In this episode of Habesha in Tech, host Tef Kassa sits down with Getnet Aseffa, the Founder and CEO of iCog Labs. Getnet, a computer science and engineering graduate from Ethiopian Defense University, shares his personal tech journey, discussing how he got started in the industry and the challenges he faced along the way. Getnet began his career as a software engineer, working for a variety of companies before starting his own business. He talks about the struggles he faced as an entrepreneur, including the difficulty of securing funding and the challenges of building a successful team. Despite these obstacles, Getnet persevered and was able to launch iCog Labs, a company that specializes in developing artificial intelligence and machine learning technology. He explains how his company is working to improve the lives of people in Ethiopia and other African countries by creating cutting-edge technology that can be used in healthcare, education, and other fields. Getnet also talks about the importance of diversity in the tech industry and how he is working to promote diversity and inclusion within his own company. He stresses the importance of encouraging young people from underrepresented communities to pursue careers in technology and the need for more mentorship programs for these individuals. Throughout the episode, Tef and Getnet also discuss the current state of the tech industry in Ethiopia and the challenges faced by tech companies in the country. They delve into the importance of using technology for social good and how iCog Labs is working to make a positive impact on the world, such as the famous robot citizen Sophia and other AI related projects and innovations which are being developed by the lab. Tef would like to thank Getnet for his time and willingness to share his tech journey with Habesha in Tech listeners, and also express his gratitude to Addis Alemayehou for recommending Getnet as a guest on the show. Overall, this episode of Habesha in Tech is a fascinating and informative conversation with Getnet Aseffa, a successful entrepreneur and leader in the tech industry. Listeners will gain insight into the personal journey of a tech leader, his educational background and the innovative work being done by iCog Labs to improve the lives of people in Ethiopia and beyond. It is a great opportunity to learn from Getnet's experience and to understand the current state of AI and Robotics industry in Ethiopia and the role of iCog Labs in it. ___________________ Habesha in Tech is a podcast that aims to share the stories of successful tech leaders from the Ethiopian/Eritrean diaspora, providing insight into their personal and professional journeys, as well as their perspectives on the state of the tech industry in Ethiopian/Eritrean and beyond. It is a platform for the Ethiopian tech community to connect, share ideas and inspire one another. Please note that the views and opinions expressed in this episode are those of the host & individuals participating in the discussion and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of their respective employers. The information provided in this episode is for informational purposes only and should not be taken as official guidance or representation of the policies or positions of Salesforce or any other company. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/habeshaintech/message

In this episode of Habesha in Tech, host Tef Kassa sits down with Getnet Aseffa, the Founder and CEO of iCog Labs. Getnet, a computer science and engineering graduate from Ethiopian Defense University, shares his personal tech journey, discussing how he got started in the industry and the challenges he faced along the way. Getnet began his career as a software engineer, working for a variety of companies before starting his own business. He talks about the struggles he faced as an entrepreneur, including the difficulty of securing funding and the challenges of building a successful team. Despite these obstacles, Getnet persevered and was able to launch iCog Labs, a company that specializes in developing artificial intelligence and machine learning technology. He explains how his company is working to improve the lives of people in Ethiopia and other African countries by creating cutting-edge technology that can be used in healthcare, education, and other fields. Getnet also talks about the importance of diversity in the tech industry and how he is working to promote diversity and inclusion within his own company. He stresses the importance of encouraging young people from underrepresented communities to pursue careers in technology and the need for more mentorship programs for these individuals. Throughout the episode, Tef and Getnet also discuss the current state of the tech industry in Ethiopia and the challenges faced by tech companies in the country. They delve into the importance of using technology for social good and how iCog Labs is working to make a positive impact on the world, such as the famous robot citizen Sophia and other AI related projects and innovations which are being developed by the lab. Tef would like to thank Getnet for his time and willingness to share his tech journey with Habesha in Tech listeners, and also express his gratitude to Addis Alemayehou for recommending Getnet as a guest on the show. Overall, this episode of Habesha in Tech is a fascinating and informative conversation with Getnet Aseffa, a successful entrepreneur and leader in the tech industry. Listeners will gain insight into the personal journey of a tech leader, his educational background and the innovative work being done by iCog Labs to improve the lives of people in Ethiopia and beyond. It is a great opportunity to learn from Getnet's experience and to understand the current state of AI and Robotics industry in Ethiopia and the role of iCog Labs in it. ___________________ Habesha in Tech is a podcast that aims to share the stories of successful tech leaders from the Ethiopian/Eritrean diaspora, providing insight into their personal and professional journeys, as well as their perspectives on the state of the tech industry in Ethiopian/Eritrean and beyond. It is a platform for the Ethiopian tech community to connect, share ideas and inspire one another. Please note that the views and opinions expressed in this episode are those of the host & individuals participating in the discussion and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of their respective employers. The information provided in this episode is for informational purposes only and should not be taken as official guidance or representation of the policies or positions of Salesforce or any other company. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/habeshaintech/message

