Honored Entrepreneur Introduces Second Company

ADF STAFF

One of Africa’s most acclaimed entrepreneurs, the founder of a shoe brand now selling in more than 55 countries globally, has announced the founding of a second company.

In 2004, Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu started soleRebels in Ethiopia with an investment of $10,000 from her family. The company makes and sells footwear using traditional Ethiopian techniques and modern designs. Most of the shoes are redesigns and modern interpretations of a traditional recycled-tire-sole shoe long worn by Ethiopians.

As of 2014, the company had 100 employees and more than
$1 million in revenues. She expects sales to reach $20 million by 2016.

She has been named by CNN as one of the 12 “smart women” entrepreneurs of the past century and has been featured on the cover of Forbes magazine. In July 2014, the pan-African media company Face2face Africa honored her for “Outstanding Achievement in Entrepreneurship.”

In May 2014, Alemu launched her second company, Republic of Leather, an online company that will offer customers control over how and where leather products are produced. She told the business publication How we made it in Africa that customers will be able to order leather goods — such as jackets, bags and gloves — online and customize the details. They will also be able to choose where their designs will be manufactured.

“I saw that there were many areas around the globe where leather crafting and production had been undermined and had withered, despite its economic importance,” she told the magazine. “I knew that a platform that tapped into these rich global talents and resources would have the power to reinvigorate these centers of production and create fantastic employment opportunities in communities around the planet.”