An experience-sharing workshop on rolling out HIPSTER took place on November 8, 2018, at the Sunny-Side Hotel in Kombolcha. Participants explored key considerations for industrial workforce development, and systemized labour supply and demand matching. Government stakeholders from EIC, TVET, TVED, BOLSA, and the University of Wello, as well as private sector actors, Ahadoo-tech and Kombolcha Industrial Park Investors, took part in the workshop.

The workshop had two sessions, where in the morning, participants discussed what it takes to develop an industrial workforce, and in the afternoon representatives from Hawassa Industrial Park as well as the serve provider, Ahadoo-tech shared their experience in rolling out HIPSTER. The workshop was participatory, with everyone raising challenges, questioning tools shared, and in the end identifying action points for next steps.

The forum served as a platform to establish linkages, provide key updates, and map out roles and responsibilities. Enterprise Partners was also better able to  understand labour supply and demand matching and other challenges, as well as intervention points in Kombolcha Industrial Parks.