When Addisu Girma and his sister Zelekash started Addis Poultry Farm in Dukem in 2024, their ambition was much bigger than their resources. With limited land and capital, they began in a residential backyard with fewer than 50 layer chicks.
What initially felt like a constraint became their first classroom.
Managing those birds forced them to master the fundamentals of poultry farming in Ethiopia; temperature control, feeding, disease prevention, biosecurity and daily flock management. At that scale, every mistake was visible and every improvement mattered.
The experience taught Addisu an important lesson about entrepreneurship: you do not need perfect conditions to validate a business. You need discipline, attention to detail and a willingness to learn from the constraints in front of you.
When hard work stops being enough
As the business grew, Addisu realised that hard work and operational instinct alone would not take Addis Poultry Farm to the next level.
This motivated him to join the BIC Ethiopia Catalyzer Programme in 2024, an opportunity he discovered through GrowthAfrica’s professional network on LinkedIn.
Addisu needed structure, market linkages and honest feedback. Four months of mentorship and workshops challenged him to confront gaps in how he was running the business, particularly his habit of keeping too much information in his head.
He learned that financial records, cash-flow management, input-output tracking and standard operating procedures are just as important to a poultry business as feeding the chickens on time.
Moving from relying primarily on instinct to building systems and making data-driven decisions became a significant turning point for Addis Poultry Farm.
Building resilience beyond the farm
The programme also showed Addisu the value of learning from other entrepreneurs.
Conversations around cash flow, regulation and supply-chain challenges offered practical lessons that could be adapted rather than learned through costly trial and error.
Addisu applied these lessons by strengthening relationships with feed and grain suppliers around Bishoftu, formalising the business through its investment licence and developing a clearer growth strategy that balances immediate cash flow with longer-term investment.
Today, Addis Poultry Farm operates at around a 90% laying rate and produces a steady supply of eggs. Yet growth has brought new challenges, including access to formal land and appropriate financing.
These challenges have reinforced a lesson that extends beyond poultry farming:
Do not wait for capital to build resilience. Build the foundation first.
When financing, partnerships or other opportunities become available, a business needs the systems and discipline to absorb them.
From 50 to 3,000
The next ambition is to scale Addis Poultry Farm to 3,000 layers, produce approximately 2,800 eggs a day and expand distribution to hotels, retailers and food-processing businesses across Dukem and Addis Ababa.
But scaling a poultry business in Ethiopia is not simply about adding more chickens. It is about strengthening the systems, relationships and capabilities that make sustainable growth possible.
For Addisu, the biggest takeaway for fellow Ethiopian entrepreneurs is simple: embrace the gaps in the business early.
Ask uncomfortable questions. Seek honest feedback. Be willing to restructure.
The vulnerabilities confronted today can become the strengths that carry a business tomorrow.
The backyard was never the destination. It was where Addis Poultry Farm learned how to grow.
