So here we are with our three licenses: The last one I got is for
agriculture, which I envision using to raise ornamental and street
trees, ornamental vines, shrubs, plants, and probably some crops --
I never see any dark fruits (e.g.g, blackberries, raspberies,
blueberries), nor any nectarines/peaches, or cherries. Mushrooms are
all imported. Etc. There are several 3-5-star hotels under construction
here and a number already exist, including a Hilton and a Sheraton,
plus local hotels. We think we can sell to them.
The second license is for vet services. Do you remember that there
are no vet diagnostic labs in the country and that the vet schools
concentrate on commercial animals? And all the misery that has caused
us and undoubtedly many other people. We do not knw how profitable this
enterprise will be in the short term, but if not now, its time will
come. I, of course, expect to live to be 120.
The first licence I got is for Purposes A, B, and C in our company
Memorandum of Association (a loooong doc w many reqirements that I had
to put together this winter, along w others):
A. Producing textile, leather, paper, wood, plastic, and other
products
B. Engaging in art production, including textile-art and photography
C. Engaging in publishing activities
D. Engaging in the agriculture, food, and industry sectors
E. Engaging in veterinary services
Is this fun, or what??? Of course the "businesses" aren't realised. The
only one that is begun is the sewing one, and that is hardly off the
ground. But we think they'll all come along as time and inclination
persists!
Here's something else I am looking into -- expanding the vet services
so that the diagnostic lab will be for people as well as animals.
This would greatly expand our ability to get donations. The infamous
Yohannes (see below) claimed that, if sponsored by the Clinton
Foundation, I could get many donations from US institutions.
So, before I leave for the US next week, I am going to check this out.
The Clinton Foundation has its largest non-US office here in Ethiopia,
and one of its main efforts is in health care. It's done a lot in the
town of Debre Zeit, where the main vet school is, and where we
sometimes think about relocating to.
Sheik Mohammed Alamoudi (a philanthropic billionaire in his 80's from
Saudi Arabia, born in Ethiopia (1/2 Yemeni and 1/2 Ethiopian)), has
also supported health care here for a long time. He gave the Clinton
Foundation $20,000,000 in 2007 for health projects.
In 2002 (?) the US gv't was considering organizing the US vet labs
into a network w standardized procedures, becasue vet labs are used to
looking for things like anthrax, plague, and other diseases human labs
are not. I don't think anything came of it, but its original proposal
does mean that the concept of interaction between human and animal labs
isn't new.
I'm asking for a smallish piece of land -- about 6,000 square meters
(about 1.5 acres) to hold all or most of our projects. We will see what
we actually get, but there is no doubt that we will get something. The
next large task (before requesting the land) re the agric project is to
go to the Ministry of Agric and find out what plants are not allowed
for import (they had a major problem w a noxious one during the time of
the preceding (extraordinarily brutal) govrnment), and to identify the
best regions w/in striking distance of the city for growing what we are
interested in.
The land w get will have the basic utilities but no structures. We're
looking into straw-bale construction so we can construct cheaply.
Habitat for Humanity is here, and they are into straw-bale. We wdn't
be eligible for direct help of course, but we hope they'll give us
some guidance.
Some big news -- a few weeks ago we bought a 1992 Suzuki Vitara for the
company. It's a 4-wheel drive vehicle. A sort of dark cherry red. We
have an excellent mechanic who specializes in Suzukis, and he inspected
several for us before recommending this one. We got it at a good price
for this market.
Good used cars appreciate here rather than depreciating -- because over
half of the price is Customs duty. Before moving here, I was looking
into bringing my 1997 Volvo over. It's worth only abt $800 in the US.
The xportation cost wd have been $4k. The customs duty wd have been
$20K.
Before buying the car, we were spending outrageous amounts/month
in taxi fees. Getting through the bureaucracy here is detailed and
very time consming. It all has to be done in person, and it takes
multiple -- usually many -- trips to one or more (usually more) offices.
When I think a given task is almost done, it usually turns out that
there is one more step to do -- and then of course another, etc. If
you're not in a hurry, it doesn't matter, and in fact the process can
be fun, but we are trying to get our business going before we run out
of our start-up money.
