(Businesslive) – A small Ethiopian company has taken a traditional local shoe design based on recycled truck tyres and turned it into an international success which in turn is providing jobs in the hometown of its founder.

Recycling is a well-known and widely practiced concept in Ethiopia, a poor country that embraced democracy in the mid-1990s after a coalition of rebel forces toppled the socialist government following a long period of uprisings, droughts and massive refugee problems. The connection between these developments and the shoe company is the rebels who overthrew dictator Mengistu wore rubber-soled shoes in the war.

“They couldn’t afford anything else,” said Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu who got the idea for the shoes about seven years ago. She further developed and modernized them and now the 31-year-old is the director of one of the few shoemaking companies with a fair trade seal. Made of recycled or natural material and tyre treads, the shoes can be spotted in trend-setting metropolises such as New York and London. Click here to read more

Image via Tadias