The character arc of Segenet Kelemu
A life drawn by Character Arc from the public record
Born in 1956 in the Ethiopian town of Finote Selam. Between then and now sit farming chores expected of every child in the village, a mother who sent her to sell the produce at market because she would negotiate the best price and keep the money safe, an early lesson in how hard agriculture is and how much harder it is for women, teachers who recognised what she was, close to three decades of research into agricultural constraints across four continents, the leadership of three African scientific institutions, and a L Oreal UNESCO award in 2014. The line below draws the story so far, in order.
Drag along the line to move, pinch or use the buttons to look closer. Tap the line to pluck it, or any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of her life; the sources are at the foot of the page.
Who is Segenet Kelemu?
They sent her to market with the produce. She never left the subject.
She was born in the Ethiopian town of Finote Selam. At school she was prone to challenging and contradicting her teachers, and she was fortunate that the teachers she had recognised and nurtured what that was rather than punishing it. She had academic prowess and a great deal of self-determination.
Like the other children in her village she was expected to help with the farming. Her mother went further than that: she gave her the job of selling the farm produce at market, certain that she would negotiate the best prices and keep the money safe. A child trusted with the household income learns the economics of a smallholding faster than anybody in a lecture theatre.
What she learned from it is the whole basis of her career. She came to understand the hard truths about agriculture: the back-breaking labour, particularly for women, and the constraints on productivity that kept the people in her community in a constant struggle to meet the minimum needs of a household. That is not an abstract research interest. It is the thing she had been selling at market.
She became a molecular plant pathologist, and for close to three decades her research, and her teams, has contributed to addressing agricultural constraints in Africa, Asia, Latin America and North America. She led Crop and Agroecosystem Health Management at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture, was Vice President of Programs at the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, and directed Biosciences eastern and central Africa.
From November 2013 to December 2023 she was Director General of the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology, the only institute in Africa dedicated to research on insects and other arthropods. Her honours include the L Oreal UNESCO Award for Women in Science in 2014, a fellowship of The World Academy of Sciences and its prize for agricultural sciences, an honorary doctorate from Tel Aviv University in May 2016, a place on the Forbes Africa list of the hundred most influential African women in May 2014, a place among the ten most influential African women in agriculture, election as a Fellow of the African Academy of Sciences, an outstanding senior scientist award, and a friendship award from China.
The moments
Segenet Kelemu's timeline.
The 1950s
Born in Finote Selam
Everyday. A farming town in Ethiopia.
The 1960s
Farming chores
Setback, and it changed her direction. Every child in the village worked the land.
Sent to market with the money
Milestone, and it changed everything. Her mother trusted her with the household income.
The hard truths about farming
Milestone, and it changed everything. She learned the economics of a smallholding before she learned the science.
The 1970s
Teachers who noticed
Milestone, and it changed everything. She argued with her teachers and they encouraged her anyway.
Leave the farming, or study it
Crossroads, decided.
The paths laid out: make the farm the subject, taken, or study something else entirely. Three decades of research across four continents, and a decade running the only insect research institute in Africa.
The 1990s
Crop health at CIAT
Milestone, and it changed everything. Running crop health research at an international centre.
The 2000s
Three decades of research
Milestone, and it changed everything. Four continents, one question.
The 2010s
Biosciences in east Africa
Milestone, and it changed her direction. Two institutional posts, before the big one.
Director General
Milestone, and it changed everything. Ten years running the only institute of its kind on the continent.
The L Oreal UNESCO award
Milestone, and it changed everything. One of five women in the world that year.
The Forbes hundred
Milestone, and it changed her direction. Two lists in one year, one of them only ten names long.
An honorary doctorate
Milestone, and it changed her direction. An honorary doctorate, from another country.
Fellow of two academies
Milestone, and it changed everything. Two academies, and a prize for agricultural science.
She ran the only insect research institute on her continent for a decade, and the work still points at the same problem. What she set moving started with the back-breaking labour she saw in her own village, particularly the labour done by women, and she has spent thirty years on why it produces so little.
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Sources
- Segenet Kelemu, English Wikipedia biography, filed under living people.
- The L Oreal UNESCO Awards for Women in Science, 2014.
- Her leadership record at ICIPE, BecA, AGRA and CIAT.
- The Forbes Africa list of the hundred most influential African women, May 2014.