Achievements

Dr. Eleni Gebre-Medhin, CEO of the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX) is one vibrant, hardworking and inspiring personality

. She is innovative and a woman who leads a purposeful life.

One of her tremendous achievements is towards the setup and the leadership of the ECX, the only modern market in Ethiopia, commenced trading operation in April 2008, with contracts traded in coffee, sesame, maize, wheat and pea beans. ECX provides low-cost, secure marketplace services to benefit all agricultural market stakeholders and invites industry professionals to seek membership enabling them to participate in trading.

Dr. Eleni Gabre- Madhin graced this year’s G8 Summit of world leaders in Camp David on May 19, 2012 with her presence upon President Barack Obama invitation. She specifically participated in a session on Food Security in Africa, in the presence of the G8 leaders, as well as leaders from Benin, Ethiopia, Ghana, and Tanzania. This session is considered a key moment for issues around food security and African agriculture and it is expected that policy commitments by the G8 to be made with regard to the realization of a “New Alliance for Food Security” drawing on partnership between public sector and private sector aimed at lifting of 50 million people out of hunger and poverty in the coming decade.

Dr. Eleni’s attendance of the G8 Summit as one of two invited African business, leaders, along with Mr. Strive Maasiwa of Econet Wireless in Zimbabwe was intended to highlight in concrete terms the positive experience of the transformational impact of the Ethiopia Commodity Exchange on millions of smallholder farmers through the creation of a transparent, efficient, and reliable market in Ethiopia.

Dr. Eleni moderated the session on Agricultural Innovation: Getting to Scale that debated the risks such as climate change, disease, resource scarcity, and contamination and how to advance in public and private agricultural research, innovation, and technology can increase food production safely and nutritiously in the developing world.

Sources –

http://econ.as.nyu.edu/object/econ.seminar.africahouse.Gabre-Madhin.04252012

http://www.ecx.com.et/

http://www.thechicagocouncil.org/globalagdevelopment/gad/Events/Symposium_2012.aspx

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2012/05/18/new-alliance-food-security-and-nutrition