In the late 1970s, Tafesse began and completed his artistic training at the University School of Fine Arts and Design in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. His teachers are Worku Goshu, Abdul Rahman Sherif, Wosene Kosrof, Feleke Armide and Zerihun Yetimgeta. Later, in the diaspora, he studied at the National Academy of Arts, University of Sofia, Bulgaria, where he obtained his Master of Arts (M.A.). He continued his postgraduate study in painting, between 1992 and 1995, at the Higher Institute for Fine Arts (HISK) in Antwerp. Since then, he has been living in Belgium, with frequent periods in Addis Ababa, where he is involved the contemporary art scene of his country of origin. In 2012 he received his PhD cum laude from the University of La Laguna in Tenerife.