Artist Zeleke Gessesse (President of AADA), who has built 30 schools in Ethiopia so far, shared his experience that building the schools together with the society is crucial to solve the challenges sustainably.
Artist Zeleke Gessesse (President of AADA), who has built 30 schools in Ethiopia so far, shared his experience that building the schools together with the society is crucial to solve the challenges sustainably.
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Seble Nebeyieloul
President & CEO of AvailaMed Technology Company, Co-Founder & COO of International Fund for Africa, and Co-Owner of Zinnia Aesthetics & Anti-Aging Clinics’ (headquarters Fairfax, Va, USA, branch office in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia)
1. Identifying and bringing together the right people, processes, and technologies have streamlined both her clinic revenue cycle
2. Extensive experience in her leadership role
3. Determination and focus on successful revenue-compliant processes help to establish and ensure effective workflows
What is your Passion:
One of my distinctive qualities is my love for cooking, and I’m quite a skilled cook at that – my ability to combine and use to expose Ethiopians to vegan dining. I always describe my food as merely Ethiopian adapted to vegan tastes, with various influences, such as Spanish, American, and Asian cuisines.
As a philanthropist, I can bring an innovative approach; I can also introduce a hybrid model of giving by establishing a profit-making enterprise that uses its profits to sustain and gradually scale up its impact and remain financially secure, independent from donor dependency.
My life and career can be summed up, as Giving Back and, I believe: As you grow older and achieve goals, you start to look back and say, What have I done in life? My motto is: I want to give to another citizen what I got from life. If you deal with people the right way, the world will be the right place to live. My involvement with the Addis Ababa Diaspora Association is a personal call and is well-aligned with my passion and calling to give back and sustainably serve the vulnerable.
Captain Solomon Gizaw is the Founder & Managing Director of Abyssinian Flight Services & Aviation Academy (AFS). After graduating from college in the USA, Captain Solomon joined Mission Aviation Fellowship as a Pilot/Mechanic for over 11 years before establishing AFS in Ethiopia 23 years ago. AFS provides much-needed air charter services to the country and also houses the only privately owned pilot training school in Ethiopia. The vision of AFS is to be a world-class aviation services provider in Africa with the aim to technically train thousands to meet the chronic shortage of aviation professionals the world over by sourcing local talent to meet future demand.
Having survived the challenges of settling back in Ethiopia after living abroad for 15 years, Captain Solomon takes great pride in being on the board of the Addis Ababa Diaspora Association. A man of many stories, Captain Solomon’s life personifies the Ethiopian journey as he has quite literally had to adapt his talents from the farm to the sky, to board rooms, and beyond. Captain Solomon deeply believes that his unique experiences enable him to support and guide the diaspora community, and he is excited to serve as a bridge between the returnee diaspora and the indigenous community as we strive to contribute to the noble rebuilding of our glorious nation.
As Ethiopia experienced political turmoil and the country Engulfed in civil war Zeleke traveled as a refugee in the early 80s with his brother and friends to the United States to pursue his music and college education. In the US, they created one of the most successful music partnerships with Ziggy Marley and the melody makers; whose father bob Marley had a deep affinity for Ethiopia as well as Africa.
Zeleke and his band dallol were signed to Bob Marley’s tuff gong records and released few singles in Jamaica and the hit album land of the genesis distributed worldwide. Produced by Mrs. Rita Marley and Dallol band.
The band joined the melody makers and produced two global hit albums, conscious party, and one bright day, touring the world many times and winning two Grammy awards, and selling millions for both albums. Beginning with Dallol’s land of the genesis and the album’s Conscious party and One bright day produced with Ziggy Marley, Zeleke has seen the world connect to a blend of African and Ethiopian rhythm with Jamaican reggae. Introducing a global world beat sound that has enormous universal appeal.
His latest album project called “Ayzon” was produced wholy in Ethiopia that includes the hit single “Agerae ” which was released in 2015, and has continued releasing singles, smile Ethiopia 2019, and “Selam selam” in 2020. Andenet 2021.
