Leadership & Teams

Leadership, accountability, and team excellence.

Strong governance and professional execution are central to ESMI’s long-term institutional credibility and field impact.

Founder portrait of Ms. Frealem Shibabaw

Leadership Focus

Vision + Delivery

Mission-led leadership supported by project management, coordination, and stakeholder engagement.

Ms. Frealem Shibabaw

Founder Story

Ms. Frealem Shibabaw: A Mother to Millions and Visionary Leader in School Feeding

Ms. Frealem Shibabaw, also known as Fray, is the founder and visionary behind the Ethiopia School Meal Initiative. Her life’s work has centered on a simple but powerful mission: no child should try to learn while hungry.

Through years of practical school milk initiatives, community-supported models, and national advocacy, she helped position school feeding as a long-term investment in child nutrition, education, public health, and national development.

In communities such as Wag Hemra and beyond, Ms. Frealem has been affectionately called “Enatalem” — Mother of the World. The title reflects years of service to children whose dignity, education, and future she has worked to protect.

Founder Achievements and Contributions

  • Founder and Executive Director of Ethiopia School Meal Initiative
  • Founder of Bahir Dar Academy, a model school known for child-centered learning and women-friendly employment practices.
  • Co-founder and former President of the Amhara Region Association of Women Entrepreneurs
  • Promoter of community-owned school milk initiatives in Sekota, Bahir Dar, and Sebeta
  • Advocate for school feeding as a national development strategy, not a short-term welfare intervention.
  • Author of Building a Nation in a Thousand Days, highlighting the importance of early childhood nutrition and national development

Executive Management Team

ESMI’s Executive Management Team

The team works to ensure effective delivery of ESMI’s school feeding, child nutrition, smart agriculture, and community development initiatives.

Dr. Zewdie Aderaw

Project Development Manager

Dr. Zewdie Aderaw

[ "Dr. Zewdie Aderaw supports ESMI’s project development, program design, proposal preparation, and partnership engagement. His role contributes to identifying strategic opportunities, developing project concepts, and strengthening ESMI’s capacity to mobilize resources for sustainable school feeding, smart farming, smart kitchen, and youth empowerment initiatives.", "He also supports the preparation of high-quality project documents and helps ensure that ESMI’s program ideas respond to community needs, partner priorities, and long-term systems-strengthening goals." ]

Hana Daniel

Project Coordinator

Hana Daniel

[ "Hana Daniel supports project coordination, activity follow-up, field communication, documentation, and administrative support for ESMI’s program activities.", "Her role contributes to the smooth implementation of projects by supporting team coordination, organizing project information, following up on assigned tasks, and helping ensure that activities are implemented according to agreed plans and timelines." ]

Functional Teams

Programs and Operations Team

Responsible for program planning, field coordination, and delivery of school feeding, smart farm, smart farming, smart kitchen, and youth activities.

Partnerships and Resource Mobilization Team

Leads engagement with governments, UN agencies, donors, foundations, private sector partners, and community stakeholders.

Finance and Administration Team

Supports transparent financial management, compliance, internal controls, procurement, and responsible stewardship.

Research, Learning, and Innovation Team

Generates evidence, captures learning, supports innovation, and strengthens ESMI delivery models.

Monitoring and Evaluation Team

Tracks progress, measures outcomes, and supports accountability through data and documentation.

Communications and Public Engagement Team

Manages visibility, storytelling, publications, campaigns, media relations, and public engagement.

Governance Structure

  • General Assembly
  • Board of Directors
  • Founder and Executive Leadership
  • Executive Management
  • Operational and Technical Teams