Alfa Demmellash

CEO & Co-Founder, Rising Tide Capital and Co-Founder, Future Tide Partners Born and raised in Ethiopia, Alfa lives in New Jersey with her husband and two boys. She is the Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Rising Tide Capital, a non-profit organization that provides underserved entrepreneurs with the resources they need to launch and grow successful businesses. Since 2005 the organization has operated the Community Business Academy, a 12-week course that provides intensive business management training coupled with year-round coaching and access to long-term growth opportunities, now serving over 8,500 entrepreneurs directly in New Jersey and through partnerships across 14 additional states, with more in planning stages. Rising Tide Capital believes building inclusive communities of resilient entrepreneurs catalyzing a flourishing and sustainable economy is essential to social cohesion in the face of extraordinary technological and climate disruptions. Corporate, foundation, and government funders underwrite the cost of tuition and services for all participants; 70% are women of color; 90% people of color. In 2021, within two years of receiving services, graduates of Rising Tide Capital’s program experienced 75% increase in business revenue and 56% increase in household income, while reducing reliance on public assistance by 60%. By building strong and durable businesses, entrepreneurs meet their families’ basic needs, create opportunities for social mobility, and help transform their local communities into thriving economies. Alfa is also the Co-Founder of Future Tide Partners, which equips cross-sector leaders to shift capital, policy and culture in a rapidly changing world of work towards an inclusive, flourishing future economy. She was named a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader in 2015 and has appeared in leading media outlets including CNN, O the Oprah Magazine, Essence Magazine, Bloomberg, Inc. Magazine, the Suze Orman show, BusinessWeek and Entrepreneur Magazine. She has been recognized by President Barack Obama; received the prestigious 25th Heinz Award in the Technology, the Economy and Employment category; and was named a CNN Hero and one of the Most Powerful Women Changing the World in Forbes. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she chaired the Economic Recovery & Resilience Working Group for the New Jersey Pandemic Relief Fund, with a major focus on innovative collaborations to stabilize small businesses and sectors like childcare, which are critical to the functioning of an inclusive economy. She currently serves as a Commissioner on the New Jersey Statewide Employment and Training Agency and is the board co-chair of the Hawthorne Valley Association.