Shimeles Tassew was born in Ethiopia and has lived in Germany since 1980.
He studied agricultural sciences and specialized in soil and water conservation and environmental management.
Since 1995, he helped establish the Göttingen International Gardens and was its managing director and idea generator for 12 years. The project needed someone who believed rock-solidly in its success and understood and articulated its far-reaching significance. Shimeles was instrumental in spreading and founding the network of Intercultural Gardens.
In his presentations, he takes broad visionary strokes and convincingly presents the importance of gardens to a modern immigrant society.
He believes in the opportunities for participation in Germany and that a society based on diversity is a better one. Shimeles has received several state and national awards for his civic engagement.
Since January 2007, he has been working on behalf of the anstiftung for the transfer of experience and knowledge in the Intercultural Gardens Network.