Dehab Mesfin is the General Manager of Diamond Enterprise Plc, Dehab Specialty Farm. She was born and raised in Tigray, Northern part of Ethiopia. And, later moved to Dire Dawa City and completed her high school education there.
She has earned her degree in Accounting from Asmara University. Upon receiving her BA degree, she served as an accountant, auditor as well as finance and administration for transportation, construction and pharmaceutical companies in different times.
With the deep intention of contributing to her society, she has been voluntarily engaged in SOS local NGO which has made its priority in recycling plastic bags. Currently, she is the General Manager of Dimond Enterprise Plc.
Dehab is known for her courageous, eagerness as well as daring characters. She never gets tired of trying new things in a business. She is a mother of three children.
The Ethiopian Herald had a short stay with Dehab Mesfin to talk about her career journey as well as her life experiences. Enjoy your reading.
Tell us a bit about your career journey and how you established your company?
There was a coffee company and coffee farm in Bonga Town which we, (me and my husband) used to hold shares. However, unfortunately, the company’s manager got sick and passed away. His death though was a heartbreaking incident, at the moment; as share holders of the company, me and my husband had to take full responsibility of the company.
But, both of us had no idea what to do as we were not involved in the activities of the company beyond paying money. We had to either close the company or run the business. In fact, I had encountered tough situations while trying to run the company. That is when I decided to start at the bottom and learn how to lead the company.
With that in mind, I did not spend any time and started taking several courses that could help me better understand the business world. I also hired skilled professionals as I believed that it could help both me and the company. Overall, it took me about two and half years to finally be the CEO of the company in 2014.
How is your company different from similar companies?
Dehab Speciality Farm never compromises on quality. We believe that customer satisfaction cannot be achieved without giving due emphasis on the quality of our products. Since there are plenty of coffee producing companies, it is also one of the reasons to be competitive in the market.
Similarly, we are the only or amongst the few companies who provide share out of its profits for the farmers. Here in Dehab Coffee, depending on how much volume of coffee we purchase from our farmers which are currently reached to 140 farmers, we are sharing our profits with them.
Moreover, the strong, smooth rapport that we have created with the community is something that we are very proud of. One best example in this regard is that whenever we get short of employees in pick seasons, the society voluntarily provides lending hands.
Members of Idir, (Informal associations organized by the community to help each other in time of emergencies) work with us in different pick seasons which we made the payment through their social organization.
For how many people have created jobs so far and are you engaged in the export market?
Our business is mainly seasonal so there are times where we need more employees and few at times. We hire close to 300 and above at pick seasons; but our regular employees are more than 60.
We started exporting a year after I became the CEO of the Company and I remember our first export destination was Sydney. Currently, our specialty coffee is being exported to countries like Russia, Denmark, Netherlands, USA; and we look forward to reaching more countries across the world soon.
How did you move forward when most of our society look down women and think that their ideas or businesses will not work?
When we do something based on knowledge, things can be easily done with confidence. It is true that I had gone through hard times as I knew little about coffee farms and the entire market. I understand that the challenging situation I was in at those times did not rise from my inability but the knowledge gap that I had at the moment.
Once I took a number of training courses that are related with the business and have the knowhow, everything that used to bother me and the challenges that I encountered whenever I went to several offices immediately changed. The moment I changed myself, I was able to change what is around me. So, I learnt that knowledge has power than anything and it is equally important in managing finance in the business.
What was your biggest failure and what lessons did you draw through the process?
The journey in a business world has never been full of beds of roses as ups and downs are inevitable. So far, I say my biggest challenges are things that could be resolved once I clear up with my financial problems.
With finance, we could solve the power issue. By resolving the power issue, we could do more such as adding a variety of products, retaining our employees etc.
Unfortunately, in our society, it is unusual for women to stay out of home after work to create networks that might be a good help to the business. Unlike their male counterparts, it might be considered as rudeness if businesswomen spend the night at restaurants or wherever they might meet up with prominent individuals.
Failing to create a network and being unable to exchange information has a greater impact on a business. And, such situations have made the business difficult for women.
How did you balance being a mother and business women?
I consider myself lucky as I joined the business world after my third child goes to school and the older ones have already gotten bigger. Though balancing the family life with the business is a bit challenging, my timing has served me well.
But frankly speaking, I somehow feel sorry for my younger child as I was not able to be closer to him to provide everything I had done as I did for my two children. Being occupied with the business, I fear whether or not I was there for him enough though I had full support of my husband and my two older children.
What is the biggest accomplishment of your company over the years?
As I tried to explain earlier, the fact that, we, in Dehab Speciality Farm, prioritize quality over quantity and quality is something we consider as an accomplishment. Unlike many similar organizations that focus on quantity over quality, we are devoted to meet our customers’ satisfaction and offer them quality products.
Likewise, we are also engaged in making honey with 30 women farmers who are a marginalized community located around our coffee farm. Identifying the major potentials of a certain area is essential as it helps grow the business as the same time benefits the community.
We also believe that we have a bigger contribution in changing the traditional and harmful farming practice that used to be performed in the area with a helpful and modern way. Not only would our employees practice it in the organization but they are trying to perform it in their own family farms.
As a strong woman who runs a successful company, what piece of advice are you willing to give to our readers?
Seeing information thoroughly, doing things with knowledge, sticking to our goals and being daring is very essential in the business world or other aspects of life. So, it is important to pay attention to details that our customers need to acquire from us and strive to meet their satisfaction.
Therefore, we should update ourselves and take lessons in our journey. That way, we not only grow our business but we could keep our customers satisfied and brand ourselves globally.
BY BETELHEM BEDLU
The Ethiopian Herald May 1/2021
