She owns a fast growing business in the food service industry and has successfully renewed the business model to broaden her customer segment. Her name is Almaz Yohannes, an Eritrean woman, well-known for her single love song, “ናፊቐ ኢየ (Nafike Eye)” literally translated as, “I long”. Almaz currently runs an international standard, high quality, and popular restaurant in the major financial hub of Germany - Frankfurt.

African Queen Restaurant, which is awarded 1st prize in Frankfurt GEHT AUS 2020 is owned and operated by Almaz Yohannes. The restaurant is rated as 4.5 in TripAdvisor from 412 reviews, ranked #5 out of 1,917 restaurants in Frankfurt and received Certificate of Excellence from 2016 – 2020. The restaurant attracted a wide variety of customers starting from few Eritreans and Ethiopians living in Germany and later included German natives and locals.

When asked, what is the secret of the success for African Queen? Almaz answers as FOCUS. She has dedicated her time, energy, and finance for the success of her service. After taking few, but crucial short trainings on the relationship between food and culture, the art of preparing and serving rich or delicate and appetizing food, cooking styles, hospitality, and the science of good eating, she did not take much time to uplift her business and receive awards and certificates. As a successful Eritrean woman entrepreneur, Startup Grind Asmara is proud to host Almaz Yohannes to share her experience to the Eritrean youth who desire to start their own business. In this event, we will also try to map the success principles practiced by African Queen to the Business Model Canvas.