My day began on Monday at 5:40am when on the way from the airport Getachew, the taxi
driver gave me some background to Addis Ababa. Among other things he pointed
out the various roads being build by the Chinese, immediately making apparent
all I’ve read lately about the Chinese in Africa. After dropping off my things
at the hotel I asked a young girl, for directions, 4 hours later I was still
with Mahalet, who is a 21- year old teacher at the American school. She joined
me at the Red Terror Museum where I received a crash course on the difficult modern history of Ethiopia, from the devastating famine under Haile Selassie to
the horrific brutalities that were carried out under the Derg Regime, which
only ended in 1991. I had no idea the extent of the cruelty of this oppressive
regime that massacred tens of thousands of people during its reign. It reminded
me how no nation has a monopoly on suffering, humans world-wide seem to have an
unimaginable capacity for evil. Towards the end of the museum tour, our guide a
professor looking man with excellent English, mentioned that he himself had
been persecuted by the regime, arrested at age 16, imprisoned and tortured for
8 years and then lived in constant fear upon his release. Even today he was
pretty pessimistic about the current situation in Ethiopia and wanted more than
anything to leave the country and study abroad, a sentiment I heard from most
of the educated Ethiopians I met. Despite his academic style he explained he was
mostly self taught and really wanted to study law as his late brother and
father had done. While pretty depressing the museum definitely cast a
distinctive light on my visit to Ethiopia, and made me wonder why these kind,
welcoming people are still so nice despite all the suffering they have been
through and the many hardships they continue to encounter in their daily lives.
After visiting Mahalet’s home where I was served coffee and
Injera and met some of her family, I went on to meet Mussie, the engineering student
who had reached out some time a go to get involved in IsraelDev activities. Upon seeing on
facebook I was coming to Ethiopia he offered to set up meeting with the various
techies and entrepreneurs in Addis, which I gladly accepted. Mussie served as a
wonderful window into Ethiopian society with its many nuances and I was amazed
at his deep knowledge and fascination with Israel.
Our first meeting was with the team of an educational Start-up, Ahadoo building a mobile educational app to support the Ethiopian primary school
curriculum using fun and interactive quizzes that can be done on basic phones
as well as computers. Speaking to this team of Ethiopian entrepreneurs I could
have been sitting in the offices of any start-up on Rothschild in Tel Aviv. We
also met with the director of Ice Addis,
a tech hub supporting Ethiopian entrepreneurs and working to develop the
entrepreneurial community in Ethiopia. The Hub is based at Addis Ababa
University in a funky structure built out of shipping containers. As we heard
about their various activities ranging from meetups and hackathons to supporting
aspiring entrepreneurs to develop their ventures, it was clear I had met our
Ethiopian counterparts to IsraelDev. Sitting there with their macbooks computers and talking
about the training they give their entrepreneurs, Lean Canvas and the 3D
printing lab they help run. Its its only when I realise there is currently a
power failure or go to the bathroom which is a hole in the ground and there is currently no
running water that I am reminded that the environment these guys are operating in
may be slightly more challenging than that what we encounter in tech- savvy Tel Aviv
with all the conveniences of modern life.
Travelling around in Addis Ababa on the local blue and white
minivans and talking to my new friends I get an idea of some of the
challenges people encounter in this massive city of 4 million people. They complain
about the oppressive government and lack of opportunities, corruption and the lack
of freedom of expression. All the TV channels are state-run and I am told there
was a 2-day internet black-out just before I arrived in response to protests. I
guess the fact that the young people are aware of these problems and critical
of their government, like any developed nation is a positive thing. However
reading a local business newspaper I also learn about the various obstacles
facing the private sector, the lack of liquidity of banking, nationalisations
and various regulations that make opening a business difficult. I also see the large
dangerous potholes that dot the roads and walking requires manoeuvring among
the mixture of uneven cement slabs and mud that characterise most of the
streets (or at least those that are not roads that have been build
recently by the Chinese). Being here is a good reminded that reality often
feels pretty different to the “Africa Rising” optimism that you read about in
the international media or in the Ethiopian Airlines inflight magazine which
highlighted some of the exciting local initiatives coming out of Ethiopia (e.g.
soleRebels, locally made recycled
material shoes that are now exported world wide DVentus Technologies, a clean energy company).
But I guess this is all part of the same story. Like the Apple computers and long
drop toilets at Ice Addis, this dichotomy is part of the new Africa, a
continent that has come along way but has a long way still to go which presents
both challenges and exciting opportunities. I still believe there are
opportunities in this massive nation of over 90 million people, especially for
Israel with its strong ties to Ethiopia and the extremely positive sentiments
Ethiopians have towards us.
Despite or perhaps because of these challenges I feel re-invigorated
and inspired. Despite these problems, there is so much goodness in these
people. I was surprised and humbled to
see how many Ethiopians gave money to the many beggars at the taxi ranks and on
the side of the road, we can certainly learn from such generosity. Being here
has reminded me why I love my job and I am excited to come back to Ethiopia and
Africa in general to meet some more of the young entrepreneurs, who are working
to change their society. These I believe are the future of this continent –
Amesegenalehu to all the inspiring Ethiopians who made my 2-days there so inspiring! (Thank you)
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