In this episode of our podcast, we are excited to welcome three experts from Salesforce to discuss the different roles and responsibilities within the company. In addition to answering our host's questions, these experts will also be taking live audio questions from our audience. First, we have Alem Abraha, Lead Systems Engineer at Salesforce. Alem will provide an in-depth look at the role of a lead systems engineer and the skills and experience necessary to excel in this position. He will discuss the importance of strong problem-solving skills and the ability to work effectively with cross-functional teams. Additionally, he will share some of the key challenges and opportunities that he has encountered in his role and offer insights on how to overcome them. Next, we have Messay Shoakena, Solution Architect at Salesforce. Messay will delve into the responsibilities and expectations of a solution architect at Salesforce. He will discuss the importance of understanding the needs of the customer and being able to design and implement solutions that meet their requirements. Messay will also share some of the key considerations that go into designing scalable and maintainable solutions and how to effectively communicate and collaborate with other teams within the company. Finally, we have Abel Adamu, a 5x Certified Senior Solutions Consultant at Salesforce. Abel will provide his perspective on the role of a senior solutions consultant and the key skills and qualities that are necessary for success. He will discuss the importance of being able to understand the business needs of customers and developing tailored solutions to meet their specific requirements. Abel will also share some of the key challenges and opportunities that he has encountered in his role and offer insights on how to overcome them. Throughout this discussion, all three experts will address the various responsibilities and expectations of their respective roles, as well as the skills and experience needed to excel in these positions. They will also be responding to live audio questions from our audience. Whether you are a current Salesforce employee or simply interested in learning more about the different roles within the company, this episode is sure to provide valuable insights and information. ___________________ Please note that the views and opinions expressed in this episode are those of the individuals participating in the discussion and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of their respective employers, including Salesforce and the host of this podcast. The information provided in this episode is for informational purposes only and should not be taken as official guidance or representation of the policies or positions of Salesforce or any other company. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/habeshaintech/message

In this episode of our podcast, we are excited to welcome three experts from Salesforce to discuss the different roles and responsibilities within the company. In addition to answering our host's questions, these experts will also be taking live audio questions from our audience. First, we have Alem Abraha, Lead Systems Engineer at Salesforce. Alem will provide an in-depth look at the role of a lead systems engineer and the skills and experience necessary to excel in this position. He will discuss the importance of strong problem-solving skills and the ability to work effectively with cross-functional teams. Additionally, he will share some of the key challenges and opportunities that he has encountered in his role and offer insights on how to overcome them. Next, we have Messay Shoakena, Solution Architect at Salesforce. Messay will delve into the responsibilities and expectations of a solution architect at Salesforce. He will discuss the importance of understanding the needs of the customer and being able to design and implement solutions that meet their requirements. Messay will also share some of the key considerations that go into designing scalable and maintainable solutions and how to effectively communicate and collaborate with other teams within the company. Finally, we have Abel Adamu, a 5x Certified Senior Solutions Consultant at Salesforce. Abel will provide his perspective on the role of a senior solutions consultant and the key skills and qualities that are necessary for success. He will discuss the importance of being able to understand the business needs of customers and developing tailored solutions to meet their specific requirements. Abel will also share some of the key challenges and opportunities that he has encountered in his role and offer insights on how to overcome them. Throughout this discussion, all three experts will address the various responsibilities and expectations of their respective roles, as well as the skills and experience needed to excel in these positions. They will also be responding to live audio questions from our audience. Whether you are a current Salesforce employee or simply interested in learning more about the different roles within the company, this episode is sure to provide valuable insights and information. ___________________ Please note that the views and opinions expressed in this episode are those of the individuals participating in the discussion and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of their respective employers, including Salesforce and the host of this podcast. The information provided in this episode is for informational purposes only and should not be taken as official guidance or representation of the policies or positions of Salesforce or any other company. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/habeshaintech/message

Habesha in Tech Founder interview with Gabina VOA --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/habeshaintech/message

At the end of 2021, The Ethiopian government called 1 Million Ethiopians to come home for Ethiopian Christmas and support the Economy, show the world that Ethiopia is still a stable country and change western media's negative portrayal of Ethiopia. In our session we discussed techie's experience.  The session was moderated by Tef (Habesha in Tech host). The panelists were Professor Solomon Negash, Fiseha Desta, Rahel Boon-Dejene, & Jay Jemal (PhD candidate). Podcast Cover art by: Beth Burka --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/habeshaintech/message

The demand for tech professionals is growing. Tech jobs are getting very competitive. Companies are hiring aggressively. Amazon is aiming at hiring 30K new employees every year. Our guest for March 19 session was Melon Y. and she shared us all things we need to know Before Applying at AWS. Teferi, the host, started the session by asking Melon about her brief background. Melon was born in Ethiopia and grow up in New York after her family moved to the US. She loves New York city. Melon has worked in high profile companies including UN, S&P, PwC, Boeing, etc... and now she is the Global Head of HR, AWS Partners and Channels. Melon spoke about LinkedIn Profiles, AWS career page, Resume, Interview, Loop Interview, AWS Leadership Principles, and more. I would like to thank Melon for her invaluable wisdom, advices & tipes she was able to share us during this session. I also would like to thank the audience for joining us. Please listen to the full conversation so that you can learn from Melon. Share | Comment | Like Follow Teferi Kassa | Follow Habesha in Tech --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/habeshaintech/message

