N.S. Immigrant Stays Connected To Ethiopia Through Export Business
HALIFAX – Like a lot of other businesses, Only Original was born when its founder stumbled upon a need that wasn’t being addressed. Years after Semira Abdu moved from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to Nova Scotia to attend StFX University, people began asking her to ship products back home. In Ethiopia, it can be difficult to find quality beauty products and other goods that Canadians take for granted.
“Some products are made in China; their quality isn’t that great,” said Abdu about certain items sold in Ethiopia. “Now that people have seen things from here, they want that quality.”
“People have lost that trust because they are paying a lot of money to get this product, but when they’re using it, it doesn’t hold the quality.”
After shipping items back to Ethiopia for friends and family, word spread about Abdu, and more requests came in for products to ship. Abdu and her boyfriend, Jordan Banyan, realized there was business potential. So, the exporting business Only Original was born in 2019. Abdu created a Facebook page where people could make orders, which already has more than 2,000 followers.
Abdu, who now lives in Halifax, makes her profit by charging a markup on items shipped. For luxury items, like makeup, she charges 15 percent. But for essential items, like electronics used for education, she only charges three percent. The business did well enough that Only Original has two employees who handle things on the Ethiopian side.
The most common items shipped through Only Original include beauty products, deodorants, and clothing. As a bonus, Abdu has contributed to the Halifax economy, since she is able to get most items at local malls and beauty outlets.
But two big events have caused Abdu to put the business on hold. The first, back in March, was the Covid-19 pandemic, which brought the economy to a halt worldwide. Then, about a month ago, Ethiopian singer and activist Haacaaluu Hundeessaa was murdered. His death caused violent protests across the country, where 80 people were killed. In response, the Ethiopian government shut off the internet across the country.
“The death set off numerous protests demanding justice for his death. On Tuesday, June 30 at 9 am local time the Ethiopian government shut down the entire country’s internet…” reported Business Insider.
“Hundeessaa was Oromo, an ethnic group that has historically been repressed. His music became the soundtrack to a political shift that led to the nation’s last prime minister being replaced.”
Back in Halifax, Abdu could only mourn the tragedy from afar. With her home country without the internet, she was left to worry about the safety of her family and friends. After two weeks, Abdu’s brother was able to find a rare wifi connection and confirmed that her family was safe. Recently, internet access was restored to the country by the government.
“It’s very sad because Ethiopia was in the process of very inspiring energy,” said Abdu. “It broke my heart because there was human life lost, there was the destruction of property and it slowed our momentum.”
“But I look forward to how we’re going to come out of this and really put our effort into building our country and building a better system so things like this don’t happen.”
Abdu plans on returning to Ethiopia in the near future. While talking about her life in the African country, it’s easy to hear the love in her voice for her homeland.
“What I remember most is whenever the light goes out, we would sit outside, and the stars shine SO bright,” she recalled. “If the moon is out, you could read a book outside.”
Even though her house didn’t always have running water and the power grid could go down for days at a time, Abdu calls life in Ethiopia a happy one. When she goes back, she hopes to obtain an education degree.
Now that internet is back in Ethiopia, Abdu wants to resume Only Original. She has a new business website ready to go, where people can place orders. On top of that, Abdu hopes to expand her business by importing designer products from Ethiopia into Halifax.
“We have really, really, talented designers, making things like bags and scarves,” said Abdu.