With great enthusiasm, HopeChest would like to announce that Tesfatsion “Tesfa” Tsegaye, former Ethiopia Country Director, will be moving to Colorado to work at our headquarters as International Operations Director!
After much prayer and consideration, doors began to open for him to come to the U.S. and work for HopeChest out of our headquarters office in Palmer Lake. He will continue to work directly with our Ethiopia head office in strategic planning, budgeting, and diving deeper into our development work there as well as in Uganda and Russia.
Simply by having his experience as one of our leaders for our largest country will be an incredibly valuable perspective to our U.S. office as we continue to grow and expand our global operations. His work ethic is unique and refreshing and will be a tremendous asset to our headquarters, The Barn.
When asked what he is most excited about in this transition, Tesfa says, “I’m looking forward to working with my colleagues here, with very senior people, like Tom. I’m excited to work with people at my level age-wise and experience-wise — I’m going to enjoy that….So it’s a very good experience. I’m ready for that and I will be enjoying that. Working with the CHC U.S. staff and the sponsors and the country leadership staff, that’s the part of it that I will be enjoying most.”
In addition to extensive hands-on experience, Tesfa earned his bachelor’s in business management and completed two master’s degrees in business administration and business economics. He brings a wealth of education and experience to his position from previously working at Compassion International and more recently leading the Children’s HopeChest Ethiopia Team. He knows firsthand what it takes to “open a country,” as he was the Country Director during the launch of HopeChest Ethiopia. Tesfa brought invaluable knowledge not only to the child sponsorship realm, but also in holistic care of children beyond sponsorship. His leadership was instrumental in building a foundation for HopeChest programs in Ethiopia to thrive and succeed by managing all staff, structure, legal processes, operations, and development. He was crucial in building relationships with church denomination leaders and government officials who interact with our staff on a regular basis for all the required reporting and monitoring and evaluation of our programs and projects. Under his leadership of implementing processes and procedures, HopeChest Ethiopia grew from one CarePoint to 32 CarePoints and programs that serve over 5,000 children on a weekly basis.
HopeChest believes in empowering local leaders, and we get to work with the most compassionate and remarkable individuals around the world. Who else knows their community’s challenges and strength best, but local leaders who intimately understand how to treat the roots of poverty in their community, not just the symptoms on the surface.
Tesfa and his family made the move to Colorado this month, and our HopeChest team here in Palmer Lake has enjoyed celebrating their arrival.
Please join us in welcoming Tesfa, his wife Hilena, and his two children to our base of operations in Colorado!
