In a recent interview with Business Insider Africa, Tesfazghi reflected on his 38-year GE career, including becoming the first Black African to hold a senior regional leadership role within GE International in 2003.
Under his leadership, GE Africa’s revenue rose from about $150 million to $3.8 billion in three years, while the region became one of the company’s fastest-growing and most profitable businesses.
His story, later documented in Glass Ceilings & Hidden Walls, goes beyond corporate advancement and reveals what can happen when African executives deliver exceptional results within multinational systems still reluctant to share authority.
Tesfazghi grew up in Asmara, where family, community and faith shaped his early life. The contrast between wealth and poverty also gave him an early understanding of inequality.
He recalled that he and his friends often watched children from wealthier families eating ice cream in the city centre, a product they had never tasted.
On one occasion, one of the boys took a cone and swallowed it quickly as it melted, causing a painful brain freeze.
“What stayed with me was not the pain of my friend,” Tesfazghi said. “It was the realisation that even something as simple as ice cream could reveal a city divided and a country divided.”
A harsher lesson came when Ethiopian security forces raided his grandfather’s home and arrested his uncle, an Eritrean freedom fighter.
“That day, I witnessed fear and chaos,” he said. “I saw injustice and oppression. I watched strangers beat family members and smash doors and cupboards in a display of unchecked power.”
Political turmoil and migration took Tesfazghi through Ethiopia, Sweden and Saudi Arabia, requiring him to adapt to unfamiliar systems without losing his identity.
Tesfazghi identifies Saudi Arabia as the most influential stage in the development of his leadership philosophy.
As head of finance, logistics and administration for the PP9 Power Plant project in Riyadh, Tesfazghi helped oversee an operation employing more than 5,000 people.
His authority over financial controls, however, became a source of conflict.
“The American project manager found it difficult to accept that an African person exercised financial oversight and control over a project of such magnitude,” Tesfazghi said.
“What began as professional tension escalated into a formal case against me and triggered an investigation that lasted 11 months.”
He was removed from his position and instructed to remain at the head office, where he performed limited administrative duties while the investigation continued.
“Throughout that period, my integrity, competence and reputation were put under intense scrutiny,” he said. “Rather than allowing frustration or emotion to dictate my actions, I relied on facts, transparency and adherence to the highest standards of governance.”
The investigation eventually cleared him. During the same period, evidence of financial misconduct emerged against the project manager, according to Tesfazghi, leading to his removal from Saudi Arabia.
“That episode taught me lessons that stayed with me throughout my career,” he said. “Leadership is not about authority; it is about character. Integrity must never be compromised, even when facing injustice or discrimination.”
When Tesfazghi became president and chief executive of GE Africa, he initially saw the promotion as evidence that multinational companies were beginning to recognise African leadership.
He soon discovered that entering executive leadership did not remove the structures controlling influence.
“The barriers were rarely formal,” he said. “They were embedded in perception, tradition and long-standing corporate culture.”
Tesfazghi encountered credibility bias, restricted access to informal networks and greater scrutiny of decisions that might have been considered bold when made by Western peers.
“Many of the most important decisions and sponsorship conversations happened in executive corridors, leadership off-sites and long-established peer networks,” he said.
His mistake was believing that strong results would be enough.
“I assumed that consistent delivery and strong financial results would naturally translate into a strategic voice at the global table,” Tesfazghi said. “Breaking through a glass ceiling does not automatically remove the hidden walls behind it.”
For younger African professionals, he recommends building visibility, influential networks and sponsors willing to advocate for them when they are absent.
Tesfazghi’s most consequential commercial decision was replacing GE Africa’s reliance on agents and representatives with a locally recruited leadership structure he called the African Dream Team.
He believed intermediaries separated GE from customers, delayed decisions, increased costs and created opportunities for unethical conduct.
“No one understands Africa better than Africans themselves,” he said.
Tesfazghi ended agency agreements and shifted to direct engagement through African professionals who understood local politics, languages, regulations and commercial culture.
“In Africa, trust is not transactional,” he said. “It is relational, historical and deeply personal. Customers were assessing whether we understood them and whether we would remain committed.”
e also made integrity the centre of GE Africa’s commercial strategy.
