Female award winning entrepreneur stepping the ladder of success

 

Recently the World Economic Forum awarded Bruktawit Tigabu as an outstanding social entrepreneur of the year. Our reporter, Abdurezak Mohammed sat with her to discuss how she managed to establish and sustain her organization. 

The Ethiopian Herald: Thank you very much for dedicating your times.

Bruktawit: The pleasure is mine.
 
Q: Could you tell us a bit about yourself.

Bruktawit: I am the co-founder and CEO Whiz Kids Workshop as well as the creative director at Whiz Kids Workshop.
I graduated from Kotebe College of Teacher Education which has been re-branded as Kotebe Metropolitan University. I taught for three years after graduation. Those years seem few but I got the opportunity to observe a gap in the education sector. Pre-school children are neglected in the education system. Due to that, children that received pre-school education had outperformed those who did not get the opportunity. And I've been contributing my share to bridge the gap.

Q: So, what is your contribution?

Bruktawit: There was no age-specific educational program that is produced in Ethiopia and continuously been on air. So, our program Tsehai Loves Learning has been on air for ten years. This is one of our achievement and we have continued on the production.
In terms of managing this kind of show for a long period of time, we are one of the longest running Ethiopian produced television series in the history of Ethiopia.
The second thing is that we have produced over hundred videos as well as over hundred books that go with the TV show in seven Ethiopian languages.
When we look the impact, a third party also did research to generate learning on the impact, the results have shown that children who are exposed to our program, books and videos have been found being better competent in their education than others who have no exposure to the programs and the books.

 Q: Recently, you received an award from World Economic Forum?

Bruktawit: Yes.

Q: What was the reason of the award?

Bruktawit: The World Economic Forum’s annual award is entitled ‘outstanding social entrepreneur of the year’. I’m one of the twelve awardees at a global level. It is undertaken by Schwab Foundation in collaboration with World Economic Forum. The selection process itself had taken one year period. Key accomplishments such as; whether or not a kind of project solves real problem in a given country, sustainability of the business, the projects’ scope in reaching the poorest of the poor and personal commitment.
They also appraised finance, performance, project management style among others.   

Q: What was your reaction when you learn about the nomination?

Bruktawit: The nomination was made almost a year ago. But, I didn't know I was selected. After that I was notified about it.  The award created an extraordinary feeling to me.  It is a great pride to me to be a nominated and awarded as an Ethiopian female. The pride is not to me alone, it is a pride to my country as well.

Q: What was the award and how does it support your next journey?

Bruktawit: The award is a prestigious title. I can attend World Economic Forum in different parts of the world. And also, I will get a short term course in Harvard University. So, I will be educated there for short term. I would like to establish partnership with the leaders of other countries as much as possible. It creates more opportunity for me and for the project. It gives more energy to my project.

Q: Is that your first recognition? 

Bruktawit: In terms of recognition and award, we have got more than ten international awards and one local award for our innovative solution, quality of production, leading such unique and successful social enterprise and for different reasons.
I got the opportunity to speak in big international conferences by representing Ethiopia. To mention, I was a keynote speaker in Social Enterprise World Forum in Scotland and World Economic Forum in New York and in Japan on World Science Forum.

Q: How many jobs have you created so far?  

Bruktawit: Our capital reached nearly 6.5 million Birr. In terms of job creation, we have thirty full-time employees, lots of people that work with us on contractual basis.

Q: What are the major challenges you've been facing?

Bruktawit: There are lots of challenges. Social enterprises don’t have good support system.   The Ethiopian Broadcast Authority has a policy that doesn't allow sponsorship and advertisement on productions revolving around children. This policy impedes more kid’s TV shows from coming to the scene.   This is one of our biggest challenges. In this case we have to rely on donors, who understand the impact we are bringing about in the education sector. We’re still struggling to get supports and sustain the project.

Q: What more have you planned to do in the future?

Bruktawit: The next journey is twofold— one is expanding our works all over Ethiopia. We want to expand our project in every school and make the products accessible to every child.
We’re working with  405 schools with a view to  making education interactive and funny to children. We have an aspiration to reach our impact at a continental level, on the other.    

Q: What can you tell us about the public-private partnership in Ethiopia?

Bruktawit: It is very hard to say more about this. The public –private partnership is too young in Ethiopia. We don’t see the expected collaboration as often.  In fact, the government has dedicated air-time for us for the last ten years. And we applied our creativity, knowledge and skills to bring our critical concept for the appropriate age of children. The result attracted donors to share the cost with us to some extent.
Addis Ababa Education bureau emulated practices from us and integrated educational materials we produced to support the teaching learning process.

Q. How do you describe your relations with government entities?

Bruktawit: So far we have excellent ties with both Ministry of Health and Education, hoping to enhance our collaboration with the Ministry of Women, Children and youth.  State education bureaus are also our key partners.  Addis Ababa Education Bureau and Amhara Education Bureau have been working with us for the last five years. We aspire working with these bodies more and more to increase our impact.

Q: What do you comment on women entrepreneurship in Ethiopia? 

Bruktawit: It is very exciting and I’m one of the founders of a social enterprise in Ethiopia. Few female entrepreneurs are making good impacts. Still, there is a lot ahead of us in creating more female entrepreneurs. We have association called Social Enterprise Ethiopia and the British Council has been supporting us. To the surprise of all, assessment the Association made indicated that there about fifty thousand social entrepreneurs in Ethiopia, but they don’t recognize themselves as entrepreneurs despite curbing societal problems. We will work to raise their awareness and enhance their productivity.
 
The Ethiopian Herald: Thank you again.

Bruktawit: It’s my pleasure.