Arakele was devised specifically to provide underprivileged women with training that would lead to sustainable employment and was implemented from generous seed funding.

Arabella Stewart (British) started a UK registered educational charity Project Pencil Case in 2009 supporting Ethiopian students and in 2010 met Ethiopian teacher Mikele Goitom while they both worked as teachers in Addis Ababa. Arabella and Mikele are joint General Managers of Arakele.

The foundation and concept for Arakele was established in 2013 as a Vocational Training School and the school opened its doors to students in 2014. Arakele is an Ethiopian social enterprise business.

ARABELLA STEWART (Co-GM)

Arabella Stewart is British and spent her childhood in Ethiopia. After developing a media career back in the UK and USA, she returned to Ethiopia to teach English and was provided with an opportunity to write a business plan for a social project empowering women which evolved into the creation of  Arakele.

MIKELE GOITOM (Co-GM)

Mikele Goitom grew up in Northern Ethiopia before moving south to Addis Ababa where he graduated from Addis Ababa University and went into teaching and coaching students. He assisted Arabella with the business plan for Arakele. Mikele also has a Msc in Software Engineering.

EYRUSALEM ALEMU (Head of HR)

With a background managing businesses as a senior PA, Eyrusalem joined Arakele in 2017 and oversees all the admin of Arakele from student registration to hiring and managing of all our staff.

In addition to training students, Arakele is proud to provide employment to teachers, guards, housekeepers and maintenance individuals, many of whom have been with us since the very beginning.