Reza Ghiabi is a business strategist, advisor, and opportunity maker across different disciplines with more than ten years of experience in organizational strategy advisory. His career earned him the opportunity to work with an array of small to large enterprises and work on various projects in business development, business model optimization, crisis response, corporate fundraising, and branding.
Since the beginning of Iran’s startup ecosystem and the government’s emphasis on a knowledge-based economy, Ghiabi became one of the key tech startup advisors and influencers based on his expertise in creating innovative ventures. Whether it’s their marketing plan, fundraising, or M&A, he has worked with the most prominent tech startups of Iran and the Middle East. He also advises Iran’s regulatory organizations in IT & High Tech.
In 2014 the Ghiabi’s Boutique Consulting firm changed its name to “Oppmakr Institute” to move toward his vision of opportunity making on an organizational level. As a part of the company, this direction enabled Reza to work side by side with leading organizations like Butane Industrial Group, Saman Bank, Bahman Motors, Omidyar Network, UNDP, and many more. Ghiabi is active in community building for innovation, working with the Pardis Technology Park to organize the INOTEX festival. He is also a key member of the Oppmakr Heroes community, Tehran Creative Mornings, and many innovation-related events.
With a deep belief in the economy’s need for digital transformation, Ghiabi