Girma Wolde-Giorgis

Girma Wolde-Giorgis (Amharic: ግርማ ወልደ ጊዮርጊስ; born December 1924) is an Ethiopian politician who has been President of Ethiopia since 2001.

Political Career

He was elected President on 8 October 2001, as a relative unknown and a surprise choice, by a unanimous vote of the Ethiopian Parliament. The Ethiopian presidency is largely a symbolic office with little power. Most of the power is vested in the hands of the Prime Minister. Presidents serve six-year terms. Girma was re-elected as President on 9 October 2007.

Background

Girma was born in December 1924 in Addis Ababa. He first attended an Ethiopian Orthodox Church school and later joined the Teferi Mekonnen School in Addis Ababa where he followed his education until the Italian invasion. The school was then renamed "Scuola Principe di Piemonte" (Prince of Piedmonte School) for the Crown Prince of Italy, in Addis Ababa.

Between 1950 and 1952, he received certificates in Management (from Holland), in Air Traffic Management (in Sweden) and Air Traffic Control (in Canada) under a training programme sponsored by the International Civil Aviation Organization. He was one of the first Ethiopians in the Ethiopian airforce dominated by American technicians. Girma tried to motivate Ethiopians to join the airlines and wrote a book on fundamentals. He was an activist and in the Inter Parliamentary Summit in Yugoslavia, he condemned the apartheid system in South Africa. Wolde-Giorgis speaks many languages fluently. They are: Afan Oromo (Oromiffa), Amharic, Tigrinya, Italian, English, and French.

Personal life

Girma Wolde-Giorgis is from the Oromo ethnic group. He is married and has five children. Girma is a member of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.

From : www.wikipedia.org

Meles Zenawi

Meles Zenawi Asres (Ge'ez: መለስ ዜናዊ አስረስ Mäläs Zenawi Äsräs; born 8 May 1955) is an Ethiopian politician who has been the Prime Minister of Ethiopia since 1995; previously he was President of Ethiopia from 1991 to 1995. Since 1985, he has been chairman of the Tigrayan Peoples' Liberation Front (TPLF), and he is currently head of the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF).

Meles was born in Adwa, Tigray in Northern Ethiopia, to an Ethiopian father from Adwa, Ethiopia, and a mother from Adi Quala, Eritrea. He graduated from the General Wingate high school in Addis Ababa, then studied medicine at Addis Ababa University (at the time known as Haile Selassie University) for two years before interrupting his studies in 1975 to join the TPLF. While a member of the TPLF, he founded the Marxist-Leninist League of Tigray. His first name at birth was "Legesse" (thus Legesse Zenawi, Ge'ez: ለገሰ ዜናዊ legesse zēnāwī) but he is better known by his nom de guerre Meles. He later changed his first name to "Meles" in honor of a University student and a revolutionary radical who was executed by the previous government in 1975.

The TPLF was one of many armed groups struggling against the dictator, Lieutenant Colonel Mengistu Hailemariam. Zenawi was elected Leader of the Leadership Committee in 1979 and Leader of the Executive Committee in 1983. He has been the chairperson of both the TPLF and the EPRDF since the EPRDF assumed power at the end of the Ethiopian Civil War in 1991. He was president of the Transitional Government of Ethiopia (TGE), during which Eritrea seceded from the country and the experiment of ethnic federalism started.

Education and Personal Life

Meles Zenawi acquired an MBA (Master of Business Administration) from the Open University of the United Kingdom in 1995 and an MSc. (Masters of Science) in Economics from the Erasmus University of the Netherlands in 2004. In July 2002, Meles has also received an honorary doctoral degree in political science from the Hannam University in South Korea.

Meles Zenawi is married to Azeb Mesfin and is the father of three children. Azeb Mesfin is now the chair of the Social Affairs Standing Committee of Parliament, and in January 2007, she was given the "Legacy of a Dream" award for her leadership against HIV/AIDS during a ceremony held in memory of America's civil rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King. In addition, Azeb Mesfin and various government agencies have addressed Child mortality issues in Ethiopia. According to UNICEF, Child mortality rate in Ethiopia has declined by 40% since the current ruling party took office.

From : www.wikipedia.org

 

Mohammed Hussein Al Amoudi

Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Ali Al Amoudi (Ge'ez: ሞሓመድ አልአሙዲ, Arabic: محمد حسين العمودي; is a Saudi Arabian/Ethiopian businessman and billionaire who lives in Ethiopia and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. As of 2011, his net worth has been estimated by Forbes at $12.3 billion, making him the 63rd richest person in the world. This listing also ranks him as the richest person in Ethiopia and the second richest Saudi Arabian citizen in the world.

Al Amoudi made his fortune in construction and real estate before branching out to buy oil refineries in Sweden and Morocco. He is said to be the largest foreign investor in both Sweden and Ethiopia.

Early Years

Al Amoudi was born in Ethiopia of a Hadhrami Yemeni father and an Ethiopian mother. He grew up in Ethiopia, before immigrating to Saudi Arabia when he was 19 and becoming a Saudi citizen.

Business Activities

Al Amoudi's construction company consortium, Mohammed International Development Research and Organization Companies, also known as MIDROC, won an important contract to build Saudi Arabia's estimated $30 billion nationwide underground oil storage complex in 1988. MIDROC acquired Yanbu Steel in Saudi Arabia in 2000.

In addition to his substantial business interests in Ethiopia, he also owns oil refineries in Morocco and Sweden and is engaged in energy exploration and production off West Africa and elsewhere. His Addis Ababa Sheraton is said to be among the finest hotels in Africa.

Al Amoudi owns a broad portfolio of businesses not only in oil but also in mining, agriculture, hotels, hospitals, finance, operations and maintenance. His businesses are largely to be found within two conglomerate holding and operating companies, Corral Petroleum Holdings and MIDROC, both which he owns and manages. He employs over 40,000 people through these companies.

He has recently pledged US$275 million alongside other Saudi and South Korean investors through MIDROC to finance a factory to build Saudi Arabia's first car, to be called Gazal-1, in a project initiated by King Saud University and, in September 2011, it was announced that he planned to invest around US$1.07bn (4bn Saudi Riyals) in two major Saudi industrial projects (phosphate derivatives and sulfur) in Ras Al Khair [Eastern Region] and Jubail Industrial City respectively.

Personal Life

Al Amoudi splits his residence between Ethiopia and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He is married to Sofia Saleh Al Amoudi, a Saudi citizen and shareholder of MIDROC Construction.

From : www.wikipedia.org