Our guest is Dagnachew Birru (PhD) who is currently the Global Head of R&D at Quantiphi. Dr. Dagnachew has many years of experience as an idea-driven technology researcher, developer, and leader in systems employing Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning and smart algorithms, resulting in 50+ issued patents. He was born and raised in Northern Ethiopia. Dr. Birru grew up in a very difficult time where there were no role models who could inspire him professionally. He was curious to learn about technology that he used to disassemble his dad's radio to learn where the sound was coming from and how it worked. He used to do some work to financially help his family. Dagnachew was a bright young man that he betted on himself that when he sat for a national exam he said "If I pass this exam, I will move forward and continue my education or else I will be a businessman". He passed and went to Addis Ababa University to study Electrical Engineering. Dr. Birru had high grade and the university hired him as a lecturer. After serving for about a year, he and his friend were able to secure a scholarship in Netherland where Phlips was funding the program. He studied Master of Science -Electrical and Electronics Engineering at Eindhoven University of Technology and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Electronics Engineering and Signal Processing from Technische Universiteit Delft. His PhD thesis helped him secure his job at Philips in New York, USA. Dr. Birru have worked at Philips, Philips Lighting & Signify all of which are Philips companies and he served in many different levels started from a researcher to team leadership roles and to more higher positions such as Head of Research & Sr. Director, Head of Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence Center of Excellence. He is currently Global Head of R&D at Quantiphi where he focuses further shape, build and lead a world-class R&D function, reimagining business with AI-led solutions, and laying the foundation for the next phase of growth. Quantiphi, Founded in 2013, is an award-winning AI-first digital engineering company driven by the desire to solve transformational problems at the heart of business. As always, I was privileged to learn Dagnachew Birru's Tech Journey first hand. I would like to thank Dr. Birru for his time and willingness to share his tech journey and respond to all of the questions from audiences and myself. I would also like to thank everyone who made it to the live session on clubhouse. Please help us spread this wonderful recording here on LinkedIn & all of the social media platforms. Share | Comment | Like Follow Teferi Kassa | Follow Habesha in Tech --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/habeshaintech/message

Audience Questions It was a great honor to have a conversation with Mekonnen Kassa on Habesha in Tech club. We spent close to 3 hours talking about his personal &  professional journey. It was an eye opening session where we learnt how  he was able share us his personal story starting from his life in  Gondar, Ethiopia. Mekonnen left Ethiopia during the Socialist Derg military was leading  the country. He was young & ambitious so he and his friend together  walked to Sudan, yes WALKED TO SUDAN. He was able to  escape the suffering in Ethiopia but the suffering in Sudan was there  waiting for this young new Refugee. After few years in Sudan living as a  refugee, Mr. Kassa was fortunate enough to come to the US with his  partner. That’s where he was able to start his English language class.  He also started working as a taxi driver. Mekonnen is polyglot. He speaks Amharic,  Tigrigna, Arabic, English. He loves learning new languages he tried to  learn Afan Oromo too, he probably need some course – feel free to give  him tips 😀. While he was attending his language class he was able to  learn about his deep interest about education, therefore, he went to University of Washington to study Mechanical Engineering. While he was attending school he also works as a cab driver. The  conversation he had with one of his frequent customers was the one that  changed his life. His customer was kind enough to tell him what his job.  Mr. Kassa used this opportunity to pitch what skills & trainings.  His customer supported Mekonnen by guiding him to prepare his resume and  get him an interview at Accenture (then Anderson Consulting). That how Mekonnen’s Tech Journey was  launched. You can call it fate, opportunity or luck: but Mekonnen was  able to capitalize on what he was given. After he joined Accenture, his  career took off and still going strong. He is currently a Senior  Director of Cyber Security Engineering at Microsoft. Mekonnen told us that he struggled to move up the ladder at  Microsoft. But he wasn’t able to understand why. He was doing everything  right and was a successful tech leader but that wasn’t enough to get  him promotion. But one day he insisted to get the right reasons so that  he can improve & move up the management ladder. That where  everything changed: he was able to change course and made changes on his  communication, leadership & interpersonal skills. That changed his  career. He is now a leader, a mentor, a coach. It was an honour to have a chance to chat with you. I can’t wait to  listen to our conversation again. It was very rich with your personal  story and tech Journey. Thank you 🙏🏾 so much for sharing us your  journey. Please listen to our conversation and share it with your network. Follow | Share | Comment | Like Website | Clubhouse | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/habeshaintech/message

It was a great honor to have a conversation with Mekonnen Kassa on Habesha in Tech club. We spent close to 3 hours talking about his personal & professional journey. It was an eye opening session where we learnt how he was able share us his personal story starting from his life in Gondar, Ethiopia. Mekonnen left Ethiopia during the Socialist Derg military was leading the country. He was young & ambitious so he and his friend together walked to Sudan, yes WALKED TO SUDAN. He was able to escape the suffering in Ethiopia but the suffering in Sudan was there waiting for this young new Refugee. After few years in Sudan living as a refugee, Mr. Kassa was fortunate enough to come to the US with his partner. That's where he was able to start his English language class. He also started working as a taxi driver. Mekonnen is polyglot. He speaks Amharic, Tigrigna, Arabic, English. He loves learning new languages he tried to learn Afan Oromo too, he probably need some course - feel free to give him tips 😀. While he was attending his language class he was able to learn about his deep interest about education, therefore, he went to University of Washington to study Mechanical Engineering. While he was attending school he also works as a cab driver. The conversation he had with one of his frequent customers was the one that changed his life. His customer was kind enough to tell him what his job. Mr. Kassa used this opportunity to pitch what skills & trainings. His customer supported Mekonnen by guiding him to prepare his resume and get him an interview at Accenture (then Anderson Consulting). That how Mekonnen's Tech Journey was launched. You can call it fate, opportunity or luck: but Mekonnen was able to capitalize on what he was given. After he joined Accenture, his career took off and still going strong. He is currently a Senior Director of Cyber Security Engineering at Microsoft. Mekonnen told us that he struggled to move up the ladder at Microsoft. But he wasn't able to understand why. He was doing everything right and was a successful tech leader but that wasn't enough to get him promotion. But one day he insisted to get the right reasons so that he can improve & move up the management ladder. That where everything changed: he was able to change course and made changes on his communication, leadership & interpersonal skills. That changed his career. He is now a leader, a mentor, a coach. It was an honour to have a chance to chat with you. I can’t wait to listen to our conversation again. It was very rich with your personal story and tech Journey. Thank you 🙏🏾 so much for sharing us your journey. Please listen to our conversation and share it with your network. Follow | Share | Comment | Like Website | Clubhouse | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/habeshaintech/message

