About Sher Ethiopia

Sher Ethiopia PLC operates the largest rose farm in the world in Ziway, in the vicinity of Lake Ziway. Besides this rose farm which is located 160 kilometres south of  Addis Ababa, Sher Ethiopia also operates two other rose production farms: one in Adami Tulu and one in Koka. The combined greenhouse capacity of Sher Ethiopia amounts to 500 hectares, where more than 1.1 billion roses are produced and exported each year in many varieties and colours. All activities are performed by local employees (currently around 12.000 FTE).  Besides its farm activities, Sher provides education to over 6,800 children at three locations and offers medical services via their own Hospital, located in Ziway.

Our Hospital provides medical services to the wider region and community of Ziway  and does this with a team of more than 150 employees. The hospital operates more than 80 beds, provides professional standard healthcare services and plays an important role in providing information related to family planning and  HIV.

The role

The Sher Hospital is looking for a qualified and experienced LABORATORY TECHNICIAN to strengthen the healthcare team.

He/She is responsible for the accurate and professional execution of clinical testing including specimen processing, test performance and reporting of results. These include routine and specialized clinical laboratory testing.

Tasks and Responsibilities

• Reads procedures fully before performing any tasks. Ensure that SOPs are complete and updated.
• Conduct all medical laboratory activities [pre-analytical, analytical and post analytical] as assigned, based on developed SOPs and Job Aid
• Performs daily, weekly and monthly preventive maintenance and registers this in the log
• Reviews annually the Quality Management System documents
• Ensures that specimens received for testing have fulfilled acceptance criteria following established SOP
• Calibrates instruments and performs all routine daily, weekly, monthly and periodic preventive and corrective maintenance and function checks and repairs on instruments and equipment’s following SOP. Documents all maintenance performed on “Instrument Log Sheets”. .
• Performs instrumentation troubleshooting to correct problems
• Performs, evaluates and documents quality control data and assure that patient results are not reported when tolerance limits are exceeded; documents quality occurrences in compliance with the quality plan of the laboratory; advises Quality officer of significant quality control/quality assurance issues.
• Participates or performs EQA samples as assigned
• Analyses technical problems pertaining to specimen adequacy, laboratory data and instrumentation; determines cause and rectifies problems in accordance with guidelines and SOP
• Confirms abnormal results and result discrepancies and initiates follow-up to resolve discrepancies
• Reports and reviews laboratory results according to SOP and report critical (panic) values or unusual results in accordance with established policy.
• Applies strictly safety precautions as per developed Safety Policies and Procedures and  informs the Safety Officer in cases of  any physical or chemical injuries
• Ensures the confidentiality of all patient information throughout all phases of laboratory testing
• Processes specimens for referral testing following established Procedure
• Generates data, prepares job related documents and records
• Responds to customer inquiries about laboratory results and adheres to customer service standards of the Sher Hospital laboratory
• Participates in trainings and training of new employees and other staffs

Skills set of the candidate

• good communicator
• patience and stress resistant
• team player

Required qualification and experiences

Due Date to apply: before 25/05/2024

How to apply:  Qualified applicants who fulfill above mentioned requirements can apply in sending their application letter and CV in English to gdejene@sherethiopia.com or hrziway@sherethiopia.com

In Ethiopia, our farms are located next to the main road that connects Addis Abeba to Moyale. Despite the fact that the new highway has reduced traffic intensity, unfortunately there are still many traffic accidents. That is why we have been lobbying for some time to implement speed-reducing measures. Last week, the Ethiopian Road Authorities (ERA) have constructed a total of 6 speeds bumps in the vicinity of our farms. We would like to thank the ERA for their cooperation. We hope our employees and the community members are better protected now.

On April 3rd & 4th 2024 Fairtrade International Woman’s Day was celebrated in Entebbe at Wagagai Farm. The purpose of the celebration was to share success stories and initiatives that showcase Fairtrade’s efforts in empowering women towards gender equity.

