CABI Blog

Segenet Kelemu, the Director General of the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe). Copyright: Photo supplied by Sida

In the week that the UN Decade of Family Farming was launched, Segenet Kelemu, the Director General of the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe), tells CABI’s sister organisation SciDev.Net that women can be good leaders and science managers.

In a candid interview, she reveals how she came from humble beginnings (having to run barefoot to school) to a position of power and influence in the field of agricultural science. Nominated by Bill Gates as one of five inspirational people around the world, Ms Kelemu goes onto describe her journey from rural Ethiopia to a position as head of one of the world’s leading agricultural research centres.

See the video in which Segenet Kelemu is interviewed

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTEkuOq_NFI&w=560&h=315]

Additional Information

Read the full Q&A: ‘Global Village’ needed to raise a scientist on SciDev.Net

Relevant CABI-published book

Gender and Rural Globalization: International Perspectives on Gender and Rural Development, Edited by B Bock, Wageningen University, The Netherlands, S Shortall, Newcastle University, UK