From Feeding Hyenas to Funding Dreams: Lessons from an Unexpected Business Adventure

I’ve seen some crazy business ideas in my life, but this one takes the cake.

In 2013, I was working with a well-known international NGO in Ethiopia, traveling the country on their behalf. My role? Entrepreneur-In-Residence. I spent six months bouncing between refugee camps, witnessing the incredible work of this organization.

But it was in Harar, a city on the far eastern edge of Ethiopia, where I stumbled across something that blew my mind.

A business that involved feeding wild hyenas.

Yes, you read that right.

An entire family had been running this business for two generations. Tourists would come, pay to feed these hyenas, and take photos of themselves doing it.

This wasn’t just a gimmick either — it supported their whole family. It put their kids through school and gave them a comfortable lifestyle. Talk about resourcefulness, right?

Naturally, I had to try it out.

My taxi driver took me deep into the pitch-black wilderness, where I met the legendary “Hyena Man.”

No lights.

No safety nets.

Just the glow of wild yellow eyes creeping closer through the darkness.

The Hyena Man handed me a stick with a chunk of raw meat on the end. He told me to offer it to one of the hyenas lurking around us.

My heart raced, but I stepped forward.

The beast took the meat right out of my hand.

My taxi driver snapped a photo, we paid the Hyena Man, and that was that, except my entrepreneurial brain had already kicked into gear.

I saw the potential here. I couldn’t help it.

There was something so raw and brilliant about this business. Turning an ancient tradition into a sustainable income? Genius.

Entrepreneurship has no borders. It doesn’t matter if you’re running a hyena-feeding business in the wilds of Ethiopia or growing a startup in Silicon Valley — opportunity is everywhere.

It’s all about how you seize it.

If you’re an entrepreneur looking to capitalize on your next big opportunity but don’t have the funding to do it, that’s where I come in.

At Burns Funding, we specialize in creative funding solutions that get entrepreneurs the capital they need — $100K to $800K — with less stress and more freedom to build the business of their dreams.

Reach out if you’re ready to take the next step. Let’s make your wild idea a reality.