Ethiopian born and raised Akeza Teame traveled to the United States with a personal hope of becoming a physician and returning to his homeland to help his people.  He obtained his undergraduate degree in genetics in 1997 and subsequently his M.D. from the University of Kansas School Of Medicine.  This was followed by a three years of residency training in Internal Medicine and two years of fellowship in Infectious Diseases at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City.  He and his family moved back to Ethiopia where he is fulfilling his dream by practicing full-time at the Saint Yared General Hospital.

While he was in Kansas City, Dr. Teame met another Ethiopian, Mr. Sisay Shimelis, who now also shares dual citizenship.  Mr. Sisay Shimelis, at the time, was studying civil engineering, along with business, accounting and computer science.  The two discovered that they shared the dream of returning to their native land to make a positive contribution.  After extensive consideration, they chose to focus on healthcare needs in Ethiopia.  As Dr. Teame says, "One cannot create a healthy economy without first having a healthy society."  This led first to the establishment of the modern 14-bed Saint Yared Higher Clinic and now the Saint Yared General Hospital. 

Mr. Shimelis is already recognized in Ethiopia for his work in helping orchestrate the automization of the Ethiopian immigration system. Success in this project enabled the Ethiopian government to issue a new passport with sophisticated and advanced security features. Mr. Shimelis is also taking a leading role in the development of an expansive biodiesel project covering some 80,000-hectare in Ethiopia. In a cooperative endeavor with a British based firm this project will produce diesel from oil extracted from the nut of a plant known as Jatropha Curcas, which thrives in Ethiopian soil. In time, this project could greatly reduce Ethiopian use of imported oil. Mr. Shimelis also established Birritu Express, the first Ethiopian-owned online money transfer service, which is facilitating the transfer of funds from Ethiopians in the diaspora to Ethiopia.