Speakers
Solomon Gizaw
Chairman and CEO of HST
Mr. Solomon is a chairman and CEO of HST, an end-to-end knowledge solutions provider and one of the biggest consulting firms in Ethiopia with an expertise and 20 years of solid experience in the areas of audit, consulting, tax and learning solutions.
Solomon has over 30 years of experience in Consulting, Financial Advisory, Audit and Tax. Solomon is a Financial Management Specialist by training.
He has an MBA on Finance from Manchester business school and Chartered Management Accountant and an ACCA qualification from the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, UK and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, ACCA and BA Degree in accounting from the Addis Ababa University.
Hikmet Abdella
Director General of Accounting and Auditing Board of Ethiopia [AABE]
is widely known for her work with ACCA. She is the Founder of ACCA Ethiopia Chapter and the first Country Manager for Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) she is currently serving as the new Director General of Accounting and Auditing Board of Ethiopia (AABE) since November 2019.
She serves as a Board member for The Center for Dialogue, Research and Cooperation (CDRC) which is an independent Ethiopia based non-profit think tank, as well as on the Ethiopian Red cross Board.
Hikmet took part in the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) which is the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ premier professional exchange program. The IVLP builds mutual understanding between the U.S. and other nations through short-term visits to the U.S. for current and emerging foreign leaders back in 2009.
Recently she was one of the 50 members of the Destiny Ethiopia Initiative, primarily to come up with four Scenarios of possible futures in the year 2040 for Ethiopia. Now she is a member of Ethiopian Inclusive Dialogue (EID) which is member of the Multi-stake holder Initiative for National Dialogue (MIND) with the vision of potentially being a facilitator for a possible National Dialogue.
Yodit Kassa
Head of ACCA Ethiopia
Yodit Kassa is currently the Country Manager of ACCA Ethiopia and has worked as an Education Manager for ACCA Ethiopia, before moving to the position. Yodit has engaged in different Education and Training Development in Business, Accountancy and Finance and always believes in the power of education (learning and continuous development) and the profession.
Yodit started her journey as a lecture at Addis Ababa University (AAU), Business school, Department of Accounting and Finance. She has worked indifferent position at AAU, worked in training and development with organizations like USAID, AWiB (Women in Business) and many more. she has published articles in journals and always works to develop her skills in the area of accounting, finance, training and education through her career.
Gobeze Dessalegn
Director of Learning Solutions at HST
Gobeze is a Director leading HST Learning Solution. He has over 30 years of teaching, audit, accountancy, consultancy, and training experience.
He has full exposure of audit and consulting of different sectors including financial institutions, commercial enterprises, factories, energy sector, and non- governmental and international organizations. He has also been teaching at different colleges and Addis Ababa University and providing trainings to multitude of clients on accounting, finance, audit and IFRS.
Frederick Kibbed
PKF Uganda
Frederick is a Certified Public Accountant with over 25 years of experience in the accountancy profession. He is the Staff Partner for PKF Uganda – one of the largest Accounting and Audit firms in Eastern Africa.
He has taught Financial Reporting, Advanced Accounting and Audit & Assurance in the CPA, ACCA, and CIA programs in Uganda and Rwanda.
Frederick served before as the Audit and Assurance Partner at AA & L Associates. a large indigenous firm of Certified Public Accountants of Uganda which merged with PKF Uganda in 2014. In his position, Frederick was responsible for audits of both SMEs and big corporate companies operating in Uganda and the East African region. Frederick is also the firm’s expert on full IFRS and IFRS for SMEs implementation and interpretation.
Since 2011, Frederick has served as the Chair of the Financial Reporting Awards (FiRe Awards) in Uganda. As Chair, Frederick has provided leadership and vision that has resulted in national recognition of the FiRe Awards and the promotion of IFRS application.
Frederick is the 8th President of the Council of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Uganda (ICPAU). He Chaired Professional Standards Committee of the Institute. The Committee is responsible for adoption, interpretation, and implementation of IFRS and IFRS for SME in Uganda.
