Quotes by Eleni Zaude Gabre-Madhin

We spend most of our lives cutting down our ambitions because the world has told us to think small. Dreams express what your soul is telling you, so as crazy as your dream might seem - even to you - I don't care: You have to let that out.

— Eleni Zaude Gabre-Madhin

Hope

Anywhere the struggle is great, the level of ingenuity and inventiveness is high.

— Eleni Zaude Gabre-Madhin

Wisdom

In 1984-85, the year of the famine that killed nearly a million Ethiopians, I was an undergraduate at Cornell. At dinner one night, other students started throwing food. And suddenly - shocking myself - I got up on a chair and I screamed, 'Stop doing this! In my country people are starving!' In that moment, I knew that I owed my country something.

— Eleni Zaude Gabre-Madhin

Wisdom

In the American Midwest, farmers used to load grain onto barges and send it upriver to the Chicago market. But once it arrived, if no buyer was to be found, or if prices suddenly dropped, farmers would incur tremendous losses. And, in fact, would even dump the grain in Lake Michigan rather than spend more money transporting it back to their farms.

— Eleni Zaude Gabre-Madhin

Wisdom

Happiness is the freedom of choice. The freedom to choose where to live, what to do, what to buy, what to sell, from whom, to whom, when and how.

— Eleni Zaude Gabre-Madhin

Happiness

Like its agriculture, Africa's markets are highly under-capitalized and inefficient. We know from our work around the continent that transaction costs of reaching the market, and the risks of transacting in rural, agriculture markets, are extremely high. In fact, only one third of agricultural output produced in Africa even reaches the market.

— Eleni Zaude Gabre-Madhin

Success

One way to express choice is through the market. Well-functioning markets provide choices and, ultimately, the ability to express one's pursuit for happiness.

— Eleni Zaude Gabre-Madhin

Happiness