people
ETHIOPIA RISING:
Building Bridges with Investment and Trade
THE INTERVIEW
The Honorable
Gezahgen
Kebede
HONORARY CONSUL
GENERAL OF THE
FEDERAL DEMOCRATIC
REPUBLIC OF ETHIOPIA
By: Heidi Powell-Prera, Journalist
42 iF Magazine | July
44
August 2018 2018
We are honored to be here at the of-
fice of Honorable Gezahgen Kebede,
Honorary Consul General of Ethio-
pia in the International Trade Center
in Southwest Houston.
walk us through some of your background
Hon. Kebede: I was born on July 5,
1958 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Addis
Ababa is the Capital City of Ethiopia.
I came to the USA when I was 17
With a warm smile, he greets us, years old to Bridgeport, Connecticut.
“First of all I would like to congrat- I did my undergraduate and graduate
ulate you and your team and IF for work at the University of Connecti-
the successful deliberation making cut in Finance and Economics. After
understandable the function of our graduation, I worked at Peoples’ Sav-
Houston Consular Corps for Greater ings Bank for a few years and moved
Houston and surrounding area. I to Houston in 1988.
would like also to express my heart-
felt gratitude and thanks for giving Hedi: You have an impeccable bio.
me this opportunity to conduct this
interview with you.”
The Honorable Gezahgen Kebede,
is an international business develop-
Heidi: It is our pleasure. I would like to ment consultant and diplomat. He is
begin with a couple of general questions, a founder and Chief Executive Of-
then, we will move on to more detailed in- ficer of WAGA Enterprises, LLC, a
formation about your responsibilities and Texas based business consulting com-
Ethiopia. First tell us about yourself and pany. He also served as a consultant