Semhal Guesh

Semhal Guesh is a Founder & CEO of Kabana Leather, a startup company that produces a wide variety of handmade leather products. Conquering the many challenges she faced in the leather business, Semhal succeeded in starting and efficiently operating Kabana Leather. Kabana Leather is one of the leading leather products companies in Ethiopia. Equally her passion of becoming a transformative leader and empowering women economically, she strides to build a large manufacturing company that fulfills her dream. Her work through Kabana enables her to reach the community by training women and internally displaced people in hope to transform lives for a sustainable change.
Semhal is an architect by training and uses this useful discipline to enhance her designs in the leather fashion industry. Her many talents include Arkystk Events Plc, a meeting planning company that focusing on conference tourism. Arkystk Events mission is to focus in attracting those investors whose primary interest is the leather industry. This, she believes, will greatly develops the Nation’s Leather Industry and increases the talent pool. Her effort shows in the increased demand for the Ethiopian abundant leather supply on the international hearts and minds.
Semhal’s ultimate goal is to be successful in realizing her dream of contributing immensely to the leather industry that with proper quality control mechanism and higher productivity will contribute significantly to the Nation’s GDP which will complement Ethiopia’s poverty alleviation agenda to become middle-income country in 2025. As a young successful entrepreneur Semhal aims to be a role model for many young women to follow her footsteps.
As a vehicle to contribute to the empowerment of women, she has joined Association of Women in Business (AWiB), a networking platform that connects those women with ambition to realize their potential. Semhal serves on its board. What draws Semhal to AWiB is that her passion as an entrepreneur also seamlessly aligns with AWiB’s vision. AWiB is uniquely positioned in the community to make a positive impact by bringing a lasting change in a woman’s life. This perspective and outlook, Semhal finds it important to sustains her commitment to AWiB indefinitely.