Improving lives through
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About Us

Dr Yifru Tafesse

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Dr Yifru Tafesse is the Chair of BioInnovate Africa Programme Advisory Committee (PAC). He is the Deputy Director General of the Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA). He was previously director for private sector at the same agency and was responsible for leading the private sector in agriculture programs in Ethiopia, through working with potential investors and key stakeholders across the private and public sectors. Before joining ATA, Dr Tafesse was the Managing Partner and Chief Executive Officer of Adroit Consultancy and Training Services (ACTS) PLC, where he coordinated the National Cooperative Capacity Building Program in Tigray and Oromia regional states.

Dr Tafesse previously also served as the Director of Marketing at Ahadukes Food Products PLC, held senior positions in other companies including the NAS Foods PLC, Summit Beverages, Nyala Insurance SC and Ethiopian Management Institute. He has lectured at the Addis Ababa University School of Commerce as well as Mekele University. Furthermore, he served as the Regional Coordinator for the Graduate School of Business Leadership at University of South Africa (UNISA) from 2009 to 2015.

He holds a Ph.D in Business Leadership from the University of South Africa; a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) from Addis Ababa University; a Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing and Physical Distribution from Maastricht School of Management in the Netherlands; and a Bachelor of Arts in Management and Public Administration from Addis Ababa University.