As an activity, entrepreneurship has been praised for its ability to create jobs in both developed and developing countries. Besides, nowadays the concern for environmental and others social issues are becoming equally competing with the employment creation issues. It has been argued that in a world of finite resources, the ‘business case’ for sustainability is not enough, businesses also need to consider the ‘social case’ which takes the social inequality and environmental degradation in to account. Parrish argues that this would help the sustainable entrepreneurship to slow down the rate of harm. This concern highlights on the importance of sustainable entrepreneurship. Sustainable entrepreneurship focuses on solving societal and environmental problems through realizing successful business. In such a process, a variety of stakeholder interests needs to be taken into account, without threatening the viability of the business. However sustainable entrepreneurship goes beyond sacrificing economic gain for being more sustainable. In fact, concern for sustainability helps creating entrepreneurial opportunities that businesses can use strategically to create competitive advantage over industry peers. As the realization of opportunities is at the heart of entrepreneurial activities (Shane & Venkataraman 2000), entrepreneurs can leverage sustainability in a way that addresses social and environmental needs while at the same time contributing to financial success. In the present paper we are going to investigate businesses in the Ethiopian tourism industry to find out how they integrate sustainability in the realization of entrepreneurial opportunities. Conducting qualitative case study on multiple ventures, we are going to answer the following research questions:

1) What attitude do entrepreneurs in the Ethiopian tourism industry have towards sustainability?

2) How do they engage in multi-stakeholder collaborations to make their ventures more sustainable?

3) How do they realize entrepreneurial opportunities connected to sustainability?

Today, there are so far very few empirical based studies on sustainable entrepreneurship, particularly in the case of developing countries. Ethiopia is an interesting context for our study for several reasons. It is ranked as a Least Developed Country by the UN, while at the same time being a popular tourism destination with attractions ranging from national parks to world famous cultural heritage sites. The growing tourism industry creates entrepreneurial opportunities and provides the country with a prospect of economic growth. At the same time, it is critical that tourism grows in a sustainable manner, avoiding social and environmental harm. In this context, collaborating with stakeholders such as employees, local communities and the government is critical for success.Empirically, this paper is based on a qualitative multiple case study of ventures in the Ethiopian tourism industry. We have conducted interviews with owners, manager and employees of the businesses as well as with stakeholders with whom they collaborate. In addition, we have analysed material from company websites and various types of written documentation. We find that the concern businesses show for sustainability varies a lot across cases. While some see sustainability mainly as a task for external stakeholders, others are very knowledgeable of the impact their own activities have on society and the environment. We show how this latter group of companies collaborates with different stakeholder groups to make their businesses more sustainable and to gain a competitive edge over other companies in their industry.