natural born tour guide. But not every tour brings me as much joy as the one I regularly get to give at Desta for RENEW’s Ethiopia visitors. Why? There are a few reasons. 1) The company is always a beehive of activity. 2) There’s always something new to see or some new factory configuration in an effort to squeeze a bit more efficiency out of a workspace that is bursting at the seams with more than 650 employees. 3) I can’t recall one of literally 100’s of people I’ve taken to Desta who hasn’t been impressed with the dynamic company and the impact that grows alongside it. I like the smiles on the women’s faces. I like the beat of the music playing in the background. I like the energy of the place, and I am proud of the small role that I have played on the RENEW team and as an investor alongside a family of hardworking, ethical, caring, incredible people, who have built one of the largest domestically owned and managed garment facilities in Ethiopia.

My involvement with the company started a long time ago. From our apartment balcony in 2012 in Addis, Matt (my husband and partner) and I could see this busy factory, and we wondered who owned it, and what they were making behind the walls. A few months later, we unknowingly ran across the same family while searching for a place to work out. They owned the Life Fitness franchise for Addis and all of East Africa and operated a large gym in our neighborhood.

We introduced ourselves and years later after many coffees and meals together, we entered into a partnership, bringing the Impact Angel Network along to invest in their growing garment factory.

I remember delivering injera from another of our portfolio companies, Mama Fresh, to the Ethiopia Heritage and Culture Camp typically held in Virginia each summer. I sat purposefully beside Mr. Bekele, the father of the family and the Chairman of the Board, in a very obvious effort to build a relationship with the family. His English was somewhat limited, and my Amharic was even worse. That day he turned to me and said two words: “joint venture?”. And rather than correct him with the nuances of private equity, I just nodded my head.

The family doesn’t need a ton of handholding, but we lend our support where we can with marketing and branding, governance and financial management.

In my opinion, the company is a dream related to the SDGs. Textiles in Africa are, and will continue to be, an increasing employer. When I first visited Desta, there were less than 200 employees; now they employ more than 650 and we expect that to grow to well over 1,000 in 2019.

While to some of us sewing a t-shirt or polo shirt isn’t the sexiest of jobs, research shows that every job held by a female supports several household members. Each member of the household likely has better access to clean water, health care and education.

Desta is a storybook investment, and we need 1,000’s of SME investments like it to meet Africa’s job gap. Yes, 652 jobs is a drop in the bucket, but it’s a start. It’s my start; it’s the Impact Angel Network’s start; it’s the Bekele family’s start.