A Pioneer’s Journey in Internet Governance

Impact Timeline

Late 1990s | The Technical Foundations

• Key Milestone: Earned a degree in Computer Information Systems in the United States and began her career as a Technology Auditor for Fortune 500 companies.

• Impact: Gained foundational expertise in large-scale systems integrity, corporate governance, and the technical architectures that underpin global enterprise—a crucial perspective before applying it to institution-building in emerging markets.

Early 2000s | The Governance Strategist

• Key Milestones:

  • Tech Auditor Foundation: Began career ensuring systems integrity and compliance as a Technology Auditor for Fortune 500 companies.

  • Landmark Legal Reversal: Successfully litigated to restore diaspora property rights in a precedent-setting case against the National Bank of Ethiopia, overturning entrenched state policy.

  • Anti-Corruption Win: Overturned a rigged bid process for the Ethiopian Parliament’s internet infrastructure, defeating institutional corruption through procedural mastery.

• Impact: Established a proven, cross-sector track record of using legal and procedural strategy to correct governance failures in finance, state procurement, and law—a skillset directly applicable to later battles in global Internet policy.

2000s | Institutional Infrastructure Builder

• Key Milestone: Designed and implemented the first Internet network infrastructure for the African Union headquarters and the Ethiopian Parliament.  

• Impact: Enabled these sovereign institutions to transition into the digital era, providing the essential physical backbone for national and continental governance, communication, and participation in the global Internet.

2000s-2010s | Global Policy Architect

• Key Milestone: Served as an Internet policy advisor in multiple UN agencies within global internet governance frameworks, advancing policy discussions in Africa and globally. Championed linguistic inclusion and African digital representation through initiatives such as Internationalized Domain Names and the .Africa top-level domain an ICANN Internet Policy Advisor, successfully championed the adoption of Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs), the .Africa top-level domain name and as a co-founder and former board member of the Internet Society (San Francisco Chapter).

• Impact: Outmaneuvered entrenched policy machinery in a decade-long institutional struggle for te global IDN and Africa’s digital identity, translating procedural fluency into durable policy outcomes that reshaped how sovereignty is exercised in global Internet governance. 

2011 | Ecosystem Pioneer

• Key Milestone: Launched Miss.Africa Digital at the ICANN 41st Meeting in Singapore is a pioneering initiative to build STEM pathways for African women.

• Impact: Confronted structural exclusion and cultural silence by converting advocacy into institution-building—creating mechanisms for women to move from participation to ownership within the digital economy. Created digital empowerment, later expanded into the Miss.Africa Seed Fund for women-led enterprises.

2015 | Legal I Strategist & Precedent-Setter

• Key Milestone: Won the landmark .Africa Independent Review Process (IRP) against ICANN—the first binding IRP ruling of its kind.
• Impact: Set a foundational legal precedent that rewired accountability in global Internet governance. This binding ruling, which proved even a powerful institution like ICANN is subject to its own rules, created the procedural playbook that later applicants, including .amazon, would successfully use. It is now cited as a definitive case study in international policy forums, including the UN’s WSIS+20 review.

2020s | Institutionalization & Continuity

• Key Milestone: Established the DCA Digital Academy as the permanent engine for But digital inclusion.

• Impact: Institutionalized hard-won knowledge in a mission through hands-on boot camps and seed funding, ensuring the next generation of African digital leaders are owners, not just users, of the digital economy.

The Through-Line | The Ethical Technocrat

This journey converges on a governing principle:
technology must be guided by ethics, accountability, and enforceable fairness

This philosophy—The Ethical Technocrat—is the lens through which digital systems are assessed and strategic counsel is provided to governments, institutions, and global decision-makers navigating digital sovereignty

International institutions and global media have recognized Bekele’s pioneering work for its impact on Internet governance and digital sovereignty.
→ View selected awards and recognitionition→