A Day in the Life of a Habesha Meme Creator
By Faisale Shefawe
Published on 06/09/25
The entry barrier to the growing Habesha meme industry is creativity, consistency, and a sharp eye for trending topics and viral videos. Most meme account owners are in it for one reason: to build the funniest page possible, grow a massive following, and eventually sell the account to the highest bidder.
But for Fen Xpress, the creator of the popular meme page Fendisha, the mission is much deeper. He's in it for the long haul—with the goal of creating a platform that entertains, educates, and leaves an impact.
Fen launched Fendisha in December 2023 after realizing there was real money to be made through advertising and collaborating with businesses. When he first told his family about his side hustle, they weren’t on board. But that changed quickly as his followers, views, and income began to grow. His friends, on the other hand, supported him from the beginning—they understood the power of content in the digital age.
Since starting the account, Fen has worked with several companies to promote their products on his uniquely chaotic, yet captivating page.
A second-year Computer Science student at St. Mary’s College in Addis Ababa, Fen now posts hilarious and relatable clips to his 36,000+ Instagram followers daily. His feed is a classic example of a Habesha meme page—random clips of people dancing, eating, working out, or talking. But unlike many meme pages, his content always comes with a message.
For example, over a video of a man walking alone at night, he added the caption: "There is a price to be paid if you hurt another person’s feelings." Over another clip of two men dancing: "After you survive all your hardships, the devil will send you a woman with a butterfly tattoo."
Despite being relatively new, Fendisha has gained impressive traction. “My monthly engagement is between 2 and 2.5 million,” Fen said. “At one point, I even hit 30 million engagements in a month.”
His day starts with scrolling through TikTok to spot what’s trending. He saves the videos he thinks have viral potential, then edits, captions, and schedules them for posting. Fen only shares content he believes will generate high engagement.
His posting frequency depends on how well the first post of the day performs. If it reaches a decent number of accounts, he considers the job done. If not, he keeps posting until he hits his engagement targets.
When he needs an extra boost, Fen has a secret weapon—friends in the same space with large followings who are always ready to collaborate. These collaborations often supercharge views. And high view counts are nothing new to Fen; he's had individual posts hit 15 million, 5 million, and 2 million views.
These days, one thing Fen has grown used to is offers—people and businesses reaching out to buy his account. But he declines them all. Fen has bigger plans. His vision is to grow Fendisha into a larger platform that not only entertains but makes his followers smarter and more aware.
“If I showed you my DMs, it’s full of people asking to buy my account,” Fen says. “But I’m not selling.”
His advice for aspiring content creators is simple but solid: “Be consistent, and don’t quit once you start.”