My guest on Habesha in Tech was Myriam Said, who is currently Digital Advisor at the Office of the Prime Minister of Ethiopia coordinating efforts in transitioning Ethiopia to a Digital Economy. Previously she was the Director of the National Digital Transformation Program at the Ministry of Innovation and Technology where she led the development of “Digital Ethiopia 2025”; an Inclusive National Digital Transformation Strategy. Myriam was born in Addis Ababa, went to Lycée Guebre-Mariam and attended her secondary education in France (1st Degree in Mathematics, 2nd Degree in Physics, Master in Physics applied to the Environment). She moved back to Ethiopia to focus on practical works. Her first unpaid job was at UNHCR as Environmental Impact researcher. But at the time, ICT was vibrant in Ethiopia more specifically the system integration area. For that reason she took a CISCO certification and start working for a System Integration company as a junior engineer. Myriam spent over 15 years in the private sector. She started in a leading ICT System Integration Company implementing National IT Infrastructure projects and was then the co-founder of a Digital Financial Service Provider that built several digital platforms to enable payments and bring efficiency on how people transact. We discussed about Ethiopia's Digital Transformation & on issues that are currently changing the digital space. We talked about unleashing value from agriculture, The next version of global value chains in manufacturing, building the IT enabled services, and, digital as the driver of tourism competitiveness. We also talked about the "broader ecosystem: People, Connectivity, Payments, Digital ID, Cyber security, E-Governance and more. I would like to thank Myriam for her willingness to come to our session to share us the latest information on Ethiopia's Digital Transformation Journey. Please have a listen and tell us know if you have any question and what you feel about our conversation. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/habeshaintech/message

Welcome to 𝙃𝙖𝙗𝙚𝙨𝙝𝙖 𝙞𝙣 𝙏𝙚𝙘𝙝 Club.                                              As the global market moves into more tech-oriented businesses, 𝙀𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙤𝙥𝙞𝙖𝙣𝙨 & 𝙀𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙣𝙨 are joining the tech world either through an academic path or making a career change.    We will invite guest speakers working in tech to share with us how they make their decision to join the tech, answer some questions from the audience and provide their advice on how to be successful in the field.  In this room, we can help each other by sharing our experience.  The Language of discussions are 𝗔𝗺𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗰 or 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗵. This sessions occur every Saturday @1:00 PM EST.  Stay tuned for more exciting episodes.  ________________________________    እንኳን ወደ ሀበሻ ኢን ቴክ ክለብ በደህና መጡ!   ይሀ ክለብ በየሳመንቱ ቅዳሜ ከሰዓት 1:00ፒኤም (በቶሮንቶ ሰዓት) ወይም ከምሽቱ 3:00 (በኢትዮጵያ ሰዓት) የቴክኖሎጂ ባለሙያዎችን በመጋበዝ የሚከናውኑ ውይይቶቸ የሚዘጋጅበት ክለብ ነው።    ወደዚህ ክለብ የምንጋብዛቸው እንግዶች በቴክኖሎጂ የሙያ ዘርፍ የተሰማሩና ልምድ ያላቸው ሲሆን ለያለፉበትን መንገድ እና የመረጡትን የሙያ ዘርፍ ያካፍሉናል።   በተጨማሪም በተመረጡ የቴክኖሎጂ የሙያ ዘረፎች ላይ ያተኮረ ውይይት ይደረጋል።  በቴክኖሎጂ የስራ ዘርፍ መሰማራት ይሻሉ? በቴክኖሎጂ ውስጥ የሚሰሩ ኢትዮጵያውያንና ኤርትራውያን የህይወት ተሞክሮ ማድመጥ ይፈልጋሉ?   እንግዲያውስ ይህንን ክለብ ይከታተሉ፣ ፖድካሰትና ዩቱዩባችንንም ሰብስክራይብ ያድርጉ ለወዳጆችዎም ያጋሩ።  Website | Clubhouse | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/habeshaintech/message

Dawit Lessanu was born in Addis Ababa but raised in the United States Dawit Lessanu is an accomplished senior technology leader with over 26 years experience in Information Technology. Dawit has worked across diverse industries as a big 4 consultant, Media, Music, Publishing, Finance and Retail Consumer Goods. He has degrees in Mechanical Engineering, Africana Studies and an MBA in IT Management. Dawit is also an accomplished artist and a yoga instructor. He has raised 2 adult children and enjoys reading, meditation and traveling. He hails from the greater New York area and is currently Executive Director of Enterprise Architecture at the Estee Lauder Companies. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/habeshaintech/message

