Tewodros Ashenafi (

Amharic Amharic is an Ethio-Semitic language, which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. It is spoken as a first language by the Amhara people, and also serves as a lingua franca for all other metropolitan populati ...

: ቴዎድሮስ አሸናፊ; born 26 August 1969) is an Ethiopian entrepreneur. He is CEO of SouthWest Energy.

Education

Ashenafi holds a degree in Economics from

Columbia College of Columbia University Columbia College is the oldest Undergraduate education#United States system, undergraduate college of Columbia University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the ...

. He graduated from Columbia in 1991. Ashenafi attended the Owner Management Programme (OPM) at

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate school, graduate business school of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university. Located in Allston, Massachusetts, HBS owns Harvard Business Publishing, which p ...

Career

Ashenafi is the chairman of SouthWest Energy, SouthWest Development and Ambo Mineral Water. Ashenafi started his career at

Merrill Lynch & Co Merrill Lynch & Co., formally Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, was a publicly-traded American Investment banking, investment bank that existed independently from 1914 until January 2009 before being acquired by Bank of America ...

in New York. Prior to founding SouthWest Energy in 2005,Institute for Global Development, , '' nstitute for Global Development', Accessed November 11, 2012 Ashenafi carried out international political and economic consulting work advising large international companies and pension funds about investment conditions in emerging markets, mainly in

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

and the

Commonwealth of Independent States The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is a regional organization, regional intergovernmental organization in Eurasia. It was formed following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. It covers an ar ...

. In July 2016, Ashenafi played a major role in the privatization of

Japan Tobacco International JTI - Japan Tobacco International is the international tobacco division of Japan Tobacco (Global Fortune 500), one of the three largest international Big Tobacco product manufacturers. The holding company is JT International SA and headquartere ...

(with Ashenafi acting as the local partner) acquired 40% of Ethiopia’s National Tobacco Enterprise. The enterprise value of the deal was $1.4 billion, which is also one of largest private transactions in Africa. In 2017, ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

'' listed him as one of the richest men in

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

Board memberships

Ashenafi is on the board of directors of

EastWest Institute The EastWest Institute (EWI), originally known as the Institute for East-West Security Studies and officially the Institute for EastWest Studies, Inc., was an international not-for-profit, non-partisan think tank focused on international conflic ...

, a New York-based security think tank.EastWest Institute, , ''

'', Accessed November 11, 2012 He also was on the International Advisory Board of the

Atlantic Council The Atlantic Council is an American think tank in the field of international affairs, favoring Atlanticism, founded in 1961. It manages sixteen regional centers and functional programs related to international security and global economic prosp ...

, an organisation that promotes leadership and engagement in international affairs. He is a member of the Advisory Board for Columbia University’s Africa Centre. Ashenafi is also on the advisory board of th
Centre for International Relations and Sustainable Development
a public policy think-tank based in

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

and

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

Awards and affiliations

Ashenafi was nominated as a Young Global Leader (YGL) in 2009 by the World Economic Forum, which recognizes the 200 most distinguished young leaders under the age of 40. He is also a member of Initiative for Global Development’s Frontier 100.

References

External links

*World Economic Forum, Young Global Leaders http://www.weforum.org/young-global-leaders/tewodros-ashenafi/index.html, https://web.archive.org/web/20121017211711/https://members.weforum.org/pdf/YGL/YGL2009_Honorees.pdf *http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/about/international-advisory-board {{DEFAULTSORT:Ashenafi, Tewodros Living people 1969 births Columbia College (New York) alumni Ethiopian expatriates in the United States Ethiopian chief executives