[1] Pediatrician Demissie Habte served as its inaugural president.
[1] The founding class of fellows included 50 people across the natural and social sciences.
[1] It was started by researchers from Addis Ababa University with support from the Royal Society until 2011.
[2][1][3] Its founding executive director is plant ecophysiologist Masresha Fetene.
[4] By 2022, only 9 percent of its fellows were women, the smallest percentage among academies in Africa.