1. Elicit prior knowledge of the dayʼs language objective
- What is an entrepreneur (hojii isaa kan umaatu)?
- What are some qualities of an entrepreneur (brave, visionary, hard-working, able to come up with ideas, etc.)?
- Can women be entrepreneurs?
- rebel = fincilaa
- Show Bethlehem Tillahun photo.
- Show shoe photos.
- soleRebels is an Ethiopian shoe company that sells to customers all over the world.
- All shoes are handmade. It created many jobs for people who had none. All materials come from Ethiopia. Uses recycled (irra debiʼani itti fayyadamu) tires (gomma) for the sole.
2. Activities
- Vocabulary matching in groups of 2-3. Optional: read a sentence with the word for context.
1. entrepreneur a. the main place where a person works
2. company b. the time when there is a good change
3. based c. go into a new place to sell things
4. goods d. created a positive feeling
5. background e. things that a merchant sells
6. penetrate f. experience or training
7. online g. a business
8. turning point h. a disease/sickness that affects the skin
9. leprosy i. starting with nothing
10. inspired j. beginning from a basic level
11. from scratch k. a person who starts and owns a business
12. grassroots l. on the internet
13. rebel m. a freethinker who does what they want
- Listen to audio of the video only. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1Jo1WO8aoU) After, ask what it’s about.
- Hand out gap activity (below). Listen to audio only again and fill in the blanks.
- Watch the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1Jo1WO8aoU
Gap Activity:
My name is Bethlehem Tilahun. I am an entrepreneur. I am based here in _____________. Actually I started this company almost ______ years ago just as an idea to give an opportunity for the __________ who don’t have any opportunity to ____________ in my company basically doing finished goods like a ___________.
When we started we started with people. None of us we didn’t have any background of shoemaking. But before I was working for ______ companies and I had an opportunity to see how laser and laser products were processing.
Entrepreneur is in my blood I believe. When I started soleRebels I didn’t know that it’s going to be ______ like this. I grew up in a ____ family and my family was like supporting me to do things by myself. So it grew on me and when I think about that it makes me really work hard again to penetrate more markets and to create more new ________.
Currently I am selling for Amazon UK and U.S. which is my big customer. It’s ________ here in Ethiopia. Nobody’s selling online but I _________ it’s going to be a turning point for my company.
We do have ____ full-time workers here. If we come up with some kind of idea everybody gives their own thinking. When we push really hard for our employees to go to __________ especially the _________. If they are educated, really understand what global the market needs.
We support a group of ___________ in the community who were able to do things. For example, these women are leprosy survivors. So I grew up around here and get inspired by them because they do have this way of making things by ____________. It’s a culture and they do have work every _________.
We want to be the Nike of Africa. The big challenge that I had is getting the markets. When I say we’re brand new there’s a lot of requirements to achieve those __________. But the question is how are you going to solve those __________ that you have. How are you ___________ to keep up with what you’re doing.
I think soleRebels should win the Africa Entrepreneur Award because soleRebels has built a global brand from scratch. We keep our ____________ here. Truly it’s a grassroots entrepreneur stands-for-herself or for her people. It’s like a community-based __________ that we give. More than ___________ people are benefited...
By Paul Voigt, PCV
Gap Activity:
My name is Bethlehem Tilahun. I am an entrepreneur. I am based here in _____________. Actually I started this company almost ______ years ago just as an idea to give an opportunity for the __________ who don’t have any opportunity to ____________ in my company basically doing finished goods like a ___________.
When we started we started with people. None of us we didn’t have any background of shoemaking. But before I was working for ______ companies and I had an opportunity to see how laser and laser products were processing.
Entrepreneur is in my blood I believe. When I started soleRebels I didn’t know that it’s going to be ______ like this. I grew up in a ____ family and my family was like supporting me to do things by myself. So it grew on me and when I think about that it makes me really work hard again to penetrate more markets and to create more new ________.
Currently I am selling for Amazon UK and U.S. which is my big customer. It’s ________ here in Ethiopia. Nobody’s selling online but I _________ it’s going to be a turning point for my company.
We do have ____ full-time workers here. If we come up with some kind of idea everybody gives their own thinking. When we push really hard for our employees to go to __________ especially the _________. If they are educated, really understand what global the market needs.
We support a group of ___________ in the community who were able to do things. For example, these women are leprosy survivors. So I grew up around here and get inspired by them because they do have this way of making things by ____________. It’s a culture and they do have work every _________.
We want to be the Nike of Africa. The big challenge that I had is getting the markets. When I say we’re brand new there’s a lot of requirements to achieve those __________. But the question is how are you going to solve those __________ that you have. How are you ___________ to keep up with what you’re doing.
I think soleRebels should win the Africa Entrepreneur Award because soleRebels has built a global brand from scratch. We keep our ____________ here. Truly it’s a grassroots entrepreneur stands-for-herself or for her people. It’s like a community-based __________ that we give. More than ___________ people are benefited...
By Paul Voigt, PCV