Representatives were present from many African Fairtrade certified producers, as well as Woman School of Leadership project beneficiaries, government representatives, partners and stakeholders of Fairtrade Africa. On behalf of Sher Ethiopia, Roman Asfaw (Environmental Manager) participated. She shared Sher Ethiopia’s best practices in relation to women empowerment. For example, the distribution of Mela for her sanitary packages for students as well as for employees.

The program contained a visit to Wagagai Limited, a company with more than 2000 employees and various initiatives such as a radio project to interact with the community and disseminate information on various topics.

‘While we have come a long way with diversity, equity, and inclusion, we still have far to go until women are equally recognized for their professional contributions. We will keep striving to meet our goal by offering our employees and community members a range of training opportunities and programs’ stated by the all participants. At Sher Ethiopia, we are committed to do our part.

On March 8 and 9, International Women’s Day (IWD) was celebrated at Sher Ethiopia. Inspire Inclusion was the world wide theme, and we organized a set of activities in light of this.

The festivities started on March 8 with a welcoming speech by our COO Aswin Endeman and our operations director Andrew Brooke-Smith. They emphasized the importance of inclusion to our company, where we actively work on equality for all our employees and where we value the contribution of all our colleagues.

After that, the gender committee had a virtual meeting with the women of the city council of Zoeterwoude, a village in The Netherlands. They were also celebrating International Women’s Day, and it was truly inspiring to share experiences and to learn from each other.

On March 9, we celebrated IWD at our farms for all employees. In Ziway, a photobooth was installed at the entrance gate, and the gender committee welcomed employees with music and dancing. Many pictures were taken at the booth and it was a good and happy start of the working day for many.

Inclusion also means that Sher Ethiopia wants to emphasize that it is important that every employee that comes to work feels comfortable about personal hygiene. For that reason, the company distributed ‘Mela for her’ reusable sanitary kits to harvesters on all farms. Women of other departments will not be forgotten, more will follow.

Finally, a gender committee convention was organized at the clubhouse at Ziway farm. There was a panel discussion that covered topics related to women’s rights, gender equality, and the challenges and achievements of women in various spheres of life.

We look back on a great day where we celebrated the achievements of women throughout the company and where we got inspired to keep on working on inclusion. The motto ‘Invest in women, accelerate progress’ will help us all to keep this in mind.

Following on from the project that started in the autumn of 2022, we recently handed out Mela for her reusable sanitary pads to 350 girls aged between 12 & 13 at our Sher Schools. This is made possible by the tremendous support of the Dutch Flower Foundation.

Mela (መላ) means solution in Amharic. A solution for a problem that unfortunately exists for many young women and girls in Africa: a lack of affordable sanitary products. For many people, menstrual hygiene is an inconvenience or taboo. For millions of girls around the world, it can pose barriers to education, health, self-esteem, and human rights. And for many, the start of menstruation typically means a loss of days in school.

MELA FOR HER is an Ethiopian social start-up enterprise that transforms women and girls’ lives across Ethiopia by providing them with affordable and eco-friendly menstrual products and menstrual health education.

In this project, the Sher-schools, Mela for her and Dutch Flower Foundation teamed up. Besides handing out the pads, a team of experts has trained a group of Sher-school teachers and through the girls-club all girls are offered a training on menstrual health.

We would like to thank the Mela for her team for the fruitful collaboration and we sincerely thank the Dutch Flower Foundation for their unwavering support. Together we contribute to a world where girls can enjoy their right to dignity, enabling them to reach their full potential in life.

Recently we supported Elders Day in Batu/Ziway, an annual celebration dedicated to honouring and appreciating the contributions and wisdom of senior citizens in our community. The event aimed to recognize the valuable role of elders and provide them with a platform to share their experiences, engage in enjoyable activities and foster intergenerational connections.

In the welcoming remarks by his excellency Ato Ahmedin Ismael (town mayor) a moment of silence was asked to honour the elders who have passed away.