Our guest is Abeba Birhane (PhD), a cognitive science PhD researcher at the Complex Software Lab in the school of computer science at University College Dublin, Ireland. She hails from the beautiful city of Bahir Dar, Ethiopia. She was a brilliant student. You may not guess how she earned her first salary, by being a DJ. She is now living in Ireland. Abeba completed her PhD in Cognitive Science from Complex Software Lab in the school of computer science at University College Dublin, Ireland. Congrats to her.  Abeba is fearless to challenge the status quo whenever she sees injustice and inaccurate representations. One of the researches Abeba co-wrote was a reason for MIT to takedown the 80 million datasets that has racist and offensive content. She also don't support Robots to be given rights because that only is going to give more rights to the Robots manufacturers.  Thank you Abeba for sharing us your Tech Journey.  Have a listen and share this with your friends. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/habeshaintech/message

Overview of the Digital Ethiopia 2025 and Ethiopians Digital Economy strategic documents. Current progress and barriers. Concluding with insights and feedback. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/habeshaintech/message

In this session we discussed about Blockchain & its impact in the Cyber Security space more specifically IoT Security. Our panelist are experts in their field and they shared us their point of views in this regard. I would like to thank Jay Jemal for bringing his colleagues to share their knowledge in the blockchain space. I also would like to thank Wondimu Zegeye & Hailu Kassa for willing to join our session. Please find the below excerpt of Panelists' Profile, Click learn more to view the full profile.  Jay Jemal is a Blockchain/distributed ledger technology expert. He has implemented Blockchain solutions for several government agencies such as HHS, CDC, NSF and DoD, to mention a few. He leads the architecture and implementation of the only CGI’s Blockchain IP based platform, Secure Data Fabric (SDF™), CGI’s first Blockchain/ML/AI IP commercial product (Patent issuer and number us 63054225). Mr. Jay Jemal is the Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Dallol Consulting Group, LLC founded and based in Atlanta, GA. Mr. Jemal, as a successful Sr. Technologist, has a proven track record of more than 20 years of experience in architecting and implementing cutting-edge software systems for government agencies and fortune 500 companies. Mr. Jemal holds a master’s in Computer Science and B.S. in Computer Science from the University of Texas at Dallas. He also holds several technology and management certifications. Mr. Jemal is currently pursuing Doctor of Engineering (DEng) in Cybersecurity track at Morgan State University (MSU) CREAM Lab – with research focusing on Blockchain for IoT security. Learn More Wondimu Zegeye (D.Eng) is a Sr. Research & Development Engineer, a National Science Foundation (NSF) Post-doc fellow at Cyber Security Assurance and Policy (CAP) Center, and Adjunct Professor at Morgan State University. Dr. Zegeye has been doing research in the areas of Cellular networks, Data and communication networks, Cyber Security, Machine Learning and AI. He has published over 20 scientific papers globally. He currently leads a team of researchers at MSU’s CAP in IoT security for Smart homes. He runs multiple projects in collaboration with John’s Hopkins University, Dartmouth College, University Michigan, University of Maryland at College Park, Tufts university, and University of Illinois Urban campagna in the NSF funded project, Security and Privacy in the Lifecycle of IoT for Consumer Environments (SPLICE). He also teaches advanced computer and data communication, Cyber Security, and digital electronic courses. Learn More Hailu Kassa (D.Eng) is a research scientist at Cyber Security Assurance and Policy (CAP) Center, and Adjunct Professor at Morgan State University. Dr. Kassa has been doing research in the areas of 5G security and Energy Efficiency; Distributed Sensor Networks and IoT; Wireless Sensor Network for Healthcare Applications; Big Data Analysis, Extraction and Forensic. Dr. Kassa also worked with over 26 MSc students. Advised and graduated 11 MSc students at Hawassa University, Ethiopia. Given a training on Solar Technology Technical and Business Training for Small and Large scale enterprises, organized by GIZ. Learn More Cheers, Tef Kassa Website: https://habeshaintech.com Clubhouse:https://www.clubhouse.com/club/habesha-in-tech Facebook: https://facebook.com/habeshaintech/ Instagram: https://instagram.com/habeshaintech/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/habeshaintech/ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/habeshaintech/message

On Saturday November 6, 2021, I had the opportunity to chat with Alem Abreha, who is a Systems Engineer, with more than 10 years of experience in Infrastructure, Service Reliability Engineering, Tooling/Automation and DevOps. He started his career as a Systems Administrator in Unix and Linux operating systems while he was in College (Mekelle University). He is now a Lead Systems Engineer at Mulesoft (a Salesforce Company). Alem walked us through his tech journey starting from his school year to where he is now.  He also shared us about his startup that he worked on. Alem is the founder & CEO of Gooday™. He founded it in 2019, Gooday Online is headquartered in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The word "Gooday", while it has a well intentioned meaning in English, also means "business" or "errand" in Amharic, spelled 'ጉዳይ'. I would like to thank Alem for his time and willing to share us his tech journey. I want to also thank our audiences who were listening to us and those who participated in the Q&A. Please listen to our full conversation to get more perspective and discover his journey. Cheers, Tef Kassa Website: https://habeshaintech.com  Clubhouse: https://www.clubhouse.com/club/habesha-in-tech Facebook: https://facebook.com/habeshaintech/ Instagram: https://instagram.com/habeshaintech/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/habeshaintech/ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/habeshaintech/message

