Tigist Getachew, born in Addis Ababa, had a dream to be an entrepreneur, so she purposefully studied economics and business. After coming back from France with her master's degree in hand, it took time before finding employment that would allow room for both experience-seeking goals as well as creativity through new ideas. This led Tigist into working the first four years within the UN agency and it was the best time for her to learn about patience and leadership.

While many people were dreaming about working at the UN, Tigist wasn’t afraid to leave this job when she felt it was time for her to start her own business. She had no money then but decided to work more than one job and after many challenges found the right partner with whom she founded East Africa Gate advisory firm (2010). For office space they used their partners' dining room as it was too expensive otherwise - a sign of how much these women loved what she did!

Tigist is never satisfied with a small success and is always looking for the big dream.

Tigist said: "Women should wake up every day having hope in their hearts to start their own business though it seems impossible. Challenges are always there, but it is part of the game. If by any means I am dragged back to zero I know how to start again”. If we ask two people how they have come to some point and one of them has used a lift and the other has climbed the stairs, only the second one will be able to tell us about real and actual challenges on the way.”

Tigist has recently left East Africa Gate and founded another organization "Araya Venture Lab". It was really challenging for her to leave the company as it is now big and profitable, while a new company is about to become sustainable and needs a lot of attention. But at the same time she is very devoted to this new venture that is going to be an experimentation platform for business in four different sectors: education, agriculture, health, and real estate. The overall idea of this company is to synergize different businesses to create sustainable solutions - something that definitely deserves attention of such innovative and passionate entrepreneurs as Tigist.

Hamere was born in Addis Ababa and grew up close to nature, playing all the childhood games you can imagine. “I had a very good childhood time highly connected with nature and from then I learned how to make colors and paint different pictures”.

When she turned 12 she faced a lot of challenges and was rejected by relatives and family. People believed that Hamere was weird and strange. "My family considered me as a disturbance and my thoughts as useless but it was exactly then when I found out what I needed and what I could do”. Parents and relatives took Hamere to different religious places thinking she was obsessed with bad spirits and considered her mentally ill because of her uniqueness and physically punished her for everything she did. But even if she knew she would be punished, she did everything she believed in and that was how she learned to overcome challenges.

Hamere was very famous in elementary school and that helped her to build confidence and identify her talents as she was never afraid to try something new. She left her family at the age of 16, stayed for four days at the church compound and then rented a house starting to work as a graphic designer with 150 birr salary.

“I paid 120 birr for the house rent and was left with 30 birr for the monthly expenses. I slept for one year without a mattress, right on the ground but I didn't feel bad because I enjoyed every moment of planning my dreams and future. And I could prove that I could stand alone. I am always against people underestimating me for being incapable of doing anything. Challenges were there when I started the mud and clay business but now I am the winner and I can show everyone how it works. I came into business focusing on children and considering what I had lost in my childhood. I am not evaluating my business from the profit-making perspective, I have always believed that I am contributing to the connection today's children have with nature. Being myself helps me to be really successful. I advise all women not to listen to any mistreatments but to focus on their dreams and to believe in themselves.

Nowadays there is a lot of pressure on children regarding their future. They have to become doctors or engineers without considering their talents and gifts. Hamere recommends families to give children their freedom to decide and to follow their dreams.

“The first person in my life to appreciate what I did was my husband. He supports all my ideas and my business. What I learnt from life is that the most hurting thing and at the same time a key to success is not what people say to you but what you say to yourself. Most supporters come after your success so I advise every woman to stand by themselves first, to show how strong they are and how their ideas can work."

Hamere believes that she should contribute to the world and its future as she came here for a reason. Reach for Change was the first organization to support her idea and to let her develop and grow. Challenges are always there on our way to success and the best thing is how to overcome these challenges. My best ability in life is not wanting others to clap for myself but to clap for my success."

After all the challenges Hamere is now one of the most successful women in Addis Ababa, an example and inspiration for others. In 2011, she hosted a special family event bringing more than 5,000 parents and children together in Unity Park at the Grand Palace. She kept inspiring children and in 2014 more than 10,000 people attended the beautiful Meskel Square event she organized called "One Color Festival".

Rahel Tsegaye was born in Addis Ababa and had a very happy childhood. She especially loved spending time with her grandparents who taught her so much about being Ethiopian! To honor the memory of her grandmother, Rahel gave her name - Tiru, which means “good” - to her enterprise.

Rahel is a mother of two and her children were one of the reasons she started her own social business, as well as a great source of inspiration. “I was always thinking of starting my own business and was not satisfied with working for others”, Rahel said. “When I was 5, my Grandma sent me to a crafts school and that was the time I manifested my talents. My Grandma was a great costume designer and I imitated her and also started designing things. After my parents saw my talents they sent me to a drawing school. They were very supportive and always encouraged me to try out new things and make even small steps towards my dream”.

The main thing that inspired her to start on education aid materials was When Rahel’s son started school and had different challenges with learning, she couldn’t find any materials to support him during the process. That was the moment that encouraged her to start making her own training materials. “When I saw how it had changed my son I understood that it could also help other children and started to contact different people but no one accepted my idea. But I was still sure that it would be helpful and I found someone who gave me an idea to change my idea into business and it worked”, Rahel said. “It seemed impossible when I started, but I was committed to making my dream come true, and Reach for Change was the first one who supported me with the first step. I was pregnant with my idea and Reach for Change helped me to deliver it”.

