About the Founder...
Welcome, and thank you for choosing to collaborate with Deldeyoch, which in Amharic means 'bridges.'
When envisioning myself as an entrepreneur, conscious traveler, and seeker of truth, I had a vision at a very young age to lead an impact-driven successful life. I sought to acquire knowledge, experience, and exposure through travel, jobs, work, and career as sources of inspiration to structure my business, Deldeyoch, which has always been my passion. Raised by a hard-working, conservative family that had a vision, I learned to be focused, disciplined, set boundaries, and say "Yes" to life, which helped me achieve my vision of success. I wanted to serve, understand what happened to us, and be the change I wanted.
After establishing my brand as a successful executive having worked in Ethiopia and the US, I was ready to venture on my own. I was fully aware of the challenges & risks associated with investing my time, resources, finance, & capacity in an unpredictable emerging market. Despite my successful career trajectory, being comfortable in the wealthiest nation in the world in the financial industry, I made a conscious decision to pursue a more impactful & sustainable path toward economic, social & innovative development in the new frontier, Africa. I felt ready to go on an adventure of a lifetime! The vision of Deldeyoch has been to broaden my understanding of the realities of Africa & specifically Ethiopia, learn from real-world experiences, & serve at whatever capacity to build impactful, structured, local, sustainable, innovative, and inclusive solutions to assist in the transitioning of the continent from AidtoTrade, as well as be part of the global network of conscious & responsible community.
While doing my MBA in Seattle, I had a vision for Africa, especially in emerging markets like Eastern Africa. As I was completing my business plan, being at the right time, place and ready to take on an impactful role, I was headhunted to be part of a dynamic group of founders, investors and shareholders that were starting an international commercial bank in Ethiopia. I was the youngest woman Chief Operating Officer in Ethiopia, to be part of establishing a startup international commercial bank. I had a lot at stake, with the responsibility to create policies for all departments, hire senior management, and align the vision of founders, shareholders and board members. The founders and investors were a dynamic group of successful global and local visionaries & experts who wanted to contribute to bringing the Ethiopian Financial Industry to global standards. Having been raised, educated, completed my business school at Addis Abeba University and having worked in the leading organizations in the country, Commercial Bank of Ethiopia and Ethiopian Airlines, as well as having done my MBA in Seattle and worked in Fortune 500 companies in the west in the Banking Industry, this was an opportunity of a lifetime to incorporate inclusive, impactful, innovation departmental policies, & operational process that disrupted the banking Industry in the country. After we inaugurated the bank, in the bank's first year of operation it broke even, which is unheard of in the global Financial industry.
I had a vision & remained steadfast in my pursuit of fostering sustainable & impactful economic development in Ethiopia, while maintaining my authenticity. I focused on understanding the social complexity, and business ecosystem while learning lessons in being an agile entrepreneur in an emerging market. I then traveled around Ethiopia, Africa, Europe, Middle East and the US for a sabbatical year, which helped me understand the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the business ecosystem in Ethiopia and emerging markets in Africa, and how we can move from AidtoTrade.
At several points in my life, when I thought I was ready, job offers, personal visions of success, unforeseen circumstances, and relationships took priority, putting my dream and passion for entrepreneurship on hold. I chose projects, research, exploration, social networks, and destinations in Africa and globally that were impactful and sustainable, allowing me to grow as a person. I made a conscious choice to travel, meet, break bread with fellow Africans, be authentic in sharing, and network with like-minded friends in every African country, to have a stronger connection to the continent.
My push to venture into starting Deldeyoch was in honor of my mentor, idol, and the backbone of who I am—my fathers, who lived a spiritual, authentic, balanced, selfless, sustainable, private, adventurous, and impactful lifestyle in service, integrity, and connection to God's universe. They showed me the path, habits, discipline, focus, vigilance, boundaries, solitude, grounding and love necessary for a spiritually successful life, knowing I am made in the image of God and can contribute to the global world. My mothers, sisters, aunts & friends that followed the patriarchy taught me the desperation women had to face in fighting for their place in humanity, society, community, and family, using social groups to be their authentic selves within outdated institutions. I chose to find my path, surrendering to God, to serve, flow, be challenged, tested, find my tribe, support, self-aware, self sufficient, private and knowing my worth in gratitude to my ancestors and all those who empowered me to have faith as I AM made in the image of God.
Reading, exploring, being tested, and traveling mostly solo as a woman from a young age, allowed me to become more self-aware, tolerant, empathetic, strategic, focused, interconnected, well-informed, fearless, emotionally intelligent, socially conscious, and grateful for every decision, challenge, and triumph I experienced. The complexity of serving, living, socializing, and developing relationships in an emerging market was not in my MBA case studies. I learned on the job & in life on how to navigate a lack of light, water, patriarchy, lack of internet, infrastructure, having everything stolen, safety, inflation, geopolitical changes, and gender bias. As part of my built-to-last entrepreneur journey, I wanted to create a network of conscious entrepreneurs sharing each other’s paths, views, and knowledge through serving, blogs, living in a community, workshops, being activists, and training. I had to walk the walk, to create an impactful & sustainable lifestyle that heals & allows our spirit to flourish, being sharp, insightful, as well as live a wealthy and healthy lifestyle in service, gratitude, forgiveness & compassion to oneself.
My fathers advised me that you can't lead people unless you have walked the walk as a follower, seek wisdom and constantly be open to learning life lessons. To serve, lead, guide, advise, counsel, mentor, nurture, teach, and co-create with a spiritual purpose is a responsibility when God has blessed you with so much. Being part of humanity and its diversity requires one to be aware, sharp, ethical, & detached, but kind, conscious, mindful, and respectful of those that have come before us. Manifesting dreams, vision & purpose requires focus, discipline, hard work, self-sacrifice, and consciousness to seek growth, clarity & healing within.
Thank you for collaborating with Deldeyoch, sharing, constructive criticism, and commenting. Looking forward to serving, and bringing innovative, strategic, inclusive, impactful & sustainable solutions to your organization's vision of success
By
Dutchess @deldeyoch.com
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""Bridging the gap to enhance the business ecosystem by fostering inclusivity, driving innovation, creating impactful solutions, embracing digitalization, promoting sustainability, and ensuring profitability."
