OLE MISS PREPARES FOR ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES GROUP CEO TEWOLDE GEBREMARIAM TO COME SPEAK

Oxford, MS- Ethiopian Airlines Group CEO Tewolde GebreMariam will speak at the School of Journalism and New Media graduation ceremony.

The University of Mississippi’s School of Journalism and New Media has a partnership with Ethiopian Airlines that was signed in April 2018. At that time, GebreMariam and his deputy came to sign a memorandum of understanding between Ethiopian Airlines and the school.

“It is a multi-level partnership,” Zenebe Beyene, assistant professor and coordinator of international programs, said. “Starting this fall, for example, maybe, we are going to start offering our online program to their employees. They are not coming here; they will be there. It is online 100%. It doesn’t require any movement, and the other one is providing internship opportunities to our students.”

The partnership also includes a capstone class where students create campaigns for Ethiopian Airlines.

Beyene is originally from Ethiopia and through his connections, he helped bring the partnership to the University of Mississippi. He acts as a bridge between Ethiopian Airlines and the university.

Beyene said that a bigger goal for the program is to create a culture of understanding, and that is one of the reasons that they formed this partnership. They wanted to create a sustainable relationship not only between Ole Miss and Ethiopian Airlines but also between the United States and Ethiopia.

“The major challenge we have now is a cultural misunderstanding,” Beyene said. “We don’t know each other very well. Sometimes we hate, sometimes we kill each other before we know each other, so it is not only for the success of these two institutions but for global peace. Cultural understanding is very important.”

Ethiopia is located in the horn of Africa and has been one of the fasted growing economies for the past 15 years. GebreMariam runs one of the biggest airlines in Africa, but he started at the bottom of the company. He has served as CEO since 2011.

“When he joined the airline 35 years ago, he was like you, her or any fresh graduate,” Beyene said. “He started as a junior clerk, very young. The only thing he had was the ambition to be someone, someday. Fast forward 34 years, here we are. This guy is a leader of one of the most successful countries in Africa.”

Working his way up through the company has shaped the leader he has become.

“He wasn’t privileged,” Dean William Norton said. “He just worked hard and made it. Ole Miss kids, a lot of them have special advantages, and this guy can show how you do it without special advantages.”

Dean Norton said that he thinks GebreMariam could be a model for students because of his work ethic. According to Dean Norton, he works about 20 hours a week and still has time for his family. In addition, Dean Norton wants students to understand Africa on a deeper level.

“Most people in America don’t understand Africa,” Dean Norton said. “If you listen to the president, you’d have a feeling that it is basically a continental ghetto. I think when people hear this speaker, they will realize that it’s as modern as any place can be.”

The students and faculty do not know what GebreMariam will talk about when he comes to speak at graduation. Some think that he will enfold lessons that he learned from the Ethiopian Airline’s flight 302 crash that happened back in March into his graduation speech.

“Fortunately for us, they did not back out after they had the Ethiopian crash, but that alone will provide insight for how students are to live when they face challenges,” Dean Norton said.

The Ethiopian Airlines crash killed 157 people due to an issue with the Boeing 737 Max airplanes.

“If you look at the decisiveness with which the airlines immediately grounded their jets,” Scott Fiene, assistant dean for curriculum & assessment and associate professor of Integrated Marketing Communications, said. “Their philosophy was we cannot risk one more life with this thing. They didn’t look at it from the perspective of how much money are we going to lose by doing this. They looked at it from a perspective of we have to do the right thing.”

Ethiopian Airlines immediately grounded all Boeing 737 Max flights on March 10, 2019, following the crash. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration grounded all Boeing 737 Max flights three days later on March 13, 2019.

“It took awhile for other countries around the world to ground their jets,” Dean Fiene said. “The U.S. was actually the one of last ones to do that.”

In addition, following the crash, GebreMariam went to the site of the accident and released statements to the press.

The crash happened a week after the capstone class that was working on a campaign for Ethiopian Airlines U.S. market visited Ethiopia.

At Ole Miss, all Integrated Marketing and Communications students take a capstone course. In the capstone course, the students work together and create a campaign for a specific client.

The honors section of the course worked with Dean Fiene and professor Beyene and got the chance to go to Ethiopia.

“We spent three days in Addis Ababa touring the airline’s headquarters, exploring a little of the city and meeting airline officials,” Katie Campbell, a senior in the campaign class, said. “We got to see the hangar, maintenance facility, training academy and the beautiful new Skylight hotel.”

Campbell said that the biggest thing that she got out of the trip was the fact that it challenged her misconceptions of Africa.

Students on the trip had the opportunity to meet with GebreMariam and other officials for Ethiopian Airlines.

“From inviting our group of Ole Miss students to participate in the traditional dance circle to hand feeding us traditional Ethiopian foods, Mr. Tewolde was genuine in every interaction,” Campbell said. “Despite his prestigious title and position in a worldwide company, he is every bit as personable as my own grandfather. I am beyond excited to see him again at my graduation ceremony.”

Senior Zach Hollingsworth also went on the trip to Ethiopia.

“Being able to take part in a culture so different from your own is so eye-opening, and I highly recommend everyone try to do so if they get the chance,” Hollingsworth said. “The most memorable part for me was definitely getting invited to dinner by some of the highest-ranking individuals in the company, only for us to drink with them, dance with them and be hand-fed raw meat by them.”

Hollingsworth said that he was able to watch them have a genuine passion for the airline, and said that GebreMariam wanted the company to become better.

“He is a perfect role model for showcasing how to have passion for where you work,” Hollingsworth said. “He’s dedicated, hard-working, inventive, knows what work needs to be done for his company and brainstorms potential plans of action to get that work done. He has such solid experience and wisdom that would be invaluable to us as students entering the workforce.”

The students in the capstone class presented their campaign to officials in the United States area of Ethiopian Airlines. The company has flights out of Los Angeles, Newark and Washington D.C. They will also start flying out of Houston in June.

The campaign focused on getting more U.S. travelers on the flights.

While students in the IMC 455 campaigns class have gotten a chance to meet with GebreMariam, at graduation, all student’s in the School of Journalism and New Media will have a chance to hear and learn from him.

Original Article posted: https://medium.com/@eagreenb/ole-miss-prepares-for-ethiopian-airlines-group-ceo-tewolde-gebremariam-to-come-speak-ad31a9348e7d

photo courtesy of Katie Campbell