Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu Quotes

My driving passions as an entrepreneur are always about sharing Ethiopian cultures with the world and finding exciting ways to keep these cultures vibrant and fully relevant.

“I began Garden of Coffee so that people everywhere can experience the magic of hand-roasted Ethiopian coffees, roasted at their source by Ethiopia’s finest coffee artisans.

“I am always engaging with people on my team, finding out what they need to make them better at what they do, and what makes them happier. This lets us have an incredible level of overall team happiness and leads to long-term team members…

I like to visualise my goals in my own private space. I try and make it as real as possible so it is almost tangible to me. That gives these goals an immediacy and realness both for me and for my team that allows people to really chase that idea or goal in a visceral way.

I think conventional wisdom is, by definition, the antithesis of entrepreneurialism, so I am probably on the other side of a lot of it.

I have developed a fine sense of my weaknesses, and I address those by building my team with people who have that strength I may lack. So I flip any weakness I may have and make it a strength … Weakness recognition, and a full embrace of that, is a powerful tool.

I always reflect and think about the same thing: business is about solving problems. Trying to identify the singular most difficult situation would be doing a disservice to this simple fact: if you are not continuously encountering tough situations as an entrepreneur, and solving them, then you are not really in business. Encountering obstacles and overcoming them is my day-to-day existence.

For me, I never thought because I'm a woman I'm not going to do something, I'm not going to try it this or that. The way I see myself is… I'm a person. I am capable of doing whatever I want and I'm going to succeed because I'm going to be working really hard to be there each and every day. So, for African girls and women to say 'I'm not going to be able to do this, I'm not capable of doing this,' you're killing yourself. If we are brave enough to go out to sell ideas to people, I think we can succeed.

that helped give her confidence in her contributions to society as a woman, and ultimately, what she is doing today.

that one of the important lessons her parents instilled in her as a child was that there was no difference between her and her three brothers. While they did different kinds of work, she said there was no preference between girls’ work and boys’ work.

We're selling an experience. We're not selling a product. We're not trying to fit in somewhere…the need is for you. It's not massively produced.

there is no blueprint when it comes to being an entrepreneur.

People are traveling a long ways to bring in different ideas into their continent and country to start a business. But my idea is, look at who you are as a person. How you grew up. Everything around you is a business idea. When you see a problem, find the solution. That will be a business idea.

… the needle I am constantly attempting to thread: building exciting brands around our unique cultures, brands that become ubiquitous and impactful.

Don't just make things, make things better. "Innovation is...improving the state of what was before."