Assessment of Challenges and Opportunities of Private Investment in Garment &Textile Firms :( A Case study inMekelle City)

Abstract

Many Private investments in manufacturing have played their roles to employment creation and poverty alleviation of wider group of the society in general and urban youth in particular.However these sectors have been bound with various complicated and interlocked constraintsThe purpose of this study is thereforeto investigate the opportunities and challenges of private investment in Mekelle citywith particular emphasis to the garment & textile sector. Clear understanding of these will enable to harness the potential benefit and to face the challenges that hindered their growth. The study has used both primary and secondary data source.The target populations of the study were investors & owners involved in the private investment of the garment and textile sector and government officials in the study area. By stratifying the investment stage, samples were selected by employing proportional stratified sampling technique and 188 questionnaires were distributed; out of which 166 were returned. An interview is also conducted with 20 respondents: 10 selected from operators/owners and 10 from investment officials. Data gathered were analyzed based on these 166 responses using SPSS 20 software package. Descriptive research design was employed and Outputs were reported using frequency, percentage and mean results. The findings indicated that even though the investment environment in such sector is improving, still there are problems in the area of financial access, inadequate infrastructure, production inefficiency, influx of smuggled goods, and forex shortages that hinder their growth.These sectors have bright prospects if action is taken by the government. To benefit from opportunities and overcome its challenges, government should control smuggled goods and supportand facilitate these sectors to modernize and further increase their production capacity and enhance human resource capacity through training and working capital.Hence, to promote the performance these sectors, it is essential to take measures that can improve real income of people, and make public investment in basic infrastructures and institutions that are crucial to attract private investment. Besides, ensuring stable investment environment and macro-economic and political stability are necessary to build lasting confidence of privateinvestors.