As a company we showed our commitment to this event by handing over 500 kg of maize flour and 50L cooking oil to 50 disadvantaged senior citizens.

Recently, for the third time the Gerrit and Nel Barnhoorn Scholarships have been awarded to four Sher-school graduates. The Barnhoorn family are the founders of Sher Ethiopia and its schools. Each year 4 students are granted a scholarship that helps them to cover a large part of their study-expenses and cost of living at a university of their choice in Ethiopia. The main goal of the scholarship is to help high achieving students with disadvantaged backgrounds.

Students Neima Aschalew, Jemila Hedeto, Mohamed Ahimed and Yordanos Shanbel received their prizes from Mrs. Lulit Tadele and Mr. Aswin Endeman. On behalf of Sher Management, they congratulated the winners and thanked the Sher School teachers and supporting staff for their hard work over the past 16 years.

Of all graduates, 8 students were nominated for a scholarship of whom 4 were selected. The others received a laptop. The ceremony took place in the presence of the students’ families, Sher Ethiopia managers, community elders, Sher School staff, the parents committee, and several government officials.

We thank Mr. and Mrs. Barnhoorn for their unwavering support for the Sher Schools and Hospital over the years and we are extremely proud of these students as they are a true example of the positive impact that Sher Ethiopia has on the community in Ziway and surrounding areas. We wish all our graduated students a bright future, wherever it may take them.

Sher schools in Ethiopia accommodate over 6500 students at three locations. Approximately 400 children – starting at the age of 4 – are admitted to Sher schools every year. Admission takes place on a 50-50 basis, with an equal split between the children of employees and children from the local community.

On November 21, Sher School proudly opened a new Elementary School in Adami Tulu. The ribbon was cut by his excellency Mr. Usman Tuse, Deputy Mayor of Batu/Ziway Town, Mr. Kedir, Head of Batu Education office and Mr. Aswin Endeman, Manager Business Support and CSR of Sher Ethiopia, in the presence of Adami Tulu community representatives, Elders, Sher Ethiopia management representatives, teachers, and a total number of 192 students. A joyful day for all!

Providing education free of charge is a core value at Sher Ethiopia. When the construction of a second farm in 2017 was finished, we invested in new school sites in Adami Tulu village. In 2019 the Sher Kindergarten opened its doors. It currently holds 342 students. After a short hick-up due to the Covid pandemic, the first batch of students have now gone through all KG levels, and the joyful moment came to open the new Elementary School. The two school sites are only 500 meters apart.

Sher is planning to add 4 new classrooms each year. As a result, this new Elementary School will grow to almost 1500 students in 8 years’ time. The compound is large enough to add a High School as well. Sher Schools are open to children from Sher employees as well as children from the local community.

Our thanks go out to everyone who helped realize this new school. From our own construction team to the civil servants, from the teachers to the cleaners. Thanks to everyone!

We hope this school will be a symbol of unity, progress, and the enduring spirit of the Adami Tulu community. May it be a place where dreams take flight and where the flame of knowledge is passed from one generation to the next.

Recently, Dutch Flower Foundation has donated a new autoclave machine to Sher hospital. The machine, worth close to 10.000 dollars, is used to sterilize operation materials and surgical instruments. For the operating theater the autoclave is essential. Doctor Dems (medical director) explains: “At Sher Hospital at least two major operations take place per day. The new autoclave will help to save lives. With this donation we can continue to guarantee the quality of our services “.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank Dutch Flower Foundation on behalf of all employees of the Sher hospital for this generous donation.

At Sher hospital all Sher employees (approx. 12.500) and Sher-students (6.500) get free medical care. Members of the community are served at a low-cost rate. Over 100.000 patients are treated every year.

Dutch Flower Foundation (DFF) aims to improve the living conditions and well-being of people in need and in particular children. Through the activities of DFF, DFG gives substance to its responsibility for the world in which we live.