Eleni Gebre-Madhin Honored with Lifetime Achievement Award at ASEB Summit

Eleni Gebre-Madhin (PhD), the economist and market architect widely credited with creating the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX), received the Lifetime Achievement in Innovation and Entrepreneurship Award on Monday at the closing session of the African Startup Ecosystem Builders Summit and Awards, held at the Skylight Hotel.

The award marked the conclusion of a three-day gathering of founders, investors, policymakers, and ecosystem leaders from across Africa, focused on the institutions and individuals shaping the continent’s innovation economy.

Eleni was recognized for a career that combined market reform, institution-building, and early-stage startup support. She rose to prominence as the architect and first CEO of the ECX, launched in 2008, which introduced a structured commodity trading floor, warehouse receipts, and regular price dissemination, hoping to transform the country’s agricultural markets.

After leaving the Exchange, she founded eleni LLC, securing backing from institutions such as Morgan Stanley to advise on the design of commodity exchanges in emerging markets. In 2016, she launched blueMoon, later rebranded BlueSpace, a business incubator and co-working space in Ethiopia supporting startups and youth entrepreneurs. More recently, she advanced her pan-African vision through Timbuktoo, a $1 billion UNDP initiative based in Rwanda that connects policy, finance, and research to support cross-border entrepreneurship.

In her acceptance remarks, Eleni thanked her family, mentors, and collaborators, describing her life as “three or four lifetimes of challenges, triumphs, pain, joy, and love.” She recalled writing a 10-year plan at age 15: to earn a PhD in agricultural economics, write a book, and help end poverty in Africa. “Two out of three,” she said with a smile. “The third, I am still working on.”

The ASEB Awards, held November 15–17, also recognized entrepreneurs and ecosystem actors from across the continent. Among the Ethiopian honorees, Kazana Group won Startup Financing Initiative of the Year, while iceaddis was named Incubator of the Year. Henock Assefa received Angel Investor of the Year. Rwanda’s Inkomoko was recognized for Social Entrepreneurship Support Initiative of the Year, Melaku Partners earned Startup Service of the Year, and Afomia Andualem was honored as Woman in STEAM of the Year.