Dosho Design's Founder Wins Entrepreneur of the Year Award
The founder of Dosho Design and inventor of the Bowflex is recognized.
Albany, CA - September 28, 2005 - Tessema Dosho Shifferaw, founder of Dosho Design, Inc. (DDI) was selected as the recipient of National Director's Award for Entrepreneurial Innovation, awarded by the US Department of Commerce's Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) on September 12, 2005.
This prestigious award honors individuals or organizations with an outstanding record of entrepreneurial innovation that demonstrates commercial utility, contributes to the public and private sector of the economy, and brings visibility to the national minority business enterprise community. MBDA granted this award for Shifferaw's invention of the revolutionary Bowflex exercise system and his creation of an exercise equipment line.
"Dosho is a true innovator", said Ron Langston, National Director MBDA. "His inventions revolutionized the fitness industry and continue to do so even today. Furthermore, it has made a tremendous contribution to the public and private sector of the economy".
Dosho Shifferaw an immigrant from Ethiopia, was elated. "I am honored to be selected for this prestigious award by the MBDA", says Shifferaw. "This is a story of the American dream come true". Shifferaw's father was a general in the army of the late Emperor Haile Selassie in Ethiopia. A socialist revolution overthrew the emperor and stripped Shifferaw's family of nearly everything it owned. He came to America at age 17 with just $500 in his pocket and supported himself working as a cab driver.
While working on a student project at San Francisco City College, Dosho came up with the idea for the Bowflex exercise machine. He patented the concept and attempted to license the idea to fitness equipment manufacturers. Lacking vision, they all declined. He then wrote a business plan with help from the MBDA, and started marketing the product directly to consumers in the early 1980s. He led his company to a successful IPO, forming a public company called Direct Focus, Inc. (DFXI) with a market cap of over $1 billion. Millions of Bowflex units have been sold in the United State and abroad, and the brand is now owned and marketed by The Nautilus Group (NYSE:NLS). Dosho has 14 patents and 4 pending patents worldwide.
