38 Notable alumni of Addis Ababa University
Updated: May 03, 2026 EliteDegrees
Addis Ababa University is ranked #1,121 in the world and #1 in Ethiopia by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 38 notable alumni from Addis Ababa University sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff. Many individuals affiliated with Addis Ababa University won Nobel Prizes for Peace, in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, and Economics.
1. Yodit Getahun
1985-. (aged 41)
beauty pageant contestant
Yodit Getahun is an Ethiopian model and beauty pageant titleholder. She was crowned Miss Ethiopia World for 2003, represented Ethiopia in three International pageants, and was awarded two titles. She participated in the "Miss Tourism of the Globe" Contest in Moscow, Russia where she won a minor sponsor title called "Miss Neva 2003". She was awarded the "Miss Congeniality" title...
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2. Teferra Wolde-Semait
1938-2013 (aged 75)
minister
civil servant
politician
Teferra Wolde-Semait was an Ethiopian economist who has served as Minister of Finance, and chairman of the board of the National Bank of Ethiopia from 1977 to 1982.
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3. Sinknesh Ejigu
1956-. (aged 70)
diplomat
chemist
minister
politician
Sinknesh Ejigu Wolde-Mariam is an Ethiopian politician, chemist, businesswoman and diplomat.
4. Juneydi Basha
1961-. (aged 65)
businessperson
politician
Juneidi Basha is an Ethiopian business executive who served as the General Manager of Harar Brewery and Vice President of the Ethiopian Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral Associations. He most recently served as the President of the Ethiopian Football Federation.
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5. Redwan Hussein
1971-. (aged 55)
politician
minister
Redwan Hussien is an Ethiopian politician who is serving as Director General of the National Intelligence and Security Service. He previously served as National security Advisor to the Prime Minister of Ethiopia. He previously served as Deputy Minister of foreign affairs and Ambassador of Ethiopia to Eritrea.
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6. Mustafa Muhummed Omer
1973-. (aged 53)
politician
Mustafe Mohammed Omer, also called Cagjar, is an Ethiopian politician who is the current president of the Somali Region and also the Deputy Chairman of the Somali Democratic Party, a member of Ethiopia’s newly formed Prosperity Party led by Abiy Ahmed, the sitting prime minister of Ethiopia.
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7. Tesfaye Gessesse
1936-2020 (aged 84)
actor
stage actor
translator
Tesfaye Gessesse was an Ethiopian stage and film actor regarded as one of the most important exponents of Ethiopian modern theatre. During a career that spanned 40 years, he was an actor, director, and theatre administrator. He wrote and directed several plays which have a great relevance in the modern history of Ethiopian culture.
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8. Workneh Gebeyehu
1968-. (aged 58)
politician
minister
Workneh Gebeyehu Negewo is an Ethiopian politician. In September 2012, he was appointed Ministry of Transport and he has served as an elected member of Addis Ababa City Council.
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9. Birtukan Mideksa
1975-. (aged 51)
judge
politician
Birtukan Mideksa is an Ethiopian politician and former judge who has served as chairwoman of the National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) from 2018 to 2023. She was the founder and leader of the opposition Unity for Democracy and Justice (UDJ) party from 2008 to 2010.
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10. Berhane Asfaw
1954-. (aged 72)
paleoanthropologist
archaeologist
anthropologist
paleontologist
prehistorian
Berhane Asfaw is an Ethiopian paleontologist of Rift Valley Research Service, who co-discovered human skeletal remains at Herto Bouri, Ethiopia later classified as Homo sapiens idaltu, proposed as an early subspecies of anatomically modern humans.
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11. Wallelign Mekonnen
1945-1972 (aged 27)
politician
Wallelign Mekonnen Kassa was an Ethiopian Marxist student activist and militant active in the Ethiopian Student Movement from the mid-1960s until his death in 1972. Wallelign was the author of the highly influential but contentious article On the Question of Nationalities in Ethiopia published in 1969.
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12. Segenet Kelemu
1957-. (aged 69)
botanist
Segenet Kelemu is an Ethiopian scientist, noted for her research as a molecular plant pathologist and her outstanding scientific leadership. For close to three decades, Segenet and her team's research has contributed to addressing agricultural constraints in Africa, Asia, Latin America and North America.
