Alfa Demmellash Co-founder, Rising Tide Capital and CEO, Future Tide Partners
Alfa Demmellash is the Founder and CEO of Future Tide Partners, which works across sectors to support leaders and institutions in aligning capital, policy, and practice toward more resilient, inclusive, and flourishing futures.
Alfa is also the Co-Founder of Rising Tide Capital, a nationally recognized nonprofit she has helped lead for over two decades. Through Rising Tide Capital, more than 10,000 entrepreneurs in New Jersey and across 15 additional states have accessed training, networks, and capital through its Community Business Academy and the Rising Tide Network of partners. The organization has contributed to an 81% five-year business survival rate among participants and a 5:1 return on investment, expanding economic opportunity for underserved entrepreneurs, the majority of whom are women and single mothers.
Born and raised in Ethiopia, Alfa’s early experiences shaped a lifelong commitment to economic inclusion and peace-building. She graduated cum laude from Harvard University with a degree in Government focused on post-conflict societies. Her studies in Rwanda deepened her conviction that economic opportunity is essential to building stable and flourishing communities, setting the foundation for her life’s work in entrepreneurship and systems change.
Today, through Future Tide Partners, Alfa is advancing a new body of work at the intersection of leadership, narrative, and regenerative economics. Drawing on frameworks such as the “Greatest Migration” and RAPIDCO, she supports leaders across business, government, and civil society in making sense of complex transitions and taking meaningful action within them. Her work emphasizes both practical tools and deeply human questions of purpose, belonging, and long-term stewardship.
Alfa’s leadership has been recognized globally. She is a recipient of the Heinz Award for Technology, Economy & Employment and was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. Her work has been featured in major media outlets including CNN, Bloomberg, and Forbes, and she has been honored by Barack Obama. She has also served on New Jersey’s Future of Work Task Force and as a board member of the New Jersey Pandemic Relief Fund.
In addition to her professional work, Alfa serves as Board Co-Chair of Hawthorne Valley Association, a 900-acre biodynamic farm, K–12 school, and ecological enterprise hub in New York’s Hudson Valley. She lives there with her husband and their two sons, where her personal and professional commitments converge around education, land stewardship, and building a regenerative future across generations.