“When I presented the strategy, many expected PowerPoint slides, charts and growth projections,” he said. “Instead, I delivered four words: ‘Never compromise on integrity.’”
Removing intermediaries cut hidden costs and allowed GE to compete on technology, pricing, execution and trust.
The business expanded across power generation, aviation, healthcare, transport, security and industrial infrastructure.
“The financial results validated the approach,” Tesfazghi said. “When you empower local talent and trust the people closest to the market, you create an organisation that is more competitive, resilient and successful.”
The Dream Team rejected the idea that Africa was a single market defined by instability and aid dependency.
“Being Africans, we understood that Africa was not one market but more than 50 distinct markets,” Tesfazghi said. “Each had its own political dynamics, business culture, economic priorities and decision-making processes.”
The team treated power shortages, healthcare gaps and transport constraints as signals of demand for infrastructure, technology and investment.
“Africa was not asking for charity,” he said. “It was seeking technology, investment, skills transfer and partnerships that could accelerate development.”
Inclusion also produced value beyond revenue. Local leaders improved bid accuracy, identified risks earlier, reduced dependence on expensive expatriate structures and strengthened employee retention.
Their presence gave GE greater credibility with governments and customers that wanted long-term partners rather than distant suppliers.
“Inclusion was not simply about who was in the room,” Tesfazghi said. “It was about what the composition of that room made possible.”
Tesfazghi warns African executives against erasing their identity in pursuit of acceptance within Western-dominated corporate systems.
“I observed many African executives imitating their Western counterparts in dress, speech and behaviour,” he said. “In doing so, they often distanced themselves from the African context.”
He distinguishes between adaptation and assimilation.
“The goal is not assimilation, but legibility,” Tesfazghi said. “Your cultural grounding, ethics, communication style and worldview are not liabilities to be softened. Values remain stable, while methods can adapt.”
“Sponsors do not just know you; they advocate for you when you are not present,” he said. “That relationship is built on trust in your judgment, visibility of your impact and confidence that your success reflects well on them.”
For African professionals seeking executive leadership, he recommends roles carrying responsibility for revenue, margins, risk and growth.
“Technical excellence gets you into the room,” he said. “Executive leadership requires a business ownership mindset.”
Subsequently, GE dismantled the Dream Team, whose members went on to senior roles elsewhere, including Allan Kilavuka, chief executive of Kenya Airways.
“Their success is one of the strongest validations of the calibre of the team,” Tesfazghi said. “GE Africa did not simply lose employees. It lost market relationships, continental knowledge and a proven leadership engine.”
Beyond the institutional loss, the experience also carried a personal cost.
“There were moments of isolation,” he said. “You are expected to deliver results, build trust and drive change while navigating scepticism, resistance and subtle forms of exclusion.”
To manage the pressure, he relied on family, trusted colleagues, preparation and reflection.
Those experiences became the foundation of Tesfazghi’s book, Glass Ceilings & Hidden Walls, which he describes as an act of protest.
“The GE Africa Dream Team succeeded beyond expectations,” he said. “What failed was the system’s willingness to accept that African professionals could outperform established norms.”
Tesfazghi argues that discrimination has become less visible but more structural, shaping promotions, sponsorship and access to strategic decision-making.
He also warns that artificial intelligence, recruitment systems and investment-risk models can reinforce those biases by favouring Western accents, universities and career paths.
“Africa is not just being evaluated by artificial intelligence,” Tesfazghi said. “Africa is being encoded into it. Unless Africans help shape the data, standards and assumptions, the next generation of exclusion will appear objective, efficient and neutral.”
For companies reducing diversity and inclusion programmes, he sees financial and operational dangers, including talent loss, weaker decision-making, cultural blind spots and poorer execution in global markets.
His broader message is that inclusion is not a social accessory but a competitive capability.
“Never confuse the dismantling of a successful team with the failure of its vision,” Tesfazghi said. “Talent is universal, but opportunity is not always distributed fairly.”
FeaturedPost
He also stresses the difference between networking and sponsorship.
