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Who is Who in ICT
| Ato Debretsion G/Michael, EICTDA Director General |
 Ato Debretsion is the Director General of the Ethiopian Information and Communication Technology Development Agency (EICTDA).
EICTDA, established in 2003, is aimed to create a conducive environment for the development of ICT, and for its effective application to the process of national development with major functions to use ICTs, in such a way that it contributes to the nation’s socio economic development and the building of democracy and good governance. |
| Dr. Mesfin Belachew, EICTDA Deputy Director General |
 Dr. Mesifn is serving as Deputy Director General
of the Ethiopian Information and communication Technology Development Agency since October 2007. Dr. Mesifn has served at the Engineering Faculty of Bahir Dar University as a lecturer for many years. |
| Dr. Dawit Bekele, Internet Society (ISOC) Regional Manager for Africa |
 Prior to joining ISOC, Dr. Dawit worked at Addis Ababa University on teaching and research positions in computer science, since 1994. He also established and managed for more than 4 years a private company that provides Internet related services. Moreover, in the last ten years, Dr. Dawit has worked as a consultant for major international organizations such as United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the World Bank. His activities enabled him to travel around Africa with a large number of Information and Communication Technology professionals of the continent.
Dr. Dawit received his undergraduate, Masters and Ph.D degrees from Université Paul Sabatier in France, all degrees in Computer Science.
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| Ato Tessema Geda,
ICTAD Project Manager |
 Ato Tessema is the
Project Manager of ICTAD. The Information and Communication Technology Assisted Development (ICTAD) Project assists Ethiopian communities to improve their livelihood through the use of appropriate ICT that facilitates increased access to markets, development information as well as public and private services. |
| Dr. Lishan Adam |
 Dr. Lishan is an independent consultant and researcher specializing in ICTs in development of Africa. He is also an Associate Professor at the Centre of Knowledge Dynamics and Decision Making, Department of Information Science, at the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa. For 14 years he worked at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa in Addis Ababa as programmer, trainer, network manager and regional advisor. He was one of the pioneers that introduced low cost connectivity in Africa in early 1990s. From 1993-1997 he was project officer for the capacity building for Electronic Communications in Africa (CABECA), which helped to establish the first electronic communications nodes in 24 African countries. From 1998-2002 he was regional advisor on information technology and connectivity where he provided advice on ICT applications in health, education, agriculture, business and commerce, the development of national ICT strategies and policies. He holds PhD in information science from the University of Sheffield, UK. |
| Mr. Noah Samara,
Chairman and CEO of WorldSpace Corporation |
|  Founder and CEO of World Space and its subsidiaries with license to provide international direct satellite radio service in Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America. Mr. Samara received a Doctor of Jurisprudence (JP) from Georgetown University Law School, a Masters degree in International Business from the Georgetown School of Foreign Services, and holds a Masters degree from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). In the last two years, Business Week, Newsweek, The London Times and the Washington Post have profiled Mr. Samara. He is a recipient of African International Magazine Trophy for Innovation and peace through Education award from the Pacem in Terris Institute. He is admired for his entrepreneurial skills and hopes to bring information affluence to the remote parts of the world and help create information wealth across the globe.
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| Dr. Mohamed
Abdo, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering of
the Addis Ababa University |
 Dr. Mohamed
Abdo, graduated from the AAU with B.Sc. Degree in Electrical Engineering
in 1980. After a brief period of teaching in the Electrical Department
of the University, he was sent to Italy for a postgraduate study
and earned his M.Sc. in Electronics Engineering from the Polytechnic
of Turin in 1986. He served as a Lecturer in the Department until
he won a scholarship to the then West Germany and obtained his Ph.
D. in Microwave Engineering from the University of Duisburg in 1994.
He secured a teaching job after his return; and is now serving as
Head of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering of
the AAU.
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| Ato Amare Amsalu, CEO Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation |
The Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation (ETC) is the sole telecommunication service provider in Ethiopia. Based in Addis Ababa, it is the second-largest state-owned company in Ethiopia, the largest being Ethiopian Airlines.
In late 2006, the ETC signed an agreement worth US$ 1.5 billion with three Chinese companies to upgrade and expand Ethiopian telecommunications services. The three Chinese were the ZTE Corporation, Huawei Technologies and the Chinese International Telecommunication Construction Corporation. This agreement will increase the number of mobile services from 1.5 million to 7 million, land line telephone services from 1 million to 4 million, and expansion of the fibre optic network, from the present 4,000 kilometers to 10,000 by 2010. It is part of a larger US$ 2.4 billion plan by the Ethiopian government to improve the country’s telecommunications infrastructure. |
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