Kiersten Dehaven (GHD ’19) met Shani Senbetta, founder and CEO of Kidame Mart, on Georgetown’s campus in 2018 and now in 2019 is moving to Ethiopia continue her career with Kidame Mart.
“My journey from interning, to capstone, to working full time for Kidame Mart is a testament to the Georgetown University and School of Foreign Service network. I had the great fortune of meeting Kidame Mart’s founder and CEO, Shani Senbetta, Hoya ’06, in Professor Holly Wise’s Social Enterprise and Innovation course. Shani traveled from Ethiopia and was back on the hill for Georgetown University’s African Leadership Conference when Professor Tiongson introduced Professor Wise and Shani. After hearing Shani speak in Professor Wise’s class, Danielle Fiorino and I were instantly convinced we wanted to spend our summer internship working for Kidame Mart. ”
“The summer was fantastic. A major highlight was Professor Wise’s visit when she traveled with the Kidame Mart team during field visits across Ethiopia. After the summer internship, we decided on Kidame Mart as our capstone client with the continued support from Professor Wise. I had the opportunity to travel to Addis Ababa again over the winter break for capstone research and during this visit I recognized that I wanted to work for Kidame Mart after graduation. In my last semester at GHD, I pitched Kidame Mart in the Georgetown Entrepreneurship competition and we won $20,000. In addition, Shani traveled to DC to attend graduation and take meetings for Kidame Mart. Without a doubt, the highlight of my graduate school experience was working with both Kidame Mart and the School of Foreign Service’s network to create better opportunities for female entrepreneurs in Ethiopia. At Kidame Mart, we greatly look forward to strengthening our relationship with GHD and hope to provide internships and capstone opportunities for every class. ”
