iAbesha, connecting the boarderless Ethiopia
iAbesha.com is a free online social networking site for professional Ethiopians worldwide and their friends and enables users to present themselves and be visible/contactable in an Ethiopian context. The goal of iAbesha is to create an Ethiopian space beyond physical borders and above politics and ethnic fragmentation. The name ”iAbesha” is a blend of ”internet” + ”Abeshas”. The site is privatly owned.
iAbesha is open for anyone to register and free to use right away. The site has networking functions for adding new and old friends, messaging and building networks. Anyone that registers also gets a profile page, a sort of homepage, and an usefull direct adress to that page to use for ex CV or job/personal promotion (ex http://www.iabesha.com/cv/alemush). Every user can be contacted directly through the profile page and are also searchable in the directory.
How it all started
iAbesha is realisation of a dream born out of frustration. “I missed an ”Ethiopian” place online where I could find, meet and interact with other Ethiopians in the world. My amarinya is bad, I don´t know thousend people in the US and my family in Ethiopia is not online. So I asked myself where I could meet and at the same time make myself visible without debating about politics?” explains the founder and owner Maria Alemush Zerihoun. “Finally, I told myself that I had to be bold enough to try to create myself what I missed, rather than waiting for someone else to do that for me. So that´s what I did!”. Four months later iAbesha was launched in Addis Abeba during Gena 2000/2008.
That sticky thing
What makes iAbesha.com stick out from other existing digital Ethiopian social networks is that it first of all aims not to solely focus on one geographically situated Ethiopians or one single common thing but is inclusive of the Ethiopian community as a whole. Secondly the functionality of the site enables contact and visibility, leaving the implementaton of them all up to the user might it be for dating, job seeking, expanding your network etc... Thirdly the site is not ”closed off” since anyone can search and contact iAbesha users by using the directory of the site without beeing registered.
Money & the Commitment to the community
iAbesha has only the "easy" budget requirement of not going broke. All functions that are being developed on the site will therefor first be financed through advertisments on the site. Being a "commercial philantropical" site (if ever such mix is possible) iAbesha strives to have a balance of differnt ”types” of commercials visible on the site, therefor Ethiopian NGO organisations as well as artists are being promoted for free. For more about this service please email pr@iabesha.com
A boarderless vision
The world has always been globalised and nowdays everything just goes/spins/change hands faster. Ethiopia is also a global nation, with many Ethiopian transnationals living in/outside Ethiopia. iAbesha has the vision to create a place that reflects the reach of the Ethiopian boarderless community by displaying and linking the actors of this wide network. A place where visibility will empower, context will enable synergies and contact will open unexpected doors. Together we can do just that...
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For more info about iAbesha please email pr@iabesha.com
Fore more info about advertising please email abs@iabesha.com
For a peak behind the site please visit iAbesha blog
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