Peter Maurer, the President of the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) made a two-day visit of Ethiopia this week. While in the capital, the former Switzerland diplomat spoke to local government and African Union officials on areas of migration and displacement crises.

Nirit Takele is an Ethiopian-born Jew who was born and raised in Ethiopia until 1991, when she made Aaliyah – the journey of moving to Israel – alongside 14,000+ Ethiopian Jews, including her family. However, this was no ordinary relocation; they left under a covert operation called ‘Operation Solomon’, led by the Israeli government, with an objective of secretly transporting thousands of Ethiopian Jews to Israel in a time limit of 35 hours.

Reach for Change has been operational in Ethiopia since 2015. The group helps develop the local social entrepreneurs find solutions to some of the social issues in the nation.

Mel Oluoch (PhD) is the new regional director of Sasakawa Africa Association based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Here, he reflects with The Reporter’s Samuel Getachew on his own career, the work of Sasakawa, on helping develop the African agricultural scene, on the challenges, successes, on the lived experiences of other nations and in the areas of nutrition and better health within the continent. Excerpts:

Mulugeta Tafesse is a visual artist, art critic and theoretician. He is also the author of the book ‘Towards African Mimesis: Regarding East Africa’s Art Scene Now’. Mulugata graduated from Ale School of Fine Art and Design in 1980, obtained his masters at Higher Institute of Fine Arts in Sofia, Bulgaria, a postgraduate degree from the National Higher Institute for Fine Arts in Antwerp (Be.), and then his PhD from La Laguna University in Spain.

Shane Quinonez (MD) is a clinical geneticist based in Michigan, in the United States. For the last four years, he has been coming to Ethiopia, helping build the local healthcare sector.

Girma Wake, former CEO of Ethiopian Airlines, joined Ethiopian at a young age. Girma was trained at Ethiopian Airlines Aviation Academy and served the airline for 34 years at various posts. In 1993 he had some disagreements with the then Ethiopian government officials and left the airlines to join Gulf Air. He also worked for DHL in the Middle East.

Brian MacHarg is director of civic engagement at the Appalachian State University, where he focuses on how civic participation can promote democratic values and facilitate learning.

Sergio Pimenta is vice president of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) in charge of operations in the Middle East and Africa. IFC, a private sector arm of the World Bank Group, stands as a primary development financial institution.

Keith Rockwell is Director of the Information and External Relation Division of the World Trade Organization (WTO) based in Genève. Two weeks ago Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES ) in collaboration with WTO has organized a seminar on “Challenges for the Multilateral Trading System ‐ Perspectives from East Africa” which took place in Nairobi.