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Seble Nebiyeloul is an Ethiopian activist and co-founder of the International Fund for Africa (IFA), an organisation dedicated to improving the living conditions of women, children and animals in Ethiopia.

Background and Family

Seble Nebiyeloul was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, into a family that experienced significant historical upheaval. Her father served as vice minister in Emperor Haile Selassie's cabinet but was executed during the political overthrow in 1974. A decade later, Nebiyeloul moved to the United States at the age of 19, pursuing her studies.

Education and carreer

Nebiyeloul studied in Kentucky before completing graduate studies in healthcare administration at the University of Maryland. She then embarked on a successful career in public health, working her way up to senior management positions. Despite her accomplishments, she felt unfulfilled and sought to channel her efforts into more meaningful work.

Path to Advocacy for Animals

Her passion for animals was ignited in New York, where she adopted her first dog. This love for animals deepened over the years, leading her to vegetarianism and active involvement in animal rights. Her dedication to animal welfare became a cornerstone of her work, influencing both her personal and professional choices.

Creation of the International Fund for Africa (IFA)

In 2006, her cousin, Anteneh Roba, a doctor then living in Houston, urged her to return to Ethiopia to help with a non-profit organisation he was setting up to alleviate the widespread poverty and suffering in their home country. She joined him and together they founded the IFA.

This international non-profit organisation, registered in both the USA and Ethiopia. What began as a series of medical missions to rural Ethiopia in 2006 has evolved into a comprehensive, multi-faceted programme serving vulnerable children, youth and women. The co-founders have drawn on their own resources and networks to create partnerships and build teams around their passion to create and grow the International Fund for Africa.

International Fund for Africa's goal is the well-being of all women and children, ensuring that everyone concerned has the opportunity to grow, to develop their capacities and to ask for help when they need it. International Fund for Africa has set up the following initiatives and programmes as part of its presence in Ethiopia.

Seble Nebiyeloul started with cooking demonstrations and then began serving vegan brunch at yoga classes that a friend was teaching. Nebiyeloul describes her food as Ethiopian adapted to be vegan, with influences from places like Asia, Spain, and the US. She goes for mostly fresh ingredients, lots of spices and herbs, and little salt.

IFA’s vegan school food program, which uses Nebiyeloul’s recipes, now serves two meals a day to hundreds of children. It also provides employment for 10 cooks whom IFA trained in a style vastly different from most professional Ethiopian kitchens.

IFA’s school eye health project has provided vision screening for more than 26,000 students, glasses for more than 600, and eye-related disease treatment for hundreds of others.

Philosophy and Vision

Nebiyeloul champions subtle activism through her vegan cooking, believing in leading by example rather than persuasion. Her long-term dreams include opening a vegan restaurant and establishing a sanctuary for abused and abandoned donkeys and horses, addressing both environmental and animal welfare concerns. Under her co-leadership, IFA continues to evolve as a symbol of sustainable and compassionate change in Ethiopia and beyond.

Bibliography

• https://unboundproject.org/seble-nebiyeloul/
• https://mercyforanimals.org/blog/trailblazing-women-vegan-and-animal-protection-movements/