Alemayehu still remembers those days very well when food was never enough and he was playing with his friends using "plastics and socks"  to make a football. After finishing school he left Bahir Dar and moved to Addis Ababa, believing that the big city would give him greater opportunities for his future. He found work as a metal welder. But the salary was simply not enough to survive and his dreams of a better life got shattered. He had to move back to his hometown, not sure what to try next in order to escape poverty.

But then, from one day to another, Alemayehus life changed. He was one of the first ones to hear about Alchemy World and its programme to train young Ethiopians from very poor backgrounds in English, IT and business - and Alemayehu jumped on the opportunity. "Knowledge and skills" is the terms he used later to describe the two main things he gained during the course - and the words "Why not?". Many times Alemayehu underlined that this is one of the most important lessons he learned in the past year: To believe firmly that everything is possible, even in a developing country like Ethiopia. "Furthermore I will have my own business rather than being an employee", he explained a few months after starting the Alchemy World programme. Alemayehu added that the time had come to prepare himself for the big dream of a better life.