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Last week, Estifanos Tekle, finance and
administrative manager at Nyala Motors SC, a
graduate in accounting from the former Haile
Selassie I University, was not in his usual form
while performing routine duties at his office
located in Gerji, Bole District. He is tormented
with the death of what he considers the 'soul' of
Nyala Motors, and his long time colleague, Getachew
Kibreselassie, general manager and founder of the
company, on November 16, 2007.
Having joined the company, which is now popular as
importer and distributor of various Japanese
automobiles and trucks, in April 1985, Estifanos is
one of the eight management department heads at
Nyala.
"I have worked with Getachew for over 20 years, and
he is a true leader," Estifanos reminisces the
qualities of his former boss. "I doubt if we can
ever find a manager with such outstanding
qualities."
Getachew, who is treasured by almost all members of
the staff of Nyala, devoted himself to his company.
Since Nyala's establishment in 1973, he has done
everything in his power to bring the company to its
current position, serving it in different capacities
for over three decades.
When the company was born with four foreign
nationals and one Ethiopian with a capital of 50,000
Br, Getachew was a sales manager. In 1991, a major
reorganisation took place in the holdings of the
Nyala Motors. Near East Financial Corporation, based
in Geneva, bought 65.6pc of Nyala's shares, while
Getachew also bought 19.6pc and the capital of the
company subsequently grew to 2.5 million Br.
Beginning its operations by introducing Datsun
automobiles to Ethiopia, the young company had faced
a major problem: the inadequacy of garage and other
service facilities. At a meeting of Nyala's Board of
Directors on December 15, 1977, it was decided to
increase the floor space of the company's workshop
by negotiating the purchase of a villa situated on
the west side of Nyala's premises, doubling its
workshop size.
At the same meeting, Getachew was appointed General
Manager as of January 1, 1978. According to his
colleagues, he piloted the company in a relatively
short period of time to further growth.
"He restructured the company in a modern way and
registered a remarkable success," Tesfaye
Woldemichael, his special assistant told Fortune.
Tesfaye, like Estifanos, wonders how Nyala could
replace such an integral part of the company.
Born in 1939 in Selale, Getachew took his early
education in Teferi Mekonnen Comprehensive School in
Addis Abeba. He later obtained his diploma in
Business Management and BA in Economics from Addis
Abeba University (AAU). Getachew also has a diploma
in management from the British Tutorial College.
Beginning his career in the procurement department
of the Ethiopian Roads Authority (ERA), he joined
Paul Ries and Sons Engineering, now sister company
of Nyala, and served in an administrative position
in the motor department.
Combining the idle capital that Paul Ries had at the
time from its profits, five employees of Paul Ries
including Getachew, with their expertise, and five
foreign investors, founded Nyala. However, climbing
the ladder of success to the level of General
Manager, Gertachew was the only one remaining in the
company among the founding employees until his
departure just over a week ago.
Not only did Getachew found Nyala Motors, he was
also one of the founders and Chairman of the Board
of Directors of Nyala Insurance SC; Board member of
20/20 developers SC; Chairman of Addis Bleaching
Manufacturing Plc's Board of Directors; and
Proprietor and Managing Director of Bulbula
Integrated Livestock Production Project.
Nahusenay Araya, managing director of Nyala
Insurance SC, recalls the times he spent with
Getachew as moments of pleasure doing business.
Nahusenay gives the credit for the achievement of
the insurance company to Getachew.
"It is partly because of him that Nyala Insurance
stayed profitable and competitive in the industry,"
Nahusenay told Fortune. "His friendly
approach to employees was also stimulating."
Estifanos also has fresh memories of his past with
the deceased.
"He was more than a colleague; he was an intimate
friend," Estifanos told Fortune in grief.
The General Manager who was dubbed a workaholic by
his colleagues encountered a health problem in June
this year. Having taken treatments in Japan for two
months, he came back home and spent two weeks in St.
Gabriel Hospital here in Addis Abeba. However, with
the belief that better facilities would be found in
Thailand, he went to Bangkok on August 22 to begin
medication that was scheduled to end in three
months. Nonetheless, again he was made to return
home finishing the first phase of the treatment that
took a month.
Sadly, though Bogale Solomon (MD), a veteran doctor
at Black Lion Hospital, was following his health
condition, Getachew passed away at the age of 68 due
to complications from cancer on Friday, November 16.
Getachew leaves behind not only his fingerprints on
successful business endeavours; his six children and
wife are languishing from the pain inflicted by his
absence.
Haregewoin Abebe, his wife and the mother of his
last two children, aged seven and four, has been
married to Getachew for eight years. In mourning,
she did not have the strength to explain her late
husband's commendable deeds when Fortune
talked to her.
"I lost my good-hearted and wise husband," she
whispered in despair. "I was so young when I married
him. He brought me up like a mother, a father and a
loving husband."
In fact most employees of Nyala Motors consider him
a caring father who lived for the needy and
destitute. Getachew has arranged scholarships for 10
employees of the company who could not pay for their
classes. He is also remembered for his substantial
charity to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church in
constructing churches.
In all his business success, Getachew still found
time to be an active community member, involved in
seven associations and committees. An active
traveller, he visited 27 countries in six
continents, which was also considered to be the
source of his unique understanding of developing
countries' plights. Getachew, with so much to live
for, was a staunch fan of horse riding sports.
With years of his strong leadership, Nyala Motors,
which now rests on 19,000sqm of land, has upgraded
its capital to eight million Birr. The company has
115 permanent and 45 part-time workers growing fast
to become the sole importer and distributor of
Japanese-made Nissan automobiles, Nissan diesel dump
trucks, buses, mixers and asphalt distributing
trucks, among others.
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