Abdigani Diriye

Dr. Abdigani Diriye is a research scientist and manager for the financial services research group at IBM Research Africa and the co-founder of Innovate Ventures, the leading startup accelerator and technology fund in Somalia. At IBM, Dr. Abdigani and his team design, develop and deploy innovative and commercially viable technologies to extend access to financial services in Africa. Dr. Abdigani co-founded Innovate Ventures in 2012, the first startup accelerator and technology fund in Somalia and Somaliland. He and his team train, mentor and invest in early stage tech startups. Dr. Abdigani has held research positions in industry and academia for some of the largest companies and institutions such as Fuji-Xerox Palo Alto Labs, The Open University, Microsoft Research and Carnegie Mellon University and has previously founded a FinTech startup. Dr. Abdigani has published over 35 papers and patents in leading scientific outlets, and holds a Bachelors, Masters and PhD in Computer Science from the University of London. Dr. Abdigani Diriye is a TED Fellow, Next Einstein Forum Fellow and has been listed as one of 35 innovators under 35 by MIT Technology Review. His work has been featured in Forbes, Wired, Technology Review, Quartz, BBC Radio, CNN and Fast Company among others.