Embedded Files
About the Team Managing Partner
About the Team Managing Partner
Before founding SAGroup, Dr. Asfaw initiated the Horn of Africa Regional Environment Centre and Network (HoAREC&N) a unique network of higher learning institutions, endogenous civil society and community-based organizations in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Kenya. Dr. Asfaw started HoAREC&N in 2006 when he was the Dean of Science at Addis Ababa University. When his deanship ended in 2008 he became the founding Executive Director of HoAREC&N until 2017.
During his time as Executive Director, Dr. Asfaw secured over $50 million in funding for transdisciplinary, transformational, and transboundary projects for sustainability and resilience in the Horn of Africa. Funders include the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the European Union, USAID, UKAID, SIDA, AFD, and the World Bank.
Some of these projects include:
Some of these projects include:
- Establishing Gulele Botanic Gardens as an 800 hectare protected land in Addis Ababa funded by the Netherlands
- Sustainable Development of Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia, funded by the Netherlands
- Land use master plan development for the Gambella Regional State of Ethiopia with funding from the Netherlands, European Union and SIDA.
- Establishment of Ethiopia Climate Innovation Center, a World Bank initiative
- Establishment of Ethiopian Panel on Climate Change through funding from DFID
- Supporting Addis Ababa to join the 100 Resilient Cities, a Rockefeller initiative
- Built the first gold standard LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified green building in Ethiopia (HoAREC headquarter)
- Integrated Approach to Meet Rural Household Energy Needs of Ethiopia. Funded by the European Union.
- Promoting Sustainable Energy in Rural Ethiopia, a joint project with TERI (the Energy Resource Institute of India) funded by DFID.
During his deanship at the Faculty of Science of Addis Ababa University, Dr. Asfaw initiated a number of multi-disciplinary graduate programs including Environment Science, Biotechnology, Food Science, Material Science, Computational Science and Natural History and Paleoanthropology. He also facilitated the transformation of one of the oldest geophysical observatory to Institute of Geophysics, Space Science and Astronomy
Dr. Asfaw received his PhD in Physics, ME and BS in Mechanical Engineering from Howard University in Washington, DC. He worked as research scientist at various laboratories in the USA including National Institute of Standard and Technology, Centre for Advanced Microstructure and Devices (CAMD), Advanced Light Source of Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Nova Laser Facility of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
Report abuse