Sinknesh Ejigu Wolde-Mariam (born 1956) is an

Ethiopian Ethiopians are the native inhabitants of Ethiopia, as well as the global diaspora of Ethiopia. Ethiopians constitute several component ethnic groups, many of which are closely related to ethnic groups in neighboring Eritrea and other parts of ...

politician, chemist and businesswoman. She is currently Ethiopian Ambassador to

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

and

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

Biography

She was born in

Ambo Ambo may refer to: Places * Ambo, Kiribati * Ambo Province, Huanuco Region, Peru ** Ambo District ** Ambo, Peru, capital of Ambo District * Ambo Town, a town in Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia ** Ambo, Ethiopia, a capital of West Shewa Zone ...

west of

Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; am, አዲስ አበባ, , new flower ; also known as , lit. "natural spring" in Oromo), is the capital and largest city of Ethiopia. It is also served as major administrative center of the Oromia Region. In the 2007 census, t ...

to a family of eight in 1956. Her father, Ejigu Wolde-Mariam, was a military officer so the family moved around Ethiopia a lot. Both her parents did not have much education but they encouraged their children to seek a strong one. She attended several different primary schools. At the Princess Tenagnework Comprehensive High School, an Indian teacher encouraged her interest in science and chemistry. Ejigu enrolled at

Addis Ababa University Addis Ababa University (AAU) ( am, አዲስ አበባ ዩኒቨርሲቲ) is a national university located in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. It is the oldest university in Ethiopia. AAU has thirteen campuses. Twelve of these are situated in Addis Ababa, ...

in 1973, where she was assigned to the mathematics department but transferred to the chemistry department in her second year. In the midst of the revolution in 1974, she was sent to the farmland to work alongside peasants. Due to the hardness of the situation in the country at the time, she dropped out of university to work teaching physical science. Later, she found work at the Ethiopian Pharmaceutical Manufacturing as a chemical analyst. After quitting her job in pharmaceuticals, she received a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from Addis Ababa University in 1980. Ejigu became a junior geoscience analyst in the laboratory of the Ethiopian Geological Survey. She earned a master's degree in Analytical Chemistry in 1988 at the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and 26 schools of study. The annual income of the institution f ...

. After taking her degree, she joined the Water and Geothermal Analysis Department in the Ministry of Mines and was soon promoted to head of the department, rare for a woman at the time. She became Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Mines and Energy in June 1998. She is a member of the

Oromo Peoples' Democratic Organization The Oromo Democratic Party ( om, Paartii Demokraatawaa Oromoo, ODP) was a political party in Ethiopia, and part of the alliance with the Amhara National Democratic Movement, the South Ethiopian Peoples' Democratic Front and the Tigrayan Peoples ...

and was a member of the

House of Peoples' Representatives The House of Peoples' Representatives is the lower house of the Ethiopia, Ethiopian Federal Parliamentary Assembly. Located in the capital Addis Ababa, the House has 547 members. All are elected in theory for five-year term in single-seat constit ...

representing Dendi, Western Shewa, Oromia. She was appointed Minister of Mines in the Cabinet of Ethiopia in 2010. Her main role as minister was to discover the basic geoscience data of Ethiopia, to promote mineral and petroleum exploration, and grant permits to investors seeking to make money in mining. Due to her background in science, she was able to directly manage the scientific projects themselves and not just the personnel of the ministry. Throughout Ethiopia's history the government typically pursued agriculture for development, but it began focusing more on mining when Ejignu was appointed. In 2012, she was involved in a dispute with the Hong Kong-based company PetroTrans after she revoked their license since they were taking too long on a project. In 2014, she became Ethiopian Ambassador to

and

. Ejignu is also a Director of Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation.

Personal life

She is married to a man she met at Addis Ababa University and has two children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ejigu, Sinknesh 1956 births Living people Addis Ababa University alumni Alumni of the University of East Anglia Members of the House of Peoples' Representatives Oromo Democratic Party politicians Ethiopian women diplomats 21st-century diplomats Ethiopian women chemists 20th-century chemists 20th-century women scientists 21st-century chemists 21st-century women scientists Ambassadors of Ethiopia to Brazil Ambassadors of Ethiopia to Argentina Ambassadors of Ethiopia to Chile Ethiopian women ambassadors Women government ministers of Ethiopia 20th-century Ethiopian politicians 20th-century Ethiopian women politicians 21st-century Ethiopian politicians 21st-century Ethiopian women politicians