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Samrawit Fikru
Ethiopian entrepreneur and businesswoman From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Samrawit Fikru (Amharic: ሳምራዊት ፍቅሩ) is an Ethiopian computer scientist, entrepreneur, and businesswoman who is the founder and CEO of Hybrid Designs PLC, a software development company which produces the most popular ridesharing app in the country, RIDE.[1]
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Early life and education
Fikru was born in Asella, Ethiopia. She received her diploma in software engineering from MicroLink Information Technology College in 2004. She graduated with a BSc in computer science from the HiLCoE School of Computer Science and Technology in 2006.[2]
Career
Fikru founded the software development company Hybrid Designs in 2014.[2] The same year, Hybrid Designs released RIDE as an SMS-based ridesharing service. It was relaunched as a mobile app with a backing call center in July 2017.[3] RIDE was inspired by the difficulty Fikru experienced trying to hire a taxi cab after late nights at work, and was partly inspired by the then existing ride sharing app, ZayRide.[4] She also wanted to create a service to address the safety concerns felt by herself and others in trying to find a taxi, and developed RIDE to help address these gaps.[2]
As of 2020, the app has tens of thousands of users and has been downloaded over 50,000 times.[5] The development staff for the app is 90% female.[6] Fikru aims to inspire other women with her work: "Women-owned business are growing in number; now we need more young girls to access the finances to make their creative ideas happen."[7]
In 2022, Fikru released Sewasew, a streaming platform for Ethiopian music.[8]
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Honors and awards
- Fikru was recognized as one of the Rest of World's 100 Global Tech Changemakers[9]
- Fikru's success as a tech entrepreneur and her inspiration to young women were recognised by her inclusion on the BBC's 100 Women list in 2022.[7]
References
External links
Wikiwand - on
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