Ethiopia

Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country situated in the Horn of Africa. Ethiopia is bordered by Eritrea to the north, Sudan to the west, Kenya to the south, Somalia to the east and Djibouti to the northeast. Its size is 1,100,000 km² with an estimated population of over 85,000,000. Its capital is Addis Ababa.

Ethiopia is one of the oldest countries in the world and Africa's second-most populous nation. It has yielded some of humanity's oldest traces, making the area a primary factor in the origin and developmental history of humanity, with recent studies claiming the vicinity of present-day Addis Ababa as the point from which human beings migrated around the world. Ethiopian dynastic history traditionally began with the reign of Emperor Menelik I in 1000 BC. The roots of the Ethiopian state are similarly deep, dating with unbroken continuity to at least the Aksumite Empire (which officially used the name "Ethiopia" in the 4th century) and its predecessor state, D`mt (with early 1st millennium BC roots).

Ethiopia was the original source of the coffee bean, and coffee beans are the country's largest export commodity. It is also the 10th largest producer of livestock in the world. Other main export commodities are khat, gold, leather products, and oilseeds. Recent development of the floriculture sector means Ethiopia is poised to become one of the top flower and plant exporters in the world.

Kagnew F. Asfaw
Regional Director USA, Canada & The Americas
Ethiopian Airlines

Kagnew has more than 20 years of experience with Ethiopian Airlines, having first joined the company in 1987 as a systems engineer, responsible for the preparation of engineering orders for the modification of B767, B757 and ATR42 aircraft. Since then, he has gone on to fill such senior positions as promotion and customer services division manager, passenger sales manager for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and most recently served as passenger revenue and capacity management director. He now serves as the Regional Director for USA, Canada and the Americas.

A frequent guest speaker at the Ethiopian Management Institute, Mr. Asfaw holds a Master of Science degree in mechanical engineering from Vorishilograd Machine Building Institute, Ukraine, and an MBA from Rollins College, Crummer Graduate School of Business, Winter Park, Florida.

Nicholas M. Mancino,
President and Co-Founder, Journeys Unlimited

Nicholas M. Mancino is the President and co-founder of Journeys Unlimited, which was founded in 1990. Born in Italy, he came to the USA in 1962. Nicholas has spent 40 years in the travel industry and enjoys traveling himself. He is well traveled in Europe, USA, Middle East and 5 countries in Africa, including Ethiopia. He has traveled to Ethiopia several times and has sent numerous groups since the first visit in 2004. He even hosted a conference in November 2005 - The Bible and its African Roots. According to Nicholas, Ethiopia is a hidden jewel to be discovered. "It has exciting sites with Medieval castles - rock hewn churches dating about 1,000 years, LBue Noel Falls, Lake Tana, Ethiopian Churces, Synagogues, gentle & beautiful people, ancient history starting with Auximte Kingdom dating about 3,000 years and "Lucy" Denkenesh dating to 3.5 million years. It is very possiblle that Ethiopia is the garden of Eden."

Guy Gsell,
Director, Discovery Time Square Exposition

After years of national and international touring as a professional theater artist, Guy Gsell is glad to have settled down in Times Square as Director of New York’s newest cultural institution. Located in the former home of The New York Times, Discovery Times Square Exposition (DTSX) celebrates the diversity and wonder of our world’s people and their history. Current exhibits are Lucy's Legacy: The Hidden Treasures of Ethiopia and Titanic: The Artifacts Exhibition. These exciting one-of-a-kind exhibits exemplify the spirit of DTSX; whether they're looking back in time to the dawn of civilization and the origins of man, or travelling to the bottom of the ocean to shed new light on one of the twentieth century's biggest news stories, DTSX is a place of discovery and awe. Guy Gsell has been an educator, artist, and successful arts administrator for over twenty years. He toured with the acclaimed children's theater company, The Paper Bag Players, and was teaching artist-in-residence at the Bob Hope Cultural Center in Palm Springs, California and a featured guest at The International Children’s Theater Festival in Taipei, Taiwan. For six seasons he was Managing Director of the Two River Theater in Red Bank, New Jersey, where he produced award winning theatre and performances by Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi, Academy Award winner Olympia Dukakis, and Stephen Colbert, among many others.

Henock Tesfaye Kejela,
Chef/Proprietor

Henock Tesfaye Kejela was born in Addis Abeba, Ethiopia. He came to the us in 1984 at the age of 18, and spent the first 12 years in northern California, where he attended college. He moved to new York in 1997 and worked briefly for Eastman Kodak in sales and marketing and later worked in finance. Henock has two children (twins) Adey and Amman, age 7. He moved to Harlem in 2005 and opened Zoma Restaurant in 2006. Zoma is an Ethiopian restaurant located on 2084 Frederick Douglas Boulevard (8th ave) in Upper Manhattan.