Join us for this episode with Berhanu Zergaw tech entrepreneur and co-founder of ZERGAW Cloud, CAMS Engineering, Nuna Coworking Space, and BEDEBO Ethiopia. Berihanu is a pioneering ICT leader driving Ethiopia's digital transformation through innovative cloud, internet, and agri-tech solutions. In this conversation: Berhanu's journey founding ZERGAW in 2019 after years of preparation, overcoming Ethiopia's ICT challenges like affordability, deployment delays, and downtime with broadband, SaaS, and demand-based projects. We also discuss his ventures in cloud services, engineering, and practical agri-tech for farmers, the shift to ZERGA Technologies SC, and strategies for scaling digital empowerment across enterprises and individuals in Ethiopia. More from our partners: Dashen Bank Website: https://dashenbanksc.com Telegram: https://t.me/DashenBankEthiopia BPO Partnership Form: https://forms.gle/PsAVBP1vXCvhKXFP6 abetlabs.com GIZ: https://www.giz.de/de/downloads/giz2023-en-private-sector-development-in-ethiopia.pdf To advertise on Meri: https://meri.et/advertise 00:00 - Introduction 02:01 - opening 03:25 - Background 11:52 - Earlier businesses 23:25 - Joining IBM 37:35 - returning to Ethiopia again 43:39 - Zergaw 48:29 - Cloud service 01:03:35 - Stepping out off ceo - Recruitment and assigning board members 01:15:24 - Choosing new businesses to invest on 01:27:42 - Managing multiple businesses 01:28:22 - Talent management 01:31:43 - Coming back to Ethiopia 01:33:22: Admas 01:49:07 - Startiups 01:54:15 - Diaspora 02:03:58 - Crisis management 02:14:00 - Run Down Questions 02:07:18 - Solving challenges 02:13:14 - What keeps you up at night? 02:22:40 - Wisdom Social Links https://t.me/MERI_PODCAST https://twitter.com/MERI_Podcast https://www.instagram.com/meripodcast/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzKNuQ80qNSpt2x-7dsazJg https://youtube.com/@Meriwoch?si=yIpJ3byprnVNwKi1 https://youtube.com/@mericlipset?si=wwa0KeQ_Nv2aPy9l https://www.tiktok.com/@meripodcast https://www.linkedin.com/company/meriethiopian/ Copyright Notice for Meri Podcast: All rights reserved. The content featured in this podcast is protected by copyright laws. Unauthorized reproduction, distribution, or modification of any portion of this podcast is strictly prohibited. For permission to use our content, please contact us at info@meri.et Thank you for respecting our copyright.