Ethiopian Entrepreneur Bethlehem Tilahun won the Most Valuable Entrepreneur Award at the Global Entrepreneur Week event.

“I am honored to be given this award. I accept it with the full knowledge that not simply hard work, but good fortune and having a great team beside me, have allowed me to achieve my dreams. That is the true power of entrepreneurship - it involves not only an idea and a single person, but also those who will follow that idea, dedicate themselves to it and   make it a living and breathing reality. It is within this process that greater shared prosperity for the many can be achieved" said Bethlehem on receiving the award.

Bethlehem Tilahun is the founder of soleRebels, an Ethiopian footwear company. SoleRebels are artists that desire to craft stylish and comfortable footwear according to Bethlehem.

Sole Rebels was selected as a finalist of the 2011 Africa Awards of Entrepreneurship.    

The Global Entrepreneurship Week was launched in London in 2008 by the Kauffman foundation and Enterprise UK. Ethiopia was not amongst the first 76 countries to note the first event according to Michael Fekade Chief Executive Officer of Empact Capital Partners, LLC hosting the event.

Empact reached an agreement with Global Entrepreneurship coordinators in August to organize the event in Ethiopia this year.

Source: soleRebel Press Release