Zelalem Woldemariam was born and raised in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He started his career as a businessman at a very young age and after graduating from college in the field of marketing, he worked as a professional and successful marketer for 14 years. Due to his diligence, hard work and passion, Zelalem turned his early love for film making  into a reality at the beginning of 2006. He is the owner of the Addis-based production company Zeleman Production, which released the  feature film  "The 11th Hour" in May 2006. Zelalem was part of the story writing, directing and producing  of the film.In addition to showing on many Ethiopian cinemas, “The 11th Hour"  is now available on VCD and DVD both locally and internationally.