Bethlehem Alemu

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Bethlehem Alemu

Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu (* 1980 in Addis Ababa ) is an Ethiopian entrepreneur .

Life

Bethlehem Alemu was born in 1980 in Addis Ababa, the daughter of an electrician and a hospital employee. She grew up in simple circumstances with her three younger brothers. Alemu attended Ewquet Lehibret Primary School , Shimeles Habte Secondary School and Ayer Tena Secondary School . After finishing school, she worked in the leather and cotton industry and took a degree in accounting at Unity University in Addis Ababa, from which she graduated in 2004 .

Private

Bethlehem Alemu is married with three children and lives in Addis Ababa.

Entrepreneurial activity

Sole Rebels

In 2004, Alemu founded Sole Rebels in the small suburb of Zenabwork in the Ethiopian capital with start-up capital of USD 10,000 raised by close family members . One of the main goals of the founding of the company was to improve the living conditions of the people at Zenabwork and to offer them long-term prospects by manufacturing products that are competitive on the market. In addition, ecological aspects played an important role for Alemu right from the start ; she wanted to combine the use of recycled materials with traditional Ethiopian craftsmanship. The company name Sole Rebels also represented a pragmatic program; it was deliberately intended as a rebellion against the image of Ethiopia as a developing country and was also intended to symbolize the claim to establish the brand on the world market. Alemu started her company with the support of her family and only five employees in her father's house. At Sole Rebels, around 200 employees produce shoes by hand in a factory in Zenabwork, with the soles made from old car tires and the uppers made from hand-spun cotton or jute . Initially, individual copies were sent to various US online mail order companies via the DHL parcel service and Sole Rebels would have been almost overwhelmed with the first large order from the mail order company Urban Outfitters for 2,500 pairs of shoes . There are now around 200 raw material suppliers working for Sole Rebels and the factory can produce up to 800 pairs of shoes per day, which are sold for between 35 and 95 USD. Some of the suppliers come from a region affected by leprosy . Sole Rebels shoes are now sold through web shops (online delivery) in 55 different countries around the world and in retail stores, with the largest sales being achieved in Japan , Canada , Austria , Switzerland and the USA . All Sole Rebels products are traded fairly and with them the company generates annual revenues of over USD 1 million , of which Alemu pays its employees a wage that is roughly four times the average income in Ethiopia . In 2010 the President of the World Bank , Robert Zoellick , visited the company and in 2011 Sole Rebels became the first shoe manufacturer to receive an award from the World Fair Trade Organization . That same year, the first was in Addis Ababa retail business of SoleRebels opened.

Republic of Leather

In addition, Alemu has founded a second company, Republic of Leather , which also operates according to the principles of fair trade and produces jackets , bags and belts made of leather .

Honors and awards (selection)

  • 2011: Appointment as a member of the Young Global Leaders (Africa) by the World Economic Forum
  • 2011: Alemu is listed by Arise magazine among the 100 Dynamic Women who shape modern Africa
  • 2012: Social Entrepreneur of the Year from the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship
  • 2012: Appointment as NYC Venture Fellow by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg
  • 2012: Alemu is named among 12 women entrepreneurs by CNN who changed the way they do business
  • 2012: Business Insider magazine ranks Alemu among the top five women entrepreneurs in Africa
  • 2013: Fast Company magazine lists Alemu as 62 of the most creative entrepreneurs
  • 2013: Alemu was an advisor at the UK charity One Young World summit in Johannesburg
  • 2013: Alemu was named one of the 15 most influential women in Africa by the weekend supplement Madame Figaro of the newspaper Le Figaro
  • 2013: Alemu becomes a member of the UNIDO Green Industry Platform advisory committee
  • 2013: Readers of The Guardian newspaper nominated Alemu as Africa's Outstanding Achiever

literature

  • Bill Bolten and John Thompson: Entrepreneurs: Talent, Temperament and Technique , 3rd edition, Routledge , London 2013, pp. 283 f. ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  • Manuel Heckel: Bethlehem Alemu. One step ahead. The shoe entrepreneur is one of Africa's hopes. in: Handelsblatt . No. 148 of August 5, 2014, ISSN  0017-7296 , p. 47.
  • Dayo Olopade: The Bright Continent: Breaking Rules and Making Change in Modern Africa , Houghton Mifflin Harcourt , Boston 2014, pp. 54–55 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).
  • Textile Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu, a l'aise dans ses baskets. Jeune Afrique - New Series 54. No. 2758, of November 17, 2013, ISSN  1950-1285 p. 102. OCLC 5192449754 (French)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Manuel Heckel: Bethlehem Alemu. One step ahead. The shoe entrepreneur is Africa's hope. in: Handelsblatt . No. 148 of August 5, 2014, p. 47.
  2. ↑ a b c d e Ethiopian shoemaker takes great strides , in: BBC News of July 27, 2012.
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l Betel Bekele Berhanu and Melat Tekletsadik: Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu. ( Memento from September 24, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) In: Ethiopian Women Unleashed. Stories of Accomplished Ethiopian Women , on the Heinrich Böll Foundation's website .
  4. ↑ a b c d The World's Most Powerful Women. Women to Watch: Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu. in: Forbes online from 2012.
  5. ↑ A letter from soleRebels' Founder ( Memento of May 5, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), on the official website of Sole Rebels .
  6. ↑ Bill Bolten and John Thompson: Entrepreneurs: Talent, Temperament and Technique , 3rd Edition, Routledge , London 2013, p. 283 ( limited preview in Google book search).
  7. ^ Yann Zopf: World Economic Forum Announces Young Global Leaders 2011 (Africa) ( Memento from March 14, 2012 in the Internet Archive ), on weforum.org .
  8. ^ Arise 100: Dynamic Women. ( Memento from July 24, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) In: Arise from 2011.
  9. ↑ NYV Venture Fellows - 2012 Fellows on nycventurefellows.org.
  10. ^ Catriona Davies and Lauren Said-Moorhouse: 12 female entrepreneurs who changed the way we do business. in: CNN online April 4, 2012.
  11. ^ Greg Voakes: Africa's Top 5 Women Entrepreneurs. in: Business Insider on June 29, 2012.
  12. ↑ Kate Rockwood: 62. Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu. Founder, CEO, Solerebels. The Fair-Minded Cobbler. in: Fast Company from 2013.
  13. ↑ Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu. Founder and CEO, soleRebels. on the One Young World website .
  14. ↑ 15 Most Powerful African Women. ( Memento from June 7, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) In: Elle Afrique from May 3, 2013.
  15. ↑ soleRebels CEO joins Green Industry Platform Advisory Board. ( Memento of October 19, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), on the UNIDO website of November 5, 2013.
  16. ↑ Adaobi Ifeachor and Paddy Allen: Africa's top women achievers - nominated by you. in: The Guardian of March 8, 2013.
personal data
SURNAME Alemu, Bethlehem
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Alemu, Bethlehem Tilahun (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Ethiopian entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH 1980
PLACE OF BIRTH Addis Ababa , Ethiopia