One of the main challenges for Rahel was to persuade the customers and educational institutions but the quality of my work helped her. She visited many schools and talked to key stakeholders seeking advice on overcoming her challenges and aligning with educational curriculums. “I was curious about the emotions of children as they are the next generation”. The materials are designed to support children with autism as well as she had an idea that all children deserve the same opportunity and her products should be inclusive.

Rahel organized different events to help children learn through tactile sensations and their own creative experience. She encouraged them to make their own cakes and through the process they learnt different skills like working together, mixing, coloring, and it was a kind of therapy. By producing different educational flashcards, she wants children to be educated easier, not in the boring and traditional ways. The materials also support students to learn how to read in a very short time. Rahel says: “Women should take a risk and make the first step themselves rather than waiting for support. If we want to change our life we should believe in ourselves to let others believe in us. We should use every opportunity and focus on positive people rather than those who give us negative energy. Things will come to us after we start something”.

Serawit was born in Wonji, Central Ethiopia but grew up in Addis Ababa. She joined the university there and graduated with a degree of Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Economics. At those times Serawit was so inspired by everything that was happening in her life and was eager to share with the others the privilege she had to study and learn new things. But life was not as easy as she thought. Serawit was looking for a job for the whole year and even now she remembers the day when she cried her eyes out due to unemployment.
Once Serawit met a young girl on the street who had to earn money being a sex worker. She heard someone asking why that girl couldn’t just find another normal job and was triggered by the fact that it could have been her. She graduated from the university and didn’t have a job for a long time, then what could others without any education do? Serawit felt so sorry for that girl and for others in the same situation.
When Serawit at last found her first job she still remembered that young girl on the street and discussed with her friends how to change the life of a woman at risk. Serawit decided to support at least one. She went out on the streets of Addis Ababa thinking that it would be easy to find women at risk and to talk to them. But it was not easy at all. It was hard not to meet and talk to them and moreover to convince them to leave that life and resettle.
After Serawit understood that this was something that made sense in her life, she tried to find other people with the same values and thoughts. She met three other women ready to support her and in 1995 she got a license for her. Of course, the biggest problem was money, they didn’t have financial resources to support their activities. After a while they focused on what they had at hand and started to produce mosquito nets with old sewing machines by training 5 women at risk. This is how Ellilta Women at Risk was established.
“It is better to focus on what we have than what we don’t. And it takes a process to succeed”, says Serawit. “Women should respect the small things they have and through hard work, that small things can help them turn their dream into reality”.
HIV/AIDS was the biggest challenge in the beginning and she felt so sad and devastated when children and mothers died. Another challenge was the attitude of the society towards women at risk. Still they are discriminated against because of their background it takes a lot of time for them to be accepted. Addiction is also another challenge. There are cases when women return to the life they used to live and recovery and rehabilitation take too long.
Ellilta has 4 different rehabilitation centers and different programs based on the experience gained. Serawit says: “I believe that everyone is responsible for their own life and the first step to change a woman's life is her commitment to change”. They also started daycare for children under 4 years old to help women at risk to not leave their children behind while they join the rehabilitation program.
Serawit had been managing Ellillta for more than 22 years and confesses that she had burnouts many times. At one point she believed it was time to give the opportunity to others and left Ellilta. She is now a country director of another organization. Currently, Ellilta is a well-structured organization helping hundreds of women at risk to change their lives and 1600 women were part of their program.
“Women should plan to not give up with a small discouragement. And better to focus on what we have at hand for a bright tomorrow”, says Serawit at the end of the interview.

Rahel Heruy has over 12 years of experience in coordinating and leading different natural resource conservation projects (production of essential oils, dried herbs and spices and natural beauty care products). Rahel is a senior pharmacist, an Agribusiness Entrepreneur, and an advocate for Sustainable Agricultural business for social and
personal development. She is the founder and Managing Director of Damascene Essential Oil.

Rahel was born in Addis Ababa and studied pharmacy and always dreamed to step up the Ethiopian cultural knowledge of using plants as medicine. She was inspired by the oil her mom had brought from Israel which was made traditionally from the Dead Sea by Dr. Dona. Then she started thinking about how to work on indigenous
plants.

“I am lucky to have a very supportive family who always listens to my ideas and helps me to come out with different ideas”, she said. She did her own research on the connections between science and traditional knowledge and focused on aromatherapy.

While she started the business, everyone rejected her idea and said it was not going to work. But, following her dreams, she started producing essential oils leaving the job as a pharmacist. It was very difficult to sell the products as people didn’t accept homemade products. Initial capital was the other headache and it was difficult to finance her dream so she worked different jobs. The first few years were very disappointing and her company Damascene couldn't make any profit. The partner who worked with her left as he believed it was rather a hobby than a profitable business. But Rahel believes there is always a way to success and there are always good people to support us if we show them how our dream will work. And Rahel didn’t leave her dream.

Still, there is a problem of shortage of raw materials and she is creating awareness for the farmers to plant those materials and consider them as sources of income. Currently she is working 450 km far from the capital city with 3000 women and 1000 men farmers who supply her with different raw materials which she turns into essential
oils. She identifies and develops regional products as alternative sources of income so that the lives of community members are improved.

Rahel has been chosen as the 2022 Women AgriBusiness Igniters and was nominated for the Women Agribusiness Role Model Excellence. In her own words, she turned to a farmer from a pharmacist.