Since the 1990s, industrial policy in developing countries has increasingly focused on participation in global value chains (GVCs). In the African context, Ethiopia, the world’s fastest growing economy since 2004, is arguably the clearest example of a country attempting such a strategy, specifically through inserting itself in the value chains of the global textile and leather industries. Building on original case-study evidence collected and collated in Ethiopia between April 2015 and September 2017, this paper analyses the extent to which the GVC-oriented strategy in these two industries is aiding the industrialisation process of the country. Short term benefits, like increasing export revenues and labour absorption, are already manifesting themselves—in line with what most developing countries have historically experienced through participation in GVCs. However, benefits that are more long term in nature—that have historically been more difficult to achieve for developing countries through participation in GVCs—are not as visible, such as the development of domestic productive capabilities through technology transfer from foreign to domestic firms and the creation of backward linkages from foreign to domestic firms.