Sahle-Work Zewde

Sahle-Work Zewde (Amharic: ሣህለ ወርቅ ዘውዴ; born 21 February 1950) is an Ethiopian diplomat who served as president of Ethiopia from 2018 to 2024, the first woman to hold the office. She was elected as president unanimously by members of the Federal Parliamentary Assembly on 25 October 2018.

American business magazine Forbes, on its annual edition of the Forbes list of The World's 100 Most Powerful Women, listed Sahle-Work as the 93rd most powerful woman in the world, making her the highest-ranking African woman on the list.

== Early life and education ==

Born in Addis Ababa, She is the first born out of four children. She attended primary and secondary school at Lycée Guebre-Mariam in Addis Ababa, after which she studied natural science at the University of Montpellier, France. She is fluent in Amharic, French, and English.

== Career ==

=== Diplomatic career ===

Sahle-Work was only the second woman to be appointed an ambassador in Ethiopian history (ambassador Yodit Emiru was the first woman to hold an ambassadorship). She served as the ambassador of both the communist People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and post-civil war Transitional Government of Ethiopia.

A veteran in the Ethiopian...