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Salma Furniture PLC  is an Ethiopian company that manufactures high-quality office and household furniture.

Quality has been at the forefront of everything we do since the beginning (November 2011/2004 ETC). Our original vision continues to guide us. We believe that every home deserves beautiful furniture that is built to last. We also keep our prices as low as possible. We offer free training and job opportunities to disadvantaged youth, physically disabled people, and mothers. There was no question about their educational background.

Objective

The company's objectives are:

• Established the first-of-its-kind Centre of Excellence for Furniture Manufacturing, which fully trains and transfers knowledge from experts to youth, mothers, and small and large businesses.
• Establish a specialist hardwood furniture parts-making line. They are probably the best natural solid hardwood furniture makers, obviously the best at the commercial level in making high-end furniture from reclaimed or recycled hardwoods. Many are now following in our footsteps and using reclaimed wood. We see more people demolishing old homes and getting involved in collecting and protecting old wood as there is a growing and paying market for reclaimed wood!
• Contribute to the development of manufacturing and industrial sectors as an eye-opening We are the only firm that is open to all competitors. We invite and show how we do what we do in depth.
• We are committed to taking people with us to support others in need and to grow by providing the support they need in different aspects. Instead of the usual method of encouraging cooperation among sector operators.

On Job Training

Salma Furniture has given several trainings for over 500 youths since 2011. Currently, with support and partnership from GIZ, they develop and transfer the technology of using better machinery and tools to produce world-class furniture through mainly practical training. for operators from other competitors' firms, local mothers, and groups of people who want to set up their workshops. Potential investors are people and companies who want to set up manufacturing firms.

Apart from general skill training, passing the iconic designs, methods, and production processes that we have developed for years through several trials, errors, and improvements.

By applying standard working practices used by the industry worldwide’ ongoing training would be given at the workplace, which also includes an introduction to manufacturing and an efficient manufacturing process.

As a result of the quality of training provided to vocational and technical college instructors in partnership with GIZ, free of charge, our firm became highly regarded by the Ministry of Skills and Job Creation and also the Industry Minister.

The minister of skills and job creation expressed her interest in offering our firm the public-private partnership project to capacitate selected TVET centers with the required resources that match the typical modern industry, which could be a model and upskilling training center for TVET teachers in the entire country.

Salma has been providing on-the-job training for disadvantaged mothers, youths, disabled people, TVET college teachers, and university students for the past two years, following an agreement with the GIZ Develop.PPP project. Below is the registered trainee data.

Furniture Made of Solid Wood

Making high-quality pieces for us means never compromising. We never use inferior materials, whether it's a main and internal door, dining set, cabinet, handrails, bed, new sofa, beautiful dresser, or a cozy mattress. We only work with solid hardwood. We don't hide different woods on the backs of the pieces or in places where you can't see them. If it's one of our stunning Wanza sideboards, you know it's all Wanza. There will be no veneer, MDF, or chipped wood, and no replacements. Never. No such thing.

Mission and Goal

• To develop a highly structured center of excellence in woodworking
• To be a company whose products will not only be retailed all across the country but also be exported to East African countries and the rest of the world.
• To deliver high-quality solid wood products that are made in Ethiopia on time and within budget while also providing a fast, error-free ordering system, making an impact by expanding Salma Furniture Plc.
• One of the best and well-equipped locally-made hardwood furniture manufacturing industries in the country.

We’re all about quality—and 100% solid hardwood.

Solid, well-made hardwood furniture will last a lifetime. With the right care and attention — detailed in our owner’s manual — you’ll find that furniture made from hardwood just gets better with age.

Our designs show off the natural beauty of local woods like Wanza, Tsid, Kerero, and Woyra wood. Natural wood grains are unique to the piece of wood used in any given piece of furniture. Wanza, Tsid, Kerero, and Woyra also have a striking range of colors, from light gold to the darkest brown. You’ll find 100% solid hardwood underneath our painted finishes, too. We use a particular kind that gives the smoothest surface for the best finish.

We have a lot of experience in producing solid hardwood furniture. Here are some reasons why we use certain techniques.

Passing the leg to the top and wage

To keep our tables and chairs from swaying and breaking, we pass the leg through the top and wag it so that the leg cannot come out of the top without the use of nails and screws. You can find it in all our chairs and sofa tables.

Solid Drawer Construction

Our drawers are all made from solid hardwood, which includes backs, bases, and sides. with the whole cabinet made from the same material.

Dovetail joints

We talk about this a lot. They’re a proven way of strongly fixing two pieces of wood together. And you need strength at the front of a drawer, where there’s naturally a lot of pulling and pushing.

Traditional carpentry techniques

Dovetail joints, cross-halving joints, mortise, and tenon – these are all traditional techniques that we use to make our cabinet furniture stronger and last longer.

Flotation panel

Many of our cabinets and dining tables have flotation panels on the top surface. They’re a feature that allows for the natural movement of wood but keeps it from warping out of shape. That way, the surface is kept level, joints aren’t put under unnecessary strain, and the furniture lasts longer.

Our Leather Armed Sofa

We use pure Ethiopian leather and a solid hardwood structure for construction. The joints are Mortise and Tenon and dowel construction.

Dining Set

Our woods and finishes

When it comes to wood, we only use 100% solid hardwood to make our furniture. We can be a bit picky. We don’t take orders unless we make sure we deliver on time and at the expected quality. To make quality furniture, moisture is critical and must be maintained at an acceptable level. Thus, before production, all our timbers are kiln and air dried and stocked for months.

Why is hardwood such a good choice for high-quality furniture? Well, it has a unique combination of characteristics that make it strong, highly workable, and strikingly beautiful. All hardwood is rated on a scale. This means that some of them are too hard and some are medium. The furniture made of wanza is hard but not too hard; it’s resilient enough to take knocks from everyday use and abuse.  Once sealed and finished, it is also resistant enough to moisture so that it doesn’t expand and contract excessively with the seasonal weather variation-the phenomenon that makes doors and drawers from lesser quality woods buckle and stick!

We also use local indigenous tsid wood. Furniture made of tsid wood is particularly striking; it boasts a wide range of rich reddish-and golden-brown tones and a stand-out grain pattern. It often has dark whorls and patterns that enhance the character of the pieces. Plus, tsid wood is highly resistant to rot, termites, and fungi. Tsid was primarily used as a preferred building material for royals and churches, among other things. We collect beams and posts from old villas being demolished. We reclaim and make masterpieces of furniture out of this graceful wood.

We are known in the industry for sharing and transferring knowledge and providing training to our competitors. We believe in continuous improvement. Nothing is enough, as every piece of a project has the potential to be a masterpiece.