The reason I waited so long to buy a car is that I kept expecting the
Customs business to get done "any week," and I wanted to find out what
the duty would be before deciding what level of vehicle to buy. E.g.,
a much-used 1986 Corolla is abt $8K -- again the Customs duty problem.
Can you imagine paying so much for a 22 yr-old car w a history that
you know very little about?
I still don't know what Customs will be asking me for. I've already
paid an unexpected (and unjustified) 6K, and I could be asked for a
great deal more. A true worst case would mean that the fabric, and
some other primary assets of the business, would be seized. Not that
we couldn't make a living, given that we have our machines categorized
as duty-free, but it would be slow-going, and we might never make up
the loss.
This problem came about because our transitor on the Ethiopian end said
that all personal and business effects would be duty free because of my
investment permit and my residence permit. This transitor was chosen by
the US transitor. The US transitor was chosen by the US mover --
United.
At any rate, given the length of time we have already waited for
the Customs answers, and given the money we were spending for
transportation, we decided that we should just buy a good car that
wd appreciate.
While running around through the beaurocracy that transferring car
ownership takes, we got to to know Yohannes, the guy who sold us the
car. As we talked, he began to offer to help us with a number of issues
that are eating us alive financially -- the Customs thing, housing,
and etc. It sounded very good at first, and we liked him fairly well.
However, he wanted to become a shareholder/partner in the business
with a large percent of the ownership and control, and he wanted to
accomplish this Right Away.
Adding him wd supposedly have brought more cash and also more drive
into the operation, but we have decided the guy is just another
hyena -- which is what we have been calling the folks who see
$$FOREIGNER$$ when they set eys on me.
However, we proposed that he do some consulting for us. He seems able
to set up a legal way for us to import all our fabric duty-free. That
would be a fine thing. He also says he can find a way to sell some of
it for us, again in a way that would not be a legal problem.
In theory we cannot sell our imported fabric unless the purchaser pays
the duty -- and, strictly speaking, perhaps we are not allowed to sell
it even then.
{OK, since then, Yohannes proved unproductive as a consultant. Then we
caught him in a bald-faced lie. Goodby Yohannes.}
A few years ago, the Eth gv't levied a 35% duty on all imported
finished cotton fabric, and our fabric is 99% gorgeous cotton material.
Cotton's been a sore spot w them for decades -- the British got control
of the whole of Ethiopia's cotton exports at one point in the '40's
after England helped the (then) emperor, Haile Selassie, get rid of
the Italians who were overrunning the country.
Cotton fabric production is now one of the best-developed Ethiopian
industries. It is mostly "raw" fabric, but there is some basic printed
fabric as well. Ours, on the other hand, is fabulous stuff, fine weave,
beautiful printing, etc., and though nothing like it is made here or
even imported by anyone else, still it falls under the category of
finished cotton fabric that is taxed at 35% (!!!!!).
Some of the raw cotton is gorgeous, as are most of the hand-woven
types. We are going to try dyeing them.
In case a lot of this sounds rather bad and depressing, don't worry --
I am in fine spirits. Because I learned months ago about the Customs
problem, I've come to terms with it -- perhaps we will end up a very
small-scale business, but we are so content as we are, what the hell.
Living w these good friends has proved to be wonderful. I'm sure that
it's the reason that, w/ almost NO effort, I have lost 30 -40 pounds in
the 7 months I have been here. When I arrived, I was verging on what
felt like grotesquely fat between sizes 18 and 20. Now I am back to
sizes 14-16, and pretty much w/in what I conceive as "normal," and
that is such a pleasure.
Since I have lived alone for most of my life wouldn't you say it's
surprising that I have so easily adapted to group living??
Plus, I probably can't communicate how invigorating it has been to
have moved here. To have a new and good life start at age 65 is a
wonserfulthing. Often enough, life starts to go downhill around
then. Thee's so much of interest to learn and do and observe here --
everything from the routines of daily life to learning things about
how the country operates.
The geography alone is amazing. Everything from rain forest to desert
to mountains. There are abt 80 distictly different "nations" w/in
Ethiopia. You've seen the pix of the women w large ceramic plates in
their lower lips? That culture is in the south here. In principle,
each nation has as much power and rights as any other -- from the
urban Addis culture to the indigenous cultures, which are mostly in
the south.
[Posted in FML 6085]
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