In this episode, we travel to Addis Ababa to speak with Feven Tsehaye, a purpose-driven entrepreneur, healer, and founder and CEO of Chakka Origins—a social enterprise reclaiming the wisdom of Ethiopia’s ancestral knowledge around biodiversity and indigenous plants while working with female smallholder farming communities. Feven’s story is rooted in both tradition and transformation as she draws on a childhood shaped by community, land, and the power of women. With a background in social impact, including work at the Gates foundation and graduate study on micro-finance approaches in southern Ethiopia, her work bridges the ancient and the modern, creating high-impact natural products while centering sustainability, equity, and care. In this conversation, Feven explores what it means to lead with care, build with purpose, and honor cultural knowledge. She reminds us that healing is both personal and political—and that joy, like justice, is something we must cultivate with intention.

Jump To’s

06:20 Feven discusses the knowledge of indigenous plants and medicines passed down through generations and how coming into contact with that knowledge changed her life.

07:00 The importance of storytelling

11:15 The beginning of Chakka Origins as a business with wider impact in mind.

14:10 On reclaiming industrial production and the narrative that goes with it.

16:00 The importance of Ethiopia’s biodiversity and connection to the land to the country’s national psyche. Did you know the country has five Biosphere Reserves!

18:15 Creating a largely women-driven supply chain.

21:30 The importance of aligning oneself with one’s personal values to survive the tidal waves of modern life.

24:00 Hear about Feven’s obsession with Ethiopian cardamom

31:00 What does climate justice mean in Ethiopia?

34:30 Feven circles back to community, especially Ethiopia’s women entrepreneurs, and how this engenders the ability to dream.