Meles Zenawi was born in 1956 in the town of Adwa in the Tigray Region. He received elementary education at the Queen of Sheba Junior Secondary School in Adwa and completed High School in 1972 at General Wingate School in Addis Ababa. He then joined the Medical Faculty of Addis Ababa University where he studied for two years.

Meles interrupted his studies in 1974 to join the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front (TPLF). He was Chairman of the TPLF and the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) between 1989 and 1991 and led the overthrow of the previous Derg regime in 1991.

Upon his return from the field, Meles acquired a First Class M.A. in Business Administration from the Open University, following the distance education he completed between 1993 and 1995.

He served as Chairman of the EPRDF and President of the Transitional Government of Ethiopia from 1991 to 1995. Meles was elected Prime Minister of the Ethiopian Federal Democratic Republic on 22 August 1995.

Meles is married and is a father of three. His hobbies are reading, swimming and tennis.