With the Rio Olympics right around the corner in August this year, Ethiopian long-distance runner and twice-gold Olympian Haile Gebrselassie is hard to track down. But he took time out of his demanding schedule to speak exclusively to the Review for the March print edition about how he is building an impressive investment portfolio alongside his elite running career.
On top of his 27 athletic world records, Gebrselassie has financed seven of the tallest buildings in Addis Ababa, is Ethiopia’s sole importer of Hyundai vehicles, and has opened a cinema, two schools and a gym.
Building blocksGebrselassie started investing 17 years ago, not even halfway through his running career.
“My first investments were in real estate; I was building and renting out property," he tells
the Review. "Now I have many other things: hotels; farms; I sell cars and so on. I am very proud of my business; I employ more than 1,700 people in my company (Haile & Alem International).”
“[Ethiopia] is a country where you can come and make something good”And while he says that the two competitive pursuits often require similar mindsets, he acknowledges the differences too.
“When you’re an elite athlete, you are competing with only a few people. When you work in business, you have to compete with many of them – thousands of people,” he says.
The investment world can require a certain patience that Gebrselassie admits he is still learning. “When working in business, like running, I want to finish things very quickly. I want to be in front.”
Golden opportunities Gebrselassie is determined to not only improve and diversify his own investment portfolio, but to attract investment to Ethiopia. All of his ventures are within the country, and he believes the opportunities for success are there for those investors willing to make the trip.
“Ethiopia is a country with many resources,” he says. “We have gold, minerals and other mining resources. We also have farming. There is cheap labour and nearly 100 million people. It is a country where you can come and make something good.”
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