Our Core Team
Making society more inclusive for people with disabilities is a challenge, as is working on the grassroots level with vulnerable groups. From the very beginning, it was obvious that a small company couldn’t meet all the needs of the artisans by itself. We wanted to start working together with experts of inclusivity and accessibility. Our core team consists of people based in Finland and Ethiopia. With their expertise and unyielding approach, we have been able to employ over 300 people in Ethiopia by today.
Anna Suoheimo
Anna Suoheimo is the CEO and founder of SERA HELSINKI. Anna lived in Ethiopia for five years and during that time she and her children fell in love with the country and its people. Anna used to make woolen rugs for her home together with the local artisans and soon after she started designing what would become Sera Helsinki’s first collection Juuret. She also knew she wanted to create products that could give back to the country she loved.
Learn more about the story of sera helsinki
Gosa Zeleken
Gosa is an integral part of Sera’s processes that support women with disabilities to generate income in Ethiopia. He founded Empower Persons with Disabilities Ethiopia Association (EPDEA), an organization that operates on grassroots level in Ethiopia.
Learn more about our partnerships with NGOs
Hanna Kähkönen
Hanna works at Abilis Foundation as a Programme Coordinator. Abilis Foundation is a non-governmental organization in Finland that operates in several developing countries. Their goal is to empower people with disabilities and create job and business opportunities for them. Sera Helsinki and Abilis started a partnership in 2016, and together have created a network of Ethiopian NGOs that are part of our production and activism. Hanna works hard to ensure that the projects carried out in Ethiopia run smoothly and effectively.
Learn more about abilis foundationAbraham Hailemariam
Abraham has been a fundamental part of Sera’s story. In the beginning, he acted as a translator to help Anna build the first pillars of the company and later on to navigate the complex bureaucracy of Ethiopia. Today, Abraham is overseeing the local operations in Addis Ababa and acts as an essential link between Ethiopia and Finland.