I had the opportunity to chat with Goitom Seyoum, Staff Software Engineer at Google, on Clubhouse to discuss his Tech journey. Goitom was very honest to share us his journey from where everything started. He is the one of first Ethiopians to attend at Maharishi International University. While at the university he used to apply for jobs but he felt like he could apply to even more companies if he could find help. So he decided to build his own automated program that search(crawl) websites for keywords he set up (such as job title, skills ...). After he completed the development, he was able to apply to more companies than his fellow classmates and he was getting email & phone call responses from recruiters. When his friends saw the success of his program, they wanted to use it and he made the program accessible to them.  Goitom is A father, an entrepreneur, problem solver, ambitious, strategy thinker, engineer and people leader... Built more than 5 startups. Currently working at Google for the last 8 years as a tech lead manager at Google Play. I would like to thank Goitom for his time and willing to share us his tech journey. He is also an amazing story teller. I want to also thank our audiences who were listening to us and those who participated in the Q&A.   Please listen to our full conversation to get more perspective and discover his journey.   Cheers,  Tef Kassa  Website: https://habeshaintech.com  Clubhouse: https://www.clubhouse.com/club/habesha-in-tech  Facebook: https://facebook.com/habeshaintech/  Instagram: https://instagram.com/habeshaintech/  Twitter: https://twitter.com/habeshaintech/ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/habeshaintech/message

I had the opportunity to chat with Goitom Seyoum, Staff Software Engineer at Google, on Clubhouse to discuss his Tech journey. Goitom was very honest to share us his journey from where everything started. He is the one of first Ethiopians to attend at Maharishi International University. While at the university he used to apply for jobs but he felt like he could apply to even more companies if he could find help. So he decided to build his own automated program that search(crawl) websites for keywords he set up (such as job title, skills ...). After he completed the development, he was able to apply to more companies than his fellow classmates and he was getting email & phone call responses from recruiters. When his friends saw the success of his program, they wanted to use it and he made the program accessible to them.  Goitom is A father, an entrepreneur, problem solver, ambitious, strategy thinker, engineer and people leader... Built more than 5 startups. Currently working at Google for the last 8 years as a tech lead manager at Google Play. I would like to thank Goitom for his time and willing to share us his tech journey. He is also an amazing story teller. I want to also thank our audiences who were listening to us and those who participated in the Q&A.  Please listen to our full conversation to get more perspective and discover his journey.  Cheers, Tef Kassa _______________________________ Website: https://habeshaintech.com Clubhouse: https://www.clubhouse.com/club/habesha-in-tech Facebook: https://facebook.com/habeshaintech/ Instagram: https://instagram.com/habeshaintech/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/habeshaintech/ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/habeshaintech/message

I had the opportunity to chat with Goitom Seyoum, Staff Software Engineer at Google, on Clubhouse to discuss his Tech journey. Goitom was very honest to share us his journey from where everything started. He is the one of first Ethiopians to attend at Maharishi International University. While at the university he used to apply for jobs but he felt like he could apply to even more companies if he could find help. So he decided to build his own automated program that search(crawl) websites for keywords he set up (such as job title, skills ...). After he completed the development, he was able to apply to more companies than his fellow classmates and he was getting email & phone call responses from recruiters. When his friends saw the success of his program, they wanted to use it and he made the program accessible to them.  Goitom is A father, an entrepreneur, problem solver, ambitious, strategy thinker, engineer and people leader... Built more than 5 startups. Currently working at Google for the last 8 years as a tech lead manager at Google Play. I would like to thank Goitom for his time and willing to share us his tech journey. He is also an amazing story teller. I want to also thank our audiences who were listening to us and those who participated in the Q&A.  Please listen to our full conversation to get more perspective and discover his journey.  Cheers, Tef Kassa _______________________________ Website: https://habeshaintech.com Clubhouse: https://www.clubhouse.com/club/habesha-in-tech Facebook: https://facebook.com/habeshaintech/ Instagram: https://instagram.com/habeshaintech/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/habeshaintech/ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/habeshaintech/message

Last week I had the opportunity to chat with Kal Kassa. Kal shared us his experience before he entered into the crypto world. He has been in the crypto world for a while and he is a strong advocate for the adoption of Bitcoin in a global scale. He invested in making the Bitcoin buz get into the ordinary Ethiopian who may not have access to the documents, internet and the language. He leading the effort to write an eBook so that Ethiopians can read in their own language like Amharic, Afan Oromo & others. He is also working on hosting BITCOIN AFRICA CONFERENCE 2022 that would be the first of it's kind and will be huge influence on the adoption of Bitcoin in Ethiopia. His website - Bitcoinbirr is an educational site for everything Bitcoin and Birr. In addition, there is also a resource for our Eritreans -BitcoinNakfa. Please follow their work and see if their advocacy can bring the change to the bitcoin space in Ethiopia & Eritrea.  I would like to thank Kal for joining us to share his story and stayed longer to answer our audience's questions. Thanks everyone for showing up and joined us live.  Subscribe to our podcast, youtube channel & newsletter.  Please share this with your friends.  --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/habeshaintech/message

