SPK Gives Back
Years ago, before SPK and before getting involved in technology and business, CEO Chris McHale worked for an NGO that managed international development projects in Africa and Asia. She worked on projects that supported small business development and provided microlending for farmers in West Africa. She had grown up overseas in Asia and Africa, and it was her desire to somehow contribute to people and areas that had less economic advantage.
While Chris had some successes working with an NGO, she discovered that certain factors were holding her back from making the impact she desired. She left the international development field to explore other ways to effect change.
After SPK became successful, Chris and her colleagues set up a program to contribute 5% of the company’s profits to international development programs. This time, though, Chris knew what she was looking for and what would work best. SPK looked for grassroots projects that were designed, sponsored and managed by local, in-country NGOs. Ethiopia holds an important place in Chris’s heart, so efforts were concentrated there. This is where she found Adu Worku, who believes both nature and culture have conspired against women in Ethiopia. Adu is the Founder and CEO of Zoz Amba Foundation, a sustainable community development in rural Ethiopia, with special emphasis on issues impacting women and girls.
Since 2015, SPK and Zoz Amba have been working together on projects that serve girls and women in rural Ethiopia. The program works to help keep girls in school and continuously learning. It also funds community appropriate technology, such as diesel engine mills that can grind teff grain into flour, saving the women countless hours of hard manual labor.
Adu Worku Honored: Empowering Zoz Amba’s Mission in Ethiopia
We’re extremely proud to announce the Zoz Amba Foundation has received the Top Award in the Amhara region, Ethiopia. After many years of partnering with Zoz Amba, under the leadership of Adu Worku, we have seen so many lives touched by the incredible work of this...
Zoz Amba And SPK: Empowering Ethiopian Communities
In the heart of Ethiopia, a remarkable organization called Zoz Amba is creating waves of positive change in local communities. Led by the visionary Adu Worku, this organization is dedicated to improving lives through various transformative projects. Today, we bring...
What Is The Well Water Project?
SPK and Associates are proud to sponsor the Well Water Project in Ethiopia. SPK is proud to sponsor The Well Water Project run by Zoz Amba. Since 2015, SPK and the Zoz Amba Foundation have been working together on projects that serve girls and women in rural Ethiopia....
Benefitting villages with modern flour mills
Due in part to SPK’s ongoing contributions and collaboration with Zoz Amba, the foundation was able to install several more modern flour mills serving a number of Ethiopian villages. November 15, 2017 Due in part to SPK’s ongoing contributions and collaboration with...
A letter from Adu Worku, Founder of the Zoz Amba Foundation
January 2019 Hello Chris, We had a wonderful time in Ethiopia and came back feeling enormously blessed. I can tell you, the people in my village are so very thankful to you--I wish I could take you there to show you what we have done together, and how happy and...
How a determined Ethiopian student empowered herself and others
Shashe Kassaw was a young girl from North West Ethiopia whos dream to attend school were not part of her parents' plans. Read about her struggles for education and empowerment. Jan 8, 2018 Adu Worku related this inspiring story of one of the beneficiaries of the Zoz...
Solving an overlooked problem to keep girls in school
SPK and Zoz Amba are working on a new project together, working to keep girls in school. January 21, 2017 SPK and Zoz Amba are working on a new project together, working to keep girls in school. When rural girls reach puberty and start their menstrual cycles,...
New vocational school completed
We’re SO excited to announce the completion of a new vocational school in the Awassa region of Ethiopia! March 21, 2016 We’re SO excited to announce the completion of a new vocational school in the Awassa region of Ethiopia! Zoz Amba, with some help from SPK,...
Worku Jember Memorial Academy – One Man’s Vision
A new day has dawned for that region all because one man had a vision and had the wisdom of sharing that vision with others who had the means and the good will to help those who are less fortunate. In 1965, I took a tour of north-west Ethiopia with pastor Od Jordal,...