For the last 22 years, Zeleke has traveled back to Ethiopia where his message of unity and tolerance has made him a Household name in eastern Africa. Together with his longtime friend Ziggy Marley and his brother Addis Gessese, they have organized a charity organization called one love Africa, building thirty (30) primary (Elementary) schools for underprivileged African children in rural parts of Ethiopia. Recently he has documented the success of these schools, to which some of the first rounds of students have graduated from college and have been employed by government offices, and Private Sector Company, and some have started their own business. While in Chicago, Zeleke established deeper roots there and became a founder of the wildly successful. The wild hare reggae club.
Zeleke and his band along with the musician relationship he has established all over the world his sound millions have experienced. He was the CEO of the company for over 25 years and the company grew from an initial investment of $50,000 Dollars in the mid-’80s to acquiring the building in 1991 for $250,000 Re-architecting the building in 1994, again in 1998, and in 2006, the value of the building continued to grow while the club became a destination in Chicago and the USA creating a building value of over $4,000,000(four million) Dollars, in 2010.
As the world experienced an economic downtown, Zeleke made an important decision in 2011 that would be life changing. He sold his shares in the Chicago based wild hare to return to his homeland Ethiopia where he is reconstructing his personal property into a luxury apartment building partnering with Ato Girma Gelaw, CEO of Bamakon Engineering co. the residential property is located in the center of Addis Ababa on the bole road.
Zac entertainment Production Company organized concert by Zeleke starting on June 6th, 2017.at the Ghion hotel compound featuring his good friend Damain Marley and a lineup of local bands that atracted 10,000 people on a Tuesday night breaking the record for a weekday concert during a state of emergency. He also performed an Ethiopian New Year concert at Meskel square in sept11, 2019 with multiple bands that attracted 50,000 people.
After the 2015 national election when the political unrest erupted across the nation Zeleke joined few academicians and intellectuals to initiate a dialogue forum between the ruling EPRDF party and all the opposition parties.
The purpose of the dialogue was to create a platform for all the political players in the country and abroad to resolve their differences through dialogue and get to the next national election to have a truly democratic and free election for the public to decide who should run the government with a non-violent and civilized reform to the existing platform without the center collapsing.
Zeleke is working on establishing a destination entertainment & business center in Addis Ababa, that will include a convention center, a night club, a cultural restaurant and an art training center for the youth to elevate the entertainment industry to a global standard.
His passion is an area of philanthropic endeavor education and environment. He joined AADA to shape experience and be a bridge to the global Diaspora to invest and participate in the development of the Nation.
Amman Fissehazion
Chairman at AEB CEO at EBS TV
Media, Entertainment and Communication
My passion is to help meaningful contributions to Ethiopia. I joined the AADA to help build bridges between the global Diaspora Community
Sosina Wegayehu started her circus career at the age of 6. She first traveled the world as a circus performer as a teenager, and later toured for many years with the world-famous circus Oz. she also became a member of circus Oz’s board of directors Sosina has a degree in theatre production from Swinburne University and another in circus from the national institute of circus Arts in Melbourne; Australia. Sosina is Passionate about education in general. Gamo Circus School its students, who often come from families of limited means, to gain the best education that they possibly can. From her personal expriance sosina understands the immense value young people can gain from exposure to the wider world. Since returning to Ethiopia in 2014, when she established Gamo circus school of Ethiopia, she has secured invitations for many Gamo students to travel to Australia, USA, Europe and the Middle East to perform their world-class circus acts she also had a big experience traveling with minors when they travel aboard.
For more info: Google search Sosina Wogayehu
A professional engineer and serial entrepreneur, Pazion Cherinet bring over two decades of engineering, strategic leadership, and tech-startup experiences. He is the founder and CEO of Orbit Health, a leading digital health company, which is striving to transform how healthcare is accessed and how it can achieve an improved quality care outcome. The Orbit Health Company is focused and working on expanding its solution offerings throughout Ethiopia and other parts of Africa.
In addition, the company successfully launched an Innovation Hub; where innovators and entrepreneurs can receive well-organized business training and coaching to launch their digital startup ventures. In the first year of the Innovation Hub operation, it successfully helped developed and launched 15 startups in industries ranging from Digital Health, Education, Transport, and Services.
Pazion began his technology startup journey while leading a successful engineering career at the Boeing Company, where he spent 12 years holding various responsibilities including a lead systems engineer, strategy, and project leader.
A strong advocate of entrepreneurship and innovation, he believes digital technology adoption can lead to an economic transformation in Africa.