Our guest on Habesha in Tech club was Eyosias Y. Imana (PhD) who is currently working as Staff Modem Systems Engineer at Qualicom. He is born and raised in Ethiopia. He went to Bahir Dar University to study Electrical Engineering. He also attended his M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering at Florida Institute of Technology which focused on signal processing and wireless communications. His aspiration to learn and specialize in wireless communications led him to go for his PhD at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University which focused on development and implementation of flexible digital radio technologies. He holds patents for practical innovations he made. We discussed about wireless communication technologies that impacted what we utilize today such as 2G, 3G, 5G and other technologies. He has expertise on Wireless systems, RF systems, communication theory, DSP implementations, RF-based sensors including ultra-short-range radars.  I would like to thank Eyosias for his willingness to join me on this chat and sharing us his journey. I also would like to thank the audience who came to listen our conversation and came to stage to ask their questions. Special thanks to Eyosias family & friends who were there to listen and support Eyosias. Listen to this Podcast to get the full conversation. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/habeshaintech/message

On October 2nd, I had an opportunity to chat with Rahel Boon-Dejene, the CEO of R&D Group. She is a person who is proud of her humble beginning and she shared us how she got into Tech. Her path to where she is now isn't an easy one but she accomplished it through persistence and pushing the limits of her ability and breaking barriers. She wrote 68 letters to multiple companies company that rejected her. Later she became Partner with ORTECH and she helped set up a state of the art analysis center in Ethiopia. That led to the establishment of R&D Group. Please listen to our conversation to learn her story.  --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/habeshaintech/message

On our previous Clubhouse session we had a wonderful career talk on Data Science and Analytics career paths. The panelist (Mahlet Konjit-Solomon, Zeradam Fantaye, Bereket Kindo, Etana Disasa & Abel Gebresilassie) are currently working in the Data Science and Analytics fields. They provided their guidance and tips on how to be successful in entering in this career paths. This Episode is Part 2 of the sessions and in this episode the panelist answered questions about Data Analytics. Please listen to Part 1 & Part 3 - of the session to get the full picture.  --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/habeshaintech/message

On our previous Clubhouse session we had a wonderful career talk on Data Science and Analytics career paths. The panelist (Mahlet Konjit-Solomon, Zeradam Fantaye, Bereket Kindo, Etana Disasa & Abel Gebresilassie) are currently working in the Data Science and Analytics fields. They provided their guidance and tips on how to be successful in entering in this career paths. This Episode is Part 1 of the sessions and in this episode the panelist answered questions about What is Data?, What is common in Data Science & Analytics?, What is Data Science?  Please listen to Part 2 - Data Analytics & Part 3 - Q/A to get the full picture.  --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/habeshaintech/message

I had the pleasure of chatting with Yodit Stanton the Founder & CEO of OpenSensors. Yodit has shared us her tech journey and what paths she took to become where she is now. She believes that programming is an art and she loves learning new skills and upgrading herself. She is a Software and Data engineer working to helping people understand their physical space. OpenSensors aggregates data from a variety of sensors for the next generation of smart Building Management Systems. Thank you for listening. Please share this with your network.  --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/habeshaintech/message

We had a successful career talk on Cloud Computing on August 14th with two panelists: - Fukare Yimtatu - Nati Abebe They shared us their cloud career journey and provided guidance to new joiners and anyone interested in joining cloud computing career. They also shared their insights to some of the questions from our audience. If you missed the live conversation, listen to the podcast on our website (habeshaintech.com) or wherever you get your podcast. Please provide us your feedback to bring you better programs. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/habeshaintech/message

On August 7th, I had the opportunity to speak with Selam Ayele Kebede to learn from her Tech Journey on Habesha in Tech club on Clubhouse. Selam is a brilliant woman who have an exemplary life and tech journey. Selam & I went to Bahir Dar University and completed our degree same year, 2010. Selam studied Electrical Engineering and she was also active in the University's student clubs. Her Tech Journey is an interesting one because it was impacted by the rapid tech world changes. The Finish company, Nokia, that had the largest market share in the mobile market was hit by the growing IOS & Android. This change impacted all students at Aalto University and drove everyone including Selam to look for an entrepreneurship route and think outside the predefined paths. Selam was able to adjust to this change and bring herself to the newly growing e-commerce and digital market in East Africa and for that she joined an Ethiopian startups like soleRebels, Gro Intelligence, Seedstars, & GrowthAfrica. Now Selam Ayele Kebede is the Director of Antler in Kenya. Antler is a global early-stage venture capital firm that invests in the tech startups. Thank you Selam Ayele Kebede for sharing your tech journey with us. Have a listen! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/habeshaintech/message

I had the opportunity to speak to Mahlet Konjit-Solomon, MSIT-HIT on Saturday July 31, 2021 about her Tech Journey. Mahlet has an amazing Tech career path which started from Ethiopia and now she is Chief of Public Reporting and Data Release at Maryland Health Care Commission in the US. She studied Electrical Engineering at Bahir Dar University and worked in different companies in Ethiopia and moved to the US. Mahlet is open to learn 'the new' and explore opportunities whenever she encounters them. We discussed about her #healthcare #career and how it ties to tech - through Data. She is also Founder of EthiopianHealthData, a side project to help her home country Ethiopia by developing a website and feeding #Covid19 daily cases #data and making it available to the public use. She is interested in supporting her community and collaborate on multiple other project mainly African & Ethiopian Digital Data. Thank you Mahi for sharing your journey with us. If you missed the conversation or would like to listen to it again, you can find the recording in our podcast (Apple, Google, Spotify and more). --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/habeshaintech/message

