Career Biography

Tesfaye Mazengia is an accomplished corporate attorney with over 13 years of cross-sector experience advising multinational corporations and state-owned enterprises across aviation, FMCG, tobacco, automotive, and mega-infrastructure projects. He currently serves as Lead Project Attorney for the Bishoftu International Airport development by Ethiopian Airlines Group, one of Africa’s largest infrastructure projects. 

Tesfaye specialises in cross-border transactions, complex contract negotiations, regulatory compliance, and high-stakes dispute resolution. His in-house counsel career includes senior legal leadership roles with market leaders such as Japan Tobacco International (JTI), Ethiopian Airlines Group, and Inchcape PLC (Africa Region), where he regularly advised executive teams on complex regulatory landscapes and high-value commercial deals across East Africa. 

An expert in corporate governance, Tesfaye has served as Company Secretary for prominent regional entities, including MOENCO Ethiopia, Red Sea Automotive, IDA Djibouti, and IAL Tanzania. In these roles, he was instrumental in structuring board governance, risk management, and compliance frameworks. 

Tesfaye holds an LLB and an LLM in Business Law. Committed to sustainable corporate strategy, he has completed executive education programs at the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership and Strathmore Business School. He is recognised for delivering commercially astute, pragmatic legal strategy that balances business goals with strict legal integrity.