Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz arrived in Ethiopia (WHEN) for an official visit. Foreign Minister Workeneh Gebeyehu greeted the chancellor upon arrival at Bole International Airport early in the morning local time.Then ,Chancellor Kurz met and held discussion with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. The latter briefed the former regarding political changes made in the country since he took power as prime minister.
Commending the changes made in Ethiopia, the visiting Austrian Chancellor, on his part, expressed interest in fostering bilateral relations with Ethiopia. He also said that he would like to augment EU-Africa relations and transform development cooperation to economic cooperation hinged on innovation.
After visiting the prime minister ,the chancellor came to visit Ethiopia’s first agribusiness incubator bluemoon.He met with young entrepreneurs, leaders,innovationists at blue moon .

Our CEO and founder Bethelhem Dejene and COO and co-founder Betelhem Fikre had the chance to meet chancellor Kurz . Zafree papers was one of the few startups that got selected to pitch to the chancellor .He was very interested to hear about our ideas so it was very exciting to talk to him in person. This event will certainly motivate zafree’s leaders to work even harder.Furthermore, meeting global leaders will open a lot of opportunities for zafree . zafree is grateful for the chancellor of austria to come all the way. thank you.

 

Danish Minister for Development Cooperation, Rasmus Prehn, on his very first official visit to Ethiopia!

The Minister held a number of consultations with his Ethiopian counterparts, including Prime Minister Dr. Abiy Ahmed, the Minister for Peace, H.E. Muferiat Kamil and the Minister for Water, Irrigation and Energy, Dr. Seleshi Bekele. With Abiy, Minister Prehn planted trees at the Palace in Addis Ababa.

The Minister discussed issues related to youth both in Ethiopia and across the continent. He met some of the bright young professional leaders including Zafree ‘s papers to discuss topics such as Human Rights, ICT and climate smart entrepreneurship.

These entrepreneurs shared their inspiring stories, the challenges they met and the future they hold In their respective fields. These entrepreneurs are our very own Zafree papers’ CEO Bethelhem dejene, Bethlehem Dessie from iCOG Labs ,MS.Samrawit Fikru founder and CEO of RIDE and other influential leaders. They laid the first impression on the minister.
It has been an honor and privilege to be the very first destination for Danish development cooperation. All of us extend our gratitude for the educational and inspirational experience we have shared.

WEDF 2018’ opened up investment and expansion opportunities for Zafree!

World Export Development Forum 2018(WEDF18) has been hosted by international trade center https://www.intracen.org at Lusaka, Zambia from September 10 -13. International trade center is the only development agency that is dedicated to supporting the internalization of small and medium sized enterprises. (SME’S)

This means that the agency enables SMEs in developing and transition economies to become more competitive and connect to international markets for trade and investment, thus raising incomes and creating job opportunities, especially for women, young people, and poor communities. Established in 1964, the International Trade Centre (ITC) is the joint agency of the World Trade Organization and the United Nations.

The world export development forum was the ideal platform to discuss on strategies and polices, brought together buyers and sellers, and provided investment opportunities for SME with investors and green financers.

Our founder and CEO Bethelhem Dejene, represented Zafree Papers. In this forum, we found the opportunity to promote and share the value of Zafree papers.

In the world export development forum, most of the participants found overall partnership opportunities and commercial partners. Emerging entrepreneurs and startups in a pitch completion all attracted new business deals. Several went on to win other international media visibility.

As one of the participants, Zafree was also exposed to different commercial partnerships, investment opportunities and project expansion opportunities in Zambia and other African countries. 

Thanks to ITC Zafree is going Pan-African. We are currently working on Expansion to Zambia with different potential partners that offered investment, working land and sustainable supply of raw material (agro-waste). 

We are also working with GreenTec Capital Partners for further investments in Zafree. GreenTec Capital Partners invests in African start-ups and SMEs with a focus on combining social and environmental impact with financial success. 

WEDF 2018, has opened up many opportunities for Zafree Papers to go global do business across boarder scale up and work with green financiers. We are grateful to ITC for creating such a platform for MSMEs.

Our CEO and Founder of Zafree papers Ms. Bethelhem Dejene was invited to be a motivational speaker and judge on startup weekend event called Techstars.  Techstars is a private project which has a Swiss origin. It is a 54 hour event that took place simultaneously around the world. It took place from May 3-5 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

In just 54 hours, young startups experienced the highs, lows, fun, and pressure that made up life at a startup. As they learned how to create a real company, met the very best mentors, investors, co-founders, and sponsors who were ready to help them get started.

 In this three day lasting event ,it was all about getting inspired ,expanding network, getting best opportunities ,being motivated and guided in the best direction and pitching ideas to incubators.

It was such an honor for Zafree papers to play our part as a judge and motivator for upcoming startups.

The Vedica scholars program for women https://www.verdicascholars.com in partnership with observer research foundation https://www.orfonline.org  has hosted the first ever global program for women leadership (GPWL) .GPWL was supported by the center for new economic diplomacy of observer research foundation and the UK’s department for international development.

Our CEO MS. Bethelhem Dejenie was nominated as one of the most promising young  women leaders by international Trade Center (ITC) (https://www.intracen.org) to take part in GWPL.ITC  is a multilateral agency that is dedicated to supporting the internationalization of small and medium sized businesses.

As governments across Africa gathered for the UN-led Africa Climate Week in Ghana, simultaneously, 40 young African thought leaders, actors, and change makers from 11 countries across the African continent came together in South Africa with counterparts and experts from the UK to discuss how individuals, societies, and governments can become more resilient in their responses to climate change. 

 A three day intensive climate change dialogue organized by Wilton park www.wiltonpark.org.uk ,an executive agency, the UK foreign and commonwealth office in partnership with African climate reality project took place from March 18 to 20 in Magalisek, South Africa.

The dialogue themed “Alternative Africa Climate Week; 40 under 40 To Build Resilience”.   This dialogue gathered young African environmental activist, policy researchers and advocate of technical and financial experts and curators, innovators from all countries across the African continent. Being one of the change makers Zafree Papers was selected as one of the representatives of Ethiopia in this climate global dialogue.

Kigali global dialogue (KGD) https://www.orfonline.org/the kigali-global-dialouge-2019-49217/  was an event that was hosted by the center for economic diplomacy, observer research foundation (ORF) https://orfo.org in partnership with the Rwanda convention bureau, republic of Rwanda. It took place from July 3 to 5 at the Marriot hotel in the beautiful, clean, fresh city of Kigali.

      The two  day global dialogue was  annual Rwanda  based  platform  where established actors  such as higher government officials  of different countries ( Former Presidents, Prime Ministers , Ambassadors and Minsters) ,policy makers ,experts ,researchers ,startups  as well as  emerging  acts convened  to discuss global conversation on contemporary issues of development  and growth.  Our CEO Ms. Bethelhem Dejene was invited by Observer Research Foundation ORF to participate in KGD2019