Atti Worku

Co-CEO

Atti Worku

Atti Worku is a leader and advocate with over 15 years of experience as a nonprofit CEO. As African Collaborative’s co-CEO, she is focused on supporting the growth of local organizations in Africa and the innovative impact ideas of their leaders.

 Prior to joining African Collaborative, Atti founded and led Seeds of Africa, a nonprofit focused on holistic community development in Ethiopia through quality education and livelihoods programs. With Atti at the helm, Seeds grew from an after-school program for 15 kids to a full-time school serving over 450 students, while also providing livelihoods and economic development programs for over 200 female-led households. 

Today, she’s a proud board member of Seeds, and also serves on the board of African Collaborative and CARE-SheTrades Impact Fund. She served as the Equity and Innovation Lead Learning Partner for the International Development Innovation Alliance, a platform of 14 of the world’s largest development innovation funders, from 2022 to 2023.

Atti is a regular contributor to Skoll.org where she writes about equitable funding in philanthropy, and her essay on girls education as a global climate change solution was published in the book Why Women Will Save the Planet. She has been featured and interviewed in the Stanford Social Innovation Review and Devex in 2025. Recent speaking engagements include the Skoll World Forum, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Global Summit of Collaborative Funds, and the African Philanthropy Forum. 

Atti currently splits her time between Addis Ababa and New York City. In her free time, she is a passionate amateur cook, baker, florist and tennis player.