Berhanu Abebe, one of the two founding partners of DSA, was trained as an economist and mathematician in the United States where he obtained all his degrees - bachelor of arts from Brandeis University (1966), and master's and doctoral degrees from Boston University (1972, 1975).

Berhanu Abebe has extensive experience in the Ethiopian manufacturing and trade sectors. He was deputy general manager of the National Textiles Corporation where he supervised the construction of the major textile factories built in Ethiopia in recent years, the Kombolcha Textile Among them. In the early 1980's, he was general manager of the National Chemicals Corporation under the Ministry of Industry. For about ten years starting in 1981, he served successively as permanent secretary and vice minister of Domestic Trade, supervising the plans and operations of some of the largest corporations in the country.

Berhanu Abebe was a member of senior management at AgriMech Ethiopia s.c., a private agro-industrial firm, for about two years before venturing into management consultancy with the establishement of DSA.