On July 24th,  I had the chance to speak with Markos Lemma of iceaddis about his Tech Journey on Habesha in Tech, a Clubhouse club.  Markos has an amazing tech career that started with his first start up that was aimed at working with travel agencies which got him paid ETB 500. He worked hard to build his career. He have spent a part of his career working at One Laptop Per Child and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH (aka GIZ).  He is well known for cofounding a startup, iceaddis – Ethiopia's first innovation hub & tech startups incubator. The team celebrated a 10th year anniversary of their #startup. iceaddis have helped more than 160 startups. iceaddis isn't going to be limited to Addis Abeba rather planning to expand to other cities in Ethiopia, icehawasa is next, and Germany and many more to come.  Markos have worked with multiple other initiatives that are working towards education, clean water and other important project to support the communities in Ethiopia. I have learnt so much from talking to Markos as he was very open to share his past not only the success but also the failures. I believe you will learn from our conversation. Have a listen! Join the Club: https://ios.clubhouse.com/club/habesha-in-tech --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/habeshaintech/message

Over the weekend, Saturday July 10, I had the opportunity to chat with Dawit Abraham, the Founder and CEO of Qene Games. He was the youngest guest on the show. He is a developer of the game called Kukulu, first of its kind in Ethiopia. His company is also know for a game called Gebeta, which is based on Ethiopian local game played for centuries on hole engraved flat stones/wood. He came from Electrical Engineering background. Dawit wasn't limited by his classroom activities rather he pushed himself to learn to code and develop apps/games. He was able to start developing his famous game - Kukulu while attending his class. He was fortunate to utilize resources from Icoglabs and Gebeya. His stay at both companies also helped him to transform his career in to becoming a successful Game Developer and founder of Qene Games. Dawit's success story wasn't an easy one, he shared us the challenges Qene Games faced. Thank you Dawit for sharing us your journey and respond to audience's question. We have recorded the session, please have a listen on our podcast. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/habeshaintech/message

Over the weekend I had the opportunity to have a chat with Bekure Tamirat about his Tech Journey on Clubhouse. We spent about 2 hours talking about his career and answering questions from audience. Bekure has worked in many industries before he start to work in Tech. He also worked in a radio talk show called Tech intunes on Afro FM 105.3. He is experienced educator and IT professional who worked as Developer at first but moved to IT infrastructure career path. He worked as consultant in different companies before he joined Gebeya in 2016 as Operations Director. He is currently working as Product Director. I learnt about the story of how Gebeya become such a successful company. Amadou አማዱ Daffe is a Pan African Senegalese-American who was inspired by Ethiopia's history co-founded the company and named it Gebeya Inc. which literally means marketplace in Amharic. Gebeya currently is teaching more than 700 students. Key takeaways: - Anyone interested in Ethiopia's Ecosystem: have a patience. - Manage your expectations: Ethiopia's market is DIFFERENT. - If you want to be successful, don't invest but LEARN first. - Learn from things that failed: ask WHY? Podcast is available and have a listen in the podcast of your choice. Link: https://lnkd.in/e9z9QfE Join Clubhouse and follow Habesha in Tech using this link: https://lnkd.in/efxfwSw #tech #startup #career #developer #work #innovation #entrepreneur #teaching #hitech #habeshaintech --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/habeshaintech/message

Over the weekend I had the opportunity to chat with Addis Alemayehou about Tech Investing. Bekure Tamirat and I were co-moderating the Habesha in Tech room. Addis shared us his starting point where he started investing in working at a hotel in Mississauga and then become a real estate investor in Toronto. His story and journey is very inspiring to many of us.  He moved to Ethiopia to contribute to the growing economy. Addis have been doing impressive work on expanding his investment portfolios: Fin-tech, telecom, communications, manufacturing, logistics, tech and more. He supports many young start up owners by guiding and sporting in ways he can. Addis also believes that Ethiopia has a huge potential in almost all of the sectors but Logistics is the biggest that will be hit by the disruptions. He also mentioned that the billing system still needs huge change as the data shows that 60% of people walking in the streets of Addis Ababa pays some kind of bills, this has a huge space for disruptors.  The new telecom licence awarded to Safaricom PLC by Ethiopian Communications Authority is bringing new opportunities to the tech start ups which is driven by the competition with existing telecom provider ethio telecom, the sole telecom provider in Ethiopia. Addis also discussed on the newly launched telebirr that is providing mobile money solution and he believes telebirr will be a game changer for new and existing businesses. Ethiopian start-up ecosystem is growing very fast and newcomers are joining in every sectors. Addis has advice to those who are interested in Tech or any other sectors in Ethiopia. Here are key take aways: Be informed about what’s happening on the ground. Understand what the current and new policies and identify their impacts.  Take a month or 2 write problems your community faces before making any moves. Ethiopia has it's own unique problems and investors/start-up owners should accept them and look for a way to solve the problem instead of complaining and wait for the impediments to be removed. It was an honour to host Addis Alemayehou on Habesha in Tech club. Thank you Addis for spending your time with us. I also would like to thank Bekure Tamirat for being a great co-moderator. Bekure is my next guest on July 3rd at 1:30 P.M. EDT, please join us then. #thankyou #tech #startup #opportunities #community #innovation #investing #logistics #investment #digitaleconomy #startupecosystem Kazana Group Gebeya Inc. 251 Communications & Marketing PLC --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/habeshaintech/message