Ayat Real Estate (officially Ayat Real Estate Share Company) is widely recognized as the pioneer of Ethiopia’s private housing sector. Founded in 1997 by entrepreneur Ayalew Tessema, it is one of the country's longest-standing, largest, and most recognizable real estate developers. 

The company is famous for shifting Addis Ababa's housing landscape from standalone properties to massive, structured neighborhood communities—to the point where the entire eastern district where they first built is universally referred to as the "Ayat" neighborhood today