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13. Takele Uma Benti
1981-. (aged 45)
engineer
politician
Takele Uma Banti is an Ethiopian politician who is the CEO of Ethio-Djibouti Railways since 2024. He was the Minister of Mines and Petroleum from 2020 to 2023. He was Mayor of Addis Ababa from 2018 to 2020.
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14. Berhane Gebre-Christos
1953-. (aged 73)
diplomat
politician
Berhane Gebre-Christos is an Ethiopian politician. He served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2010 to 2012. He was also the Foreign Spokesperson for the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) from 1979 to 1988.
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15. Bewketu Seyoum
1980-. (aged 46)
writer
novelist
Bewketu Seyoum is an Ethiopian writer and poet from Debre Markos of Ethiopia. He studied psychology at Addis Ababa University and published his first collection of poems, Nwari Alba Gojowoch (Unmanned Houses) in 2000, a year after graduating. Since then, he has published two further poetry collections and two novels, and has narrated short stories on CD. In 2008, he...
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16. Mulugeta Bekele
1947-. (aged 79)
physicist
Mulugeta Bekele is an Ethiopian scientist and academic. He is an associate Professor of Physics at Addis Ababa University (AAU), Ethiopia. He completed his PhD in Physics at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India in 1997. He has been awarded the Andrei Sakharov Prize by the American Physical Society (APS) "For tireless efforts in defense of human rights and...
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17. Betelhem Dessie
1999-. (aged 27)
computer scientist
Betelhem Dessie is an Ethiopian web and mobile technologies developer. She is currently a Founder and CEO of iCog- Anyone Can Code (ACC). She owns four patented projects individually and an additional three in collaboration. Betelhem has been named "the youngest pioneer in Ethiopia's fast emerging tech scene" by CNN.
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18. Osman Saleh Mohammed
1948-. (aged 78)
politician
Osman Saleh Mohammed is an Eritrean politician and diplomat. He served as the first minister of education following independence, serving in that position from 1993 to 2007. He oversaw the transition from the revolutionary EPLF school system to a national education system.
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19. Fitsum Arega
diplomat
politician
Fitsum Arega Gebrekidan is an Ethiopian diplomat who is the current Ethiopian Ambassador to Canada. He was the Director General of the Ethiopian Investment Commission and the Chief of Staff of the Prime Minister of Ethiopia and also served as Ethiopia's Ambassador to the United States. He presented his credentials to Governor General of Canada Mary Simon in September 2022.
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20. Sebsebe Demissew
1953-. (aged 73)
scientific collector
university teacher
lecturer
botanical collector
botanist
Sebsebe Demissew is an Ethiopian botanist who is Professor of Plant Systematics and Biodiversity at Addis Ababa University and Executive Director of the Gullele Botanic Garden in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
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21. Alemu Aga
1950-. (aged 76)
singer
Alemu Aga is an Ethiopian musician, singer, and master of the Begena.
22. Bekele Gerba
1961-. (aged 65)
politician
Bekele Gerba is an Ethiopian politician and activist. He is a member of Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC) which promotes political change by nonviolence. He was imprisoned from 2011 to 2015, 2015–2018 and again on 30 June 2020 following the Hachalu Hundessa riots.
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23. Zeresenay Alemseged
1969-. (aged 57)
paleoanthropologist
archaeologist
anthropologist
researcher
prehistorian
Zeresenay "Zeray" Alemseged is a paleoanthropologist who is a faculty member at the University of Chicago. In 2013, he was named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences in 2021. In 2022, he was appointed to the Comité Scientifique International du Musée d'Anthropologie Préhistorique de...
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24. Abiy Ahmed
1976-. (aged 50)
minister
military personnel
politician
Abiy Ahmed Ali is an Ethiopian politician who is the current Prime Minister of Ethiopia since 2018 and the leader of the Prosperity Party since 2019.
25. Isaias Afwerki
1946-. (aged 80)
politician
president
Isaias Afwerki is an Eritrean politician who has served as the president of Eritrea since its independence in 1993 and the chairman of the People's Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ) since 1994.
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26. Meles Zenawi
1955-2012 (aged 57)
military personnel
politician
Meles Zenawi Asres, born Legesse Zenawi Asres (8 May 1955 – 20 August 2012) was an Ethiopian politician and former rebel militant commander who served as president of Ethiopia from 1991 to 1995 and as prime minister from 1995 until his death in 2012.
