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A DDIS ALEMAYEHOU IS CEO
of Ethiopian-based marketing,
public relations and branding firm what to expect from Ethiopian consumers
251 Communications, which stresses
the importance of integrating cultural
trends with contemporary branding and
advertising. He spoke to Knowledge@
Wharton, the online journal of the
University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton
business school.
Tell us your story. You were a
pioneer in leaving Ethiopia and
then coming back.
I’ve been back for about 15 years, part of
the first wave of Ethiopians returning. I left
Ethiopia when I was seven or eight and
grew up in Kenya. I finished high school
in the US and then emigrated to Canada.
I came back to Ethiopia in 2001.
Why was it important for you to
return to Ethiopia?
That’s a question that always comes
up. For people who move back now, it’s
probably very obvious why they’re back.
It was a different story for me because
outside Ethiopia there was always one
question I got asked everywhere I went
and that was: ‘Where are you from?’
When I went back home in 2000 on
vacation, that was the one question
nobody ever asked me. That basically
did it.
Were you an entrepreneur from the
start when you moved back? What
were some of the business and
leadership things you took on when
you first came back to Ethiopia?
Some people are born entrepreneurs and
I think I’ve always been one. You can tell
this to my father now that I’m older and
wiser: my first business venture was sort
of stealing my dad’s car and providing
nightclub services to friends in Nairobi
during the weekends.
But I’ve always had ideas where
others didn’t. Africa, and obviously
Ethiopia, offers a tremendous amount of
opportunity. I feel like the guy who made
the first chair because he got tired of
sitting on the floor. There are a lot of
chairs to be made on the continent.
A busy street in Addis Ababa. Too many
foreign brands have preconceived ideas about
We provide support
for clients coming
into the country
That’s a really good metaphor. Tell
us more about 251 Communications:
what it does and where it started.
251 started about four years ago. Prior
to that I was an employee, a contractor
supporting Ethiopian exports to the
US. For about five years my job was to
promote the best Ethiopia has to offer in
clothes, textiles, shoes and flowers. We
did trade shows over a couple of years. It
was an ideal position for me to understand
the opportunities within the private sector, Third is the fact that it’s a very old country.
the challenges within the private sector,
and also build a very good network with
the public sector and with the government
at the highest level.
Our economy has been growing in
double digits for a number of years. We
had the likes of Heineken, Unilever and
P&G coming into the market. That offered
an opportunity for communications,
because there was about to be some
serious competition on the ground.
That’s how we launched our firm as a
360-degree branding communications and
PR agency. We’ve now expanded that into
doing consumer insight and research, and
providing logistic support for clients that
are coming into the country.
What are some of the challenges for
foreign companies coming into Ethiopia?
The biggest challenge is perception before
people even get here. They have this
preconceived idea about what they should
expect when they land on the ground. The
second is a lack of information with regard to
the opportunities, as well as the challenges.
We’ve been around for 3 000 years; the US
is like a teenager compared to us.
We’ve never been colonised. We have
our own language, our own way of telling
time. Our New Year is September 11; our
Christmas is January 6. It’s 2007 right
now. These are all different things about
the country that a lot of people don’t
know. Knowing that, understanding it and
respecting it will get you a lot further.
There are key parts of the economy
that are closed and are not going to open
anytime soon. We have a very strong
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