Developing Entrepreneurship Among Women with Disabilities

"Doing Business in Addis Ababa: Case Studies of Women Entrepreneurs with Disabilities in Ethiopia" by Ethiopian Federation of Persons with Disabilities & International Labour Organization (ILO). Published by International Labour Organization (ILO) (2003)

Available from ILO local offices or direct from ILO Publications, International Labour Office, CH-1211 Geneva 22, Switzerland. Catalogs or lists of new publications are available free of charge from the above address or by email: pubvente@ilo.org or website: www.ilo.org/publns

Did you know that a number of hard-working women with disabilities in Ethiopia have also been smugglers? Or that women who had leprosy are the most impoverished of the micro-entrepreneurs in Addis Ababa? Or that massage is a prized employment skill?

In 2001 the International Labour Organization working with the Ethiopian Federation of Persons with Disabilities (EFPD) and the Tigray Disabled Veterans Association (TDVA) began a project to "to promote economic empowerment among women with disabilities and women with disabled dependants, by providing training in micro-enterprise skills, arranging access to vocational skills training and credit and supporting the women to start a business activity or develop an existing one." Before they began to develop the curriculum, they wanted to assess the current state of micro-enterprise for women with disabilities. EFDP and TDVA sought out stories from women with disabilities who were already running micro-businesses. The resulting booklet "Doing Business in Addis Ababa: Case Studies of Women Entrepreneurs with Disabilities in Ethiopia" is a fascinating and thorough picture of the challenges and successes of women with disabilities in both urban (Addis Ababa) and rural (Tigray Region) communities.

The booklet is divided into six sections: one each on "women with visual impairments, women with hearing impairments, women with mobility impairments, women who have had leprosy, and mothers of children with learning disabilities." Within each section there is a brief introductory summary followed by 5 case studies.

While nearly all the women were very poor and struggling financially, they had all successfully transitioned from being dependents of other family members to, in nearly all cases, becoming the primary financial support for their extended families. Many of the women in the book were unable to attend school or stay in school and many were illiterate. Yet the women profiled were industrious, patient and had justifiable pride in their work and their ability to support other family members. It is interesting that the editors chose to lead each chapter with the most economically successful of the women profiled.

In the chapter on women with visual impairments, all of the women were very old by Ethiopian standards. They were all over age 40 in a country with a life expectancy for women at 45 years. Many had previously worked (at home or outside the home) before settling into their current self-employment. None of the blind women have mobility aids or mobility training which limits their options.

Ayinaddis Wondimneh
In a successful, but structurally typical, story, Ayinaddis Wondimneh grew up in the countryside. She says "I was considered to be good for nothing, so I decided to leave all earthly things behind and become a nun." But on the way to Addis Ababa she met a smuggler and began her own smuggling career. She smuggled second-hand clothes from Addis Ababa to Harar and then took berbere (hot pepper seasoning) and teff (grain) on the way back. She traded her pay, in silver dollars, to the silver dealers in Gore, near the Sudanese border where the exchange rate was higher.

She saved half of her earnings from each job and eventually set up a food and tela (Ethiopian barley beer) shop in her neighborhood. She also began doing massage, which her grandfather had taught her, as a way to supplement her income. Ten years ago she began to focus her work on massage and charges people what they can afford to pay. She averages 20 clients a day, supports a family of 8 people and earns 700 birr (around US$80) a month.

Tiruwork Hussen
When her parents died, Tiruwork was sent to live at the Ziway children's home. She was the only deaf student there and although she lived there from age 5 to age 10, she had a hard time since no one could communicate with her.

After she left school, Tiruwork began to paint and make figurines using clay casts. She's had a year's training in painting figurines and then began her own figurine business. She can make up to 25 figurines in a day.

Like many deaf women, Tiruwork works in the arts. Other deaf women plait hair, make coffee pots or tailor clothing. As a group, they are the most integrated into mainstream society of all the disabled women interviewed.

Tiruwork works from dawn to dusk five days a week and studies painting in her spare time. On Sundays she takes religious lessons. She sells her work at local bazaars and friends in the shoe shine business take her work along with them to sell. She earns 300 birr a month (around US$30). Because she was raised in institutions and currently lives in one, she does not support a family. She notes: "My work gives me the money I need to improve my skills, to buy clothes and raw materials. I do not need support from other people."

Ayelu Basha Bedasa
Ayelu is a very unusual woman. Not yet 20 years old, she runs a weaving business (usually a man's job) and employs four male weavers. She built her business with training from the Cheshire Foundation, putting a percentage of her apprentice money into savings and taking a loan from the Cheshire Foundation.