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27. Hailemariam Desalegn
1965-. (aged 61)
politician
minister
Hailemariam Desalegn Boshe is an Ethiopian politician who served as prime minister of Ethiopia from 2012 to 2018. He also previously served as deputy prime minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs under Prime Minister Meles Zenawi from 2010 to 2012. After Meles' death in August 2012, Hailemariam succeeded him as prime minister, initially in an acting capacity. He was then...
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28. Debretsion Gebremichael
1956-. (aged 70)
politician
minister
Debretsion Gebremichael is an Ethiopian politician serving as the chairman of Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF). He was previously the president of the Tigray Region. His position as titular head of the Tigray Region was disputed by the federal government of Ethiopia who in November 2020 appointed Mulu Nega as the chief executive of the Transitional Government of Tigray, succeeded...
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29. Rupiah Banda
1937-2022 (aged 85)
diplomat
minister
politician
Rupiah Bwezani Banda was a Zambian politician who served as the fourth president of Zambia from 2008 to 2011, taking over from Levy Mwanawasa. Banda was an active participant in politics from early in the presidency of Kenneth Kaunda, during which time he held several diplomatic posts.
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30. Demeke Mekonnen
1963-. (aged 63)
politician
minister
Demeke Mekonnen Hassen is an Ethiopian politician who was Deputy Prime Minister of Ethiopia from 2012 to 2024, Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2020 to 2024 and former vice-president of the Prosperity Party. He previously served as chairman of the Amhara Democratic Party (ADP) and deputy chair of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) until the dissolution of the...
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31. Aklilu Lemma
1934-1997 (aged 63)
university teacher
biologist
Aklilu Lemma was an Ethiopian pathologist. In 1989, he was awarded the Right Livelihood Award "for discovering and campaigning relentlessly for an affordable preventative against bilharzia." He made his most important scientific discovery very early in his career in 1964 when he discovered a natural environmental control agent for schistosomiasis, also known as snail fever or bilharzia. He found that...
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32. Meaza Ashenafi
1964-. (aged 62)
activist
lawyer
judge
Meaza Ashenafi is an Ethiopian lawyer and women's rights activist. In November 2018, she was appointed by the Federal Parliamentary Assembly as President of the Federal Supreme Court of Ethiopia until her resignation on 17 January 2023.
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33. Yohannes Haile-Selassie
1961-. (aged 65)
paleoanthropologist
university teacher
Yohannes Haile-Selassie Ambaye is an Ethiopian paleoanthropologist. An authority on pre-Homo sapiens hominids, he particularly focuses his attention on the East African Rift and Middle Awash valleys. He was curator of Physical Anthropology at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History from 2002 until 2021, and now is serving as the director of the Arizona State University Institute of Human Origins....
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34. Dawud Ibsa Ayana
1952-. (aged 74)
politician
Dawud Ibsaa Ayana is an Ethiopian politician who is the chairman of the Oromo Liberation Front, an Ethiopian political party established in 1973.
35. Yetnebersh Nigussie
1982-. (aged 44)
jurist
human rights defender
Yetnebersh Nigussie is an Ethiopian lawyer and disability rights activist. In 2017, she was awarded the Right Livelihood Award for "her inspiring work promoting the rights and inclusion of people with disabilities, allowing them to realise their full potential and changing mindsets in our societies."
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36. Shimelis Abdisa
politician
Shimelis Abdisa is an Ethiopian politician serving as the president of the Oromia Region since 18 April 2019. He is also Chief of Staff of the Prime Minister since 2018.
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37. Lemma Megersa
1970-. (aged 56)
politician
minister
Lemma Megersa is an Ethiopian politician who served as the Minister of Defense from 2019 to 2020. He was also the president of the Oromia Region and deputy chairman of the ruling party in the region, the Oromo Democratic Party. Since the formation of the Prosperity Party, Lemma has been independent.
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38. Lia Tadesse
1976-. (aged 50)
politician
physician
Lia Tadesse Gebremedhin is an Ethiopian physician who served as the Minister of Health from 12 March 2020 until 8 February 2024. Prior to her appointment, Lia served as State Minister of Health from November 2018. She also served as an Executive Director at the University of Michigan's Center for International Reproductive Health Training (CIRHT) in Ann Arbor, Michigan, as...
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