His passion towards bridging the knowledge, awareness, and investment gap between the diaspora community to their country of origin he joined other like-minded to maximize their contribution via the Addis Ababa Diaspora Association.
Pazion studied Electrical and Computer Engineering at Seattle University.
My name is Tesfaye Wube. I was born in Jigjiga, educated in Hosana, and lived half my life in the USA.
I have worked for various organizations in the United States, from laborer to senior management positions.
I return to Ethiopia in 2020 and engaged in a few business sectors as an investor and consultant.
Mainly, I manage Skylink PLC, a company that focuses on education, eLearning, and technology. I also work as an advisor for various private and government organizations.
I joined the Addis Ababa Diaspora Association because I believe that working together with like-minded Ethiopians are the only way forward for our country.
The Addis Ababa Diaspora Association was founded by strong Ethiopians who worked hard, and achieved tangible results in various professions.
I personally invite you to join the Addis Ababa Diaspora Association and contribute what you can for a better Ethiopia. Thank you.
ሰላም ጤና ይስጥልኝ
ተስፋዬ ውቤ እባላለሁ፡ ጅግጅጋ ተወልጄ ሆሳዕና ተምሬ አሜሪካ ግማሽ ህይወቴን ኖሪያለሁ።
በአሜሪካ ሀገር ለተለያዩ ድርጅቶች ከጉልበት ሰራተኝነት እስከ ከፍተኛ የሀላፊነት ቦታዎች ላይ ሰርቻለሁ።
በ2020 ሙሉ በሙሉ ጠቅልዬ ወደ ኢትዮጵያ ከተመለስኩ በህዋላ ጥቂት በማይባሉ የስራ ዘርፎች ላይ በመሰማራት ኢትዮጵያ የተሻለች ሀገር እንድትሆን እየሰራሁ ነው።
በዋናነት እስካይሊንክ(Skylink PLC) የሚባለውን በትምህርት እና በቴክኖሎጂ ዙሪያ ላይ የሚያተኩር ድርጅታችንን እየመራሁ ሲሆን ከተለያዩ የግል እና የመንግስት ድርጅቶችም ጋር በአማካሪነት እሰራለሁ።
የተሻለች ኢትዮጵያን ለማየት ከሚፈልጉ ኢትዮጵያውያን ሀሉ ጋራ በጋራ በመስራት ሀገራችንን መገንባት እንዳለብኝ ስለማምን የአዲስ አበባ ዲያስፖራ ማህበርና ተቀላቅያለሁ።
የአዲስ አበባ ዲያስፖራ ማህበር ብዙ ቁምነገር በሰሩ እና በተለያዩ የሙያ ዘርፎች ተሰማርተው ተጨባጭ ውጤት ባሳዩ የኢትዮጵያ ልጆች የተመሰረተ ሲሆን ወደፊትም ለኢትዮጵያ እድገት ትልቅ አስተዋጽኦ ያደርጋል ተብሎ የሚጠበቅ ብዙ ትልልቅ እቅዶች ያሉት ድርጅት ነው።
እርሶም አብረው እንዲሰሩ በግሌ እጋብዞታለሁ። አመሰግናለሁ።
My name is Tesfaye Ayele Chekol, Born in Jan. 1953 and raised in Ethiopia, East Gojjam in a little town called MOTTA. I attended my elementary education in my birthplace and I finished high school at Bahir Dar, proceeds with my college Education at Kotebe metropolitan college, and graduated in accounting.
After graduation, I have been working in the Ministry of State farm for about 10 years as a senior accountant, and then left for the USA because of the political situation of the time.
In the USA I joined ATI School of Pharmacy and studied Pharmacology and graduated, registered, and certified to work as a pharmacy professional and working over 25 years in different areas.
I retired and moved to Ethiopia for good, to enjoy my time of retirement and to give back by volunteering and sharing my experience with fellow professionals, and young generations and educating the community on:-
I Joined Addis Ababa Diaspora Association because serving or volunteering can provide a healthy boost to my self-confidence, self-esteem, and life satisfaction.
I want to do well as much as possible for others or in need of people through the diaspora association which provides a natural sense of accomplishment.
My role as a diaspora volunteer can also give me a sense of pride and identity.