Disabled from a fall as a young child, Ayelu moved from her rural area of Selale to Addis Ababa to live with her aunt. She did not attend school and in adolescence became a maid earning between 25-50 birr a month.

When she looked at the vocational training program, she decided on weaving. Her story reflects her dedication and her strong spirit.

"In Ethiopia, most women would not dare to think about weaving, let alone do it because it is men's work. On top of that, most weavers earn enough for only a hand-to-mouth existence. But what other training could I take? I was illiterate at that time. I felt that of all the types of vocational training available to me then, weaving would be the easiest. I knew that other people could make a living from it. I never imagined that weaving could be profitable, could make me so proud and self-reliant. And being self-reliant makes me happy. It gives me peace."

At the end of her training, she had saved 300 birr. She took out a loan for 200 birr and started her own weaving business. She has repaid the loan and has been completely self-sufficient for over 2 years.

Ayelu sells her three-colored checked shawls to wholesalers in the main market and buys the next week's raw supplies. Like many other women with micro-businesses, she cannot buy supplies in bulk because she has no place to store them.

She focuses on the quality of her shawls and has built a successful business. She is hoping to get another loan and expand her business.

She sends most of her money to her family back in Selale which supports her parents and six siblings. She is putting herself through school at night and is currently in third grade.

Ageritu Ayalew
Like many women who have had leprosy, Ageritu is not married. Her family married her at age 13 but when she got leprosy a few years later, her husband's family arranged for a divorce that she did not want.

Leprosy is a treatable disease with a specific multi-drug treatment. But many people in Ethiopia subscribe to myths that assign the disease to "bad spirits" and most people with leprosy are not educated and their only work option is begging.

Ageritu went to the All-Africa Research and Training Center (ALERT) Hospital in Addis Ababa seeking treatment. Although she was given a prescription for leprosy drugs, she was unable to get them because her rural pharmacy did not stock them. Eventually she was forced to return to Addis Ababa.

She began to work initially as a nanny to a nurse's family. The nurse was very worried that Ageritu would spread leprosy to her children. "She told me not to touch the children with my bare hands and never to put them on my shoulders or hold them close to my neck." Ageritu reports. "I always did what I was told but she hurt my feelings. I cried all the time."

Ageritu left that job after the washing duties caused her hands pain. She then became a day laborer hauling stone. Finally, desperate that she would become a beggar, she got teff (grain) and wheat on credit and began to make injera. Injera is a staple of every Ethiopian meal. It is a spongy, slightly sour bread that serves as the "plate" as well as the "utensils". A large, round piece of injera covers the placemat. The food is then placed on top of the round injera. Other pieces of injera are used to pick up the food. At the end of the meal, the round injera is eaten. Making injera is the second most common trade of all the women after trading.

Ageritu, now 32 years old, runs a successful business selling injera, kindling and coal. Her success has allowed her to purchase a heifer which she will use for milk and breeding.

Mulumebet Eshete
Mulumebet was born in rural Ethiopia but was sent to live with her aunt in Addis Ababa. Her aunt needed a servant, and since Mulumebet's family were poor, they had little choice. Juggling work with night school Mulumebet eventually finished high school.

Mulumebet's daughter, Yanet, was born with a learning disability although she wasn't diagnosed until elementary school. She tried putting her into school but the school was unable to educate her so Mulumebet began to homeschool Yanet.

Mulumebet quite her job of ten years and began to embroider bedcovers by hand since she doesn't have a sewing machine. Yanet blossomed with her mother's educational attention. "At one time Yanet could not keep clean or play without the help of others," Malumebet recalls. "Now she is 13 years old...She goes to school with other children of her age. I follow her progress keenly!"

Like other mothers of children with learning disabilities, Mulumebet has limited opportunities since she must be home and available for her daughter. Mothers were also the least likely to be satisfied with their work and most saw their lives as difficult.

Summary
The International Labour Organization, the Ethiopian Federation of Persons with Disabilities (EFPD) and the Tigray Disabled Veterans Association (TDVA) have since "carried out by disabled women business skills training courses for 400 women; market surveys were conducted to provide information on innovative products and services which the trainees might consider in develop their small business plans; access to micro-credit; follow up support provided to the women, in the early stages of establishing their businesses; and training in marketing through trade fairs." Other publications on this work are available from ILO.

For information about the ILO Technical Cooperation Project, contact: ILO Disability Programme, Skills Development Department (IFP/Skills), International Labour Organization (ILO), 4, Route des Morillons, Geneva, Switzerland. Tel: +41 22 799 8276. Fax: +41 22 799 6310. Email: Disability@ilo.org

 printer-friendly format