Born in Ethiopia in 1966, Tekeba Nega completed his Bachelor of Science in Animal Sciences and later his Master of Sciences in Livestock Production and Broiler Nutrition in Ethiopia. He received his PhD, that was financed by the Austrian Development Cooperation, from the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU) in 2012.
He now has more than 30 years of professional experience in the food and nutrition sector in Ethiopia as an extension officer, researcher, director and consultant working in governmental organisations (e.g. Ethiopian Meat and Dairy Industry Development Institute), non-governmental organisations (e.g. USAID and SNV) and private sector companies including PPPs. Furthermore, he has coordinated several projects in Ethiopia. He stresses that engaging with different socio-ecological and multilingual societies in Ethiopia has given him greater opportunities to understand their culture, values, and traditions. Since February 2024 Tekeba has been working for the Netherlands Development Organization (SNV) as a dairy and poultry value chain advisor in Ethiopia. His responsibilities include testing the effect of solar power on milk processing and chick brooding as well as the overall socio-economic impact on smallholder farmers.
His research interest is in the evaluation of animal-based foods, to alleviate nutritional deficiencies in Ethiopia. This is because stunting in Ethiopia among children under five has reached 38%, therefore animal-based foods are high in nutrient density which helps to reduce malnutrition among children in Ethiopia. He is also interested in evaluating the performance of different improved chicken genotypes in different production systems to recommend the best ones to Ethiopian smallholder farmers. Tekeba's third research interest is the impact of solar energy on cold storage of animal products, chick brooding, egg cooling, and product processing. To pursue his goal, he has been working for three years with the USAID project, Feed the Future Value Chain Activity, and now with SNV.
During his time as a PhD student in Austria, his main task was to complete his project work on time and to meet all the standards. The second was to look for additional grants to finance his project work. Fortunately, he was a recipient of a grant from the Commission for Development Studies (KEF). At the end of his PhD study, he applied to OHIO State University in the USA, to participate in an international conference (Ecological Sustainability) and was allowed to spend two months in the USA. The ups and downs of his doctoral studies gave Tekeba the chance to develop experience and technical immunity. The invaluable support from his supervisory guidance to complete his thesis on time with all the requirements was unforgettable. The grant proposal writing efforts were also helpful in learning from experience how to write bankable project proposals. He describes the unreserved support from the OeAD offices as a lifelong experience. The Sunday open markets in Vienna as a means of communicating in the German language were wonderful. After completing his PhD study in Vienna, Tekeba says that there was no further institutional cooperation other than his personal communication with the BOKU team. Therefore, he would like to advise current and future scholars to establish a strong link with the host university while still in Austria, and afterwards. This will be taken as a "lesson learned". What he did was to work closely with teams from the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna while they were in Ethiopia for some project work.
His plans for the future are to continue working with the private sector in the livestock and nutrition fields, application of solar power as renewable energy in the livestock sector, and realize his research interests mentioned above. He would also like to establish links/partnerships with Austrian Institutions that are close to his current projects. In addition, he is open to work closely with any Austrian partners for any assignments that may be rendered from their side.
We love to stay in touch with our alumni and are grateful, that our alumni share their stories to inspire us and others. Thank you, Tekeba!
