Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Sihine Negede. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Sihine, thanks for joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

The era of the COVID-19 pandemic was a period of reflection and transformation for many people. Having spent my previous years in Belgium, where composting was a common practice, I was shocked by the lack of waste-consciousness among the residents of Addis Ababa. It was during this time that I looked for the expertise of two of my co-founders – one with a background in business administration and entrepreneurship, and the other, an environmental activist and community leader deeply rooted in the heart of Addis Ababa.

Together, we embarked on a collaborative journey to establish Lem Chaka from the ground up. Today, our company celebrates its second anniversary, and we are proud to have successfully recycled more than 200,000 kilograms of food waste per year.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Lem Chaka was founded by three individuals: Sihine Negede (CEO), Yayehyirad Gezu (COO), and Yared Gobezie (CFO). I, Sihine Negede, grew up in Belgium and studied sustainable development. My journey led me to Ethiopia with a strong desire to make a positive impact in the country. The opportunities here are vast and largely untapped.

At Lem Chaka, our primary service is collecting food waste from hotels and businesses in Ethiopia and turning it into compost, which we then reintroduce to the market as organic fertilisers. However, we soon began to respond to an unexpected increase in demand for various other services, including landscaping, compost boxes, educational programmes, eco-friendly planters, seedlings, and customized solutions to any problems and questions clients might have.

One of our proudest achievements has been the creation of an indigenous forest in the heart of Addis Ababa, which was our most significant landscaping project to date. We planted 12,000 indigenous trees and provided 32,000 kilograms of aged cow dung, 16,000 kilograms of compost, and other organic materials to support the ecosystem. Today, the forest is thriving, and we have witnessed a remarkable return of biodiversity, with the return of birdlife and the resurgence of various insect species.

What sets Lem Chaka apart is our unwavering commitment to sustainability and our ability to adapt and expand our services to meet the changing needs of our clients and the environment.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I had to adapt and bounce back when I lost my job during the COVID-19 pandemic, and budget cuts forced me to stop my gender consultancy. During this challenging time, I took the opportunity to explore new possibilities. While I searched for other job opportunities, I also began working on the Lem Chaka project, where I brainstormed ideas and crafted a business plan. When I shared my idea with others, my cousin Yared Gobezie, now our CFO, stepped in to help build the company. He introduced me to Yayehyrad Gezu, the COO of Lem Chaka, who had a decade of experience as a community leader and environmental activist. Together, we quickly collaborated to establish the company from scratch. As the world started returning to normalcy, Lem Chaka was already fully operational with legal recognition. Today, we have a team of 10 employees, and we are planning to scale up our operations to recycle at least ten times the current amount and reintroduce these organic fertilisers to the market.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

One valuable lesson I had to reevaluate was the belief that a degree in business administration was essential to bring an idea and a business to fruition. I’ve come to understand that, as long as it’s your passion project, you’ll dedicate yourself to its success, and nothing can stand in your way. You’ll motivate yourself to acquire the necessary knowledge to ensure its success while refining your existing skills. I used to believe that your education had to perfectly align with your career, but now I see that real-world experience is the best teacher, no matter what you do. University taught me essential skills like discipline, meeting deadlines, expressing ideas effectively, delivering high-quality work, determination, responsibility, and dedication. These are the tools I carried from my university experience into the working world. The rest, I had to learn from scratch in each work environment I entered.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.lemchaka.com
• Instagram: @lemchaka