He is an investment advisor with over 20 years of experience. As one of the initiators and organizers of a prestigious African fintech-focused summit, he has received several awards celebrating his impactful contributions.  

Zekarias Amsalu (photo) is an Ethiopian investor, ACCA Chartered Accountant, and an active figure in the African fintech sector. He is also one of the co-founders and co-organizers of the Africa Fintech Summit, “a vibrant community of fintech entrepreneurs, investors, regulators, and everyone in between working together to solve the largest financial issues.”

The summit, launched in 2018, is held twice a year (once in Washington, D.C., and once in a selected African country).

“The Africa Fintech Summit is an event that gathers leaders, investors, regulators, think tanks, business leaders, banks, government agencies, and other architects of the ecosystem to foster collaboration, raise capital, and explore strategies to expand the reach of financial service delivery in Africa. Each April, one AFTS is held on the sidelines of the World Bank's Spring Meetings in Washington, D.C., while another is held in a selected African country,” Zekarias told Digital Africa, in April 2022, while explaining the concept.

The co-founder is also the founder and CEO of IBEX Frontier LLC, an investment consultancy firm focused on emerging markets and preferably in Ethiopia. He was also an investor for the 2019 Cohort of the NextGen Africa program. A few years earlier, in 2002, he founded Future Proof Accountancy, an accountancy firm providing its services to Ethiopian businesses and entrepreneurs.

The experienced investor kickstarted his professional career in 1997 when he joined the Addis-Ababa-based  Dashen Bank S.C as the head office accountant. In 1998,  he was hired by Shell as Treasurer and East Africa Hub Credit Manager. From 2003 to 2006, he was the financial accountant of Prudential Financial, in London, UK. He then worked for Westminster Electrical as a financial manager between 2006 and 2017. At the same time, Zekarias Amsalu was a management accountant for Godrej Consumer Products Ltd from 2007 to 2008. From 2016 to 2017, he also worked for Asoko Insight where he was the Operations Manager in Ethiopia.

Currently, he is the advisory board member of the VC firm Afrinet Capital. His impactful contributions have earned him several awards. In 2018, he was named one of the top 100 Most Influential Persons of African Descent (MIPAD) Under 40 in the Business/Entrepreneurship category. Forbes also showcased him as an investment connector and, he also won the Outstanding Trade Avocate Award at the Africa Trade and Investment Summit.

Melchior Koba