“Life tested me, but you get just one life and you have to fight for it,” Ablene said. “Progress, however small, became my shield against every obstacle.”

For him, perseverance means moving forward despite setbacks. Today, he tells Sewasew’s story to most customers who visit the workshop, believing everyone should know about the brand and its lesson of not giving up. “The early days were the toughest time for our business,” he told FSX Business.

For Ablene, success comes from humility. “A successful business needs you to be humble, not arrogant,” he said, adding that building strong customer relationships helps create products that resonate. “Don’t be too obsessed with what you’re imagining,” he advised.

He cautions that too many startups get lost in the wrong picture. “It’s not just about fancy designs or making endless plans. The real work happens on the ground,” Ablene said.

Learning from the past, Sewasew Design has now grown into a more structured enterprise, moving beyond its founder’s traditional management style. Ablene has led the brand with a sharper business strategy, especially in product development. For him, every item must tell a story while still being efficient. “We consider cash flow, the supply chain, manufacturing, and the customer’s point of view,” he explained. “At first, we produced only jackets to use resources efficiently, but now we’ve diversified.”

With a background in marketing and experience as a digital marketing officer, Ablene leans heavily on storytelling to connect with audiences. “Marketing for me is giving an item a life, identity, character, and story,” he explained. “Authentic storytelling is priceless. You can reach millions of people, especially with social media. We still allocate a limited marketing budget, because our story itself is powerful. I was even invited for an interview by a well-known media house for free—something that normally costs millions of birr.”