It is very important to understand the competitive advantage
of one nation or community over the other in order to to tap its potential
resources. I was asking myself about what are the things that are abundant and
can be marketed in our area and I have identified the following:
- "Enset" and its related products like "kancha", "Jibba" etc
- bamboo tree (Kerkeha)
- Chatt
- Coffee
- Grains ( Wheat, Maize, Sorgum, beans, peas etc)
- cattle and its products
- Minerals
I do not exactly know the area very well and i cannot
specifically say producing this or that is a competitive advantage for us.
Someone may give his opinion on this. However, those i mentioned above seems to
me good areas where we can produce and take advantage of.
It is amazing that our capital Saja lies on the road to
Addis Ababa. I believe this is an advange to ship and sell our products to the
vast market in Addis Ababa area. The main road from Addis Ababa to Jimma help
us to transport our raw materials and finished goods to and from Saja. Jimma ,
Illubabor, Bonga, and welega are also very crucial areas to sell our products.
We are in the middle of the west and central part of the country and I believe
that is a very good advantage for our people.
In addition to the highway, I believe that establishing a
rail road from Saja to Addis may give us the chance to mobilize the products
and raw materials easily and with low cost. Who can build this kind of
infrastructure to the advantage of our people?
Our heroic and honest people are our advantage to maximize
our wealth as a community. It is the responsibility of each of us to outsmart
others and make a real difference to the good of our people. Creativity,
collaboration, effectiveness and flexibility would count in the process of
creating and preserving the wealth of our people. For this cause , we encourage
the young to focus on science and technology, mathematics, engineering and
business. We are few in number and it is hard to compete with others. We can
beat any competitor if we focus on quality. Quality of each individual we have
really matters in the success of our people as a community. What do I mean by
quality of individual? By quality I meant in terms of education, finance, knowledge,
wisdom, competitiveness, heroism, excelling in all walk of life be it in
professional or nonprofessional activities. That only makes us recognized and
respected as a people.
