From refugee to entrepreneur: an Ethiopian success story
It was the devastating war ravaging his home country that forced Ethiopian Getaw Cherinet to flee. Like many of his compatriots in the 1980s and 90s, young Getaw ended up in Kenya and spent a large part of his life in the crowded refugee camp Kakuma. Many years later and a world apart, Getaw is living in Ethiopia again, now a successful entrepreneur. What made this possible? ‘I was only a student when the government passed a new law, requiring all university students to go into military service. For me and 10,000 other students, this was the moment we knew we had to flee the country. We ended up in Kakuma refugee camp, where basic necessities like food and water were provided, but nothing more. There weren’t any opportunities for us. There was no way to continue studying, get any training, or even develop life skills.’ Making a living ‘I…
Social Entrepreneurship at the Margins cohort completes Miller Center’s first virtual In-Residence
Miller Center’s second cohort of social enterprises serving refugees, migrants, and human trafficking survivors graduated last week with a week-long virtual “In-Residence” experience. When preparing for our first ever online In-Residence, we questioned if it was possible to recreate the magic of the in-person experience using technology. Well, of course it’s not the same. However, the in-depth accompaniment, rigor, network of connections, and a bit of serendipity remained. It was a refreshing inspiration to be able to connect with the 80+ participants who joined to help provide support and feedback as these 15 social enterprises scale their much-needed work in the world. These social entrepreneurs are creating impact in over 25 countries, mainly in Europe, East Africa, North America, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. Of the 15, ImmSchools, Kakuma Ventures, and Tulip Addis Water Filter are led by migrants or refugees themselves, which drove them to create organizations from their own personal experiences. Their solutions…
A podcast about Getaw Chirenet by International Financial Corporation (IFC) host Jasmin Bauomy.
Cherinet has had an eventful life, but his entrepreneurial story begins in the early 1990s when he fled conflict in Ethiopia and became a refugee in Kenya’s Kakuma Refugee Camp. In this episode, he talks about how he started a business in the refugee camp and how his journey led him to New Zealand, the US and finally, back to Ethiopia. Here, he started a farm and a water filter business called Tulip Addis Water Filter. For more information, go to: A Refugee Community in Kenya is Open for Business Kakuma: A refugee camp with its own informal economy (video) The Kakuma Kalobeyei Challenge Fund Tulip Addis Water Filter SNV Transcript: Getaw Cherinet (Tulip Addis Water Filter): I was really shocked. They took us to a camp in New Zealand and the camp is too old. We were given a blanket. It was a really old blanket. We were given a…
Refugee Integration and Self-reliance (RISE) Pilot Project Report (January –September 2019)
January –September 2019 Project Summary Pilot Project Refugee Integration and Self-reliance in Ethiopia(RISE) Project Period 01 January to 30 September 2019 Project Lead SNV Netherlands Development Organisation Partner Tulip Addis Water Filter Project Budget EUR 308,706.00 Reporting Period 01 January to 30 September 2019 Prepared By Beza Teferra, Team Leader Introduction Large movements of refugees driven by violence, conflict, disasters and environmental change, etc are creating considerable challenges for countries of first destination. Ethiopia is one of the large refugee-hosting countries in the world where 928,663 (50.2% women) are hosted throughout the camps. Like other refugee hosting countries, Ethiopia faces structural challenges in accommodating such caseload, which sometimes restrict automatic mobilisation of resource to assist these people right away. The continuity of assistance is also a huge burden to the country when there is an ongoing entry of new comers from neighbouring countries.The wider socio-economic consequences of forced migration have…
Ethiopia: Locally-Made Water Purifier Breaks Into Market
Tulip Addis Water, a local manufacturer that specialises in water treatment technology, invested 60 million Br to set up a tabletop water filter company in Debre Birhan, Amhara Regional State. Having a capacity of producing 500,000 filter units a year, the plant that is located some 130Km from the capital city will supply 13lt and 16lt filter models to the market. The company plans to sell the smaller filter for 1,500 Br and the larger version for 2,000 Br. The construction of the plant was started four months ago and is expected to start trial production in May. The owners imported the machinery from China, Germany and Turkey and are currently working on the fence of the plant. The plant is expected to hire 60 workers. The product is a two-bucket water filter and water storage facility in one. The top bucket will be filled with water and will be…
Tulip Addis has presented its product for financial institutes arranged by water.org
As per water org facility on accelerating access to safe water and improved sanitation through affordable financing Tulip Addis water filter has presented its product demonstration for the participant’s water.org, vision Fund Financing, Metemamen Financing and Liyu Financing at Executive hotel, Adama. On the workshop Tulip has presented its safe, simple and affordable water filter and expressed its interest to cooperate with the other financing firms to deliver its product for the lower income people as it is doing it with vision Fund Financing starting the beginning of March, 2019. Water org also explained it’s believe that the Ethiopia government will incorporate water and sanitation products to be instrumented through financial organization as it has include in its policies’ for solar products. Tulip Addis promised to keep its affordability for the society and use the entire social network to deliver Tulip Addis table top at point of use water…
Tulip Addis Has signed an Agreement with Vision Fund Micro Finance Institute
As Tulip Addis main target is to reach the lower income society on its social marketing strategy it has reached with an agreement with vision Fund Micro Finance to facilitate its product with financing credit for its customers. The parties agree to partner, cooperate and deliver in good faith. The environmental health and social benefits of distributing WASH product in Ethiopia in all regions with vision fund 57 branches are the main driving force for the joint collaboration. Acknowledging the vulnerable position of many if not all the potential target end-users who benefit of the joint relationship set thereof, a fair and transparent way to determine prices, margins and interest rates for the product is promoted and strongly supported by the parties. This agreement will allow the clients to access credit from VF to purchase Tulip Addis table top water product. The general manger Ato Getaw has expressed his deepest…