Ethiopia's Ministry of Tourism has publicly confirmed it is in talks with Fame by Sheeraz, the agency founded by Dubai-based fame strategist Sheeraz Hasan, to promote the country as a leading global travel destination. The ministry shared the meeting on its official channels, putting a government stamp on a partnership first reported earlier this week.
What Ethiopia wants from the partnership
On the Ethiopian side, the talks were led by Dr. Endegena Abebe, the State Minister of Tourism responsible for marketing and promotion. He set out the government's push to modernise the sector — new and renovated destinations, the digital "Visit Ethiopia" portal, and a drive to make Addis Ababa Africa's premier hub for conference and events tourism.
The minister stressed the value of working with credible international partners to carry Ethiopia's tourism story to new audiences — exactly the gap a global fame strategist is built to fill.
The Dubai playbook heads to Addis Ababa
Hasan told the ministry his agency has deep experience connecting prominent figures and major brands across America, Europe and the Middle East. His plan: lean on his Dubai-built media networks and AI-driven platforms, Hollywood.AI and Bollywood.AI, to rebuild Ethiopia's international image — and to open a permanent office in Addis Ababa.
It is the same approach behind his wider Africa mission centred on Addis Ababa and his earlier meeting with the tourism ministry — taking a compelling but under-marketed story and engineering global attention for it.
What happens next
Both sides agreed to draft a strategic document to formally launch the partnership through Ethiopia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. For Dubai, it underlines how the emirate has become a base from which media and branding entrepreneurs export their expertise across fast-growing markets, with a homegrown network now working in service of a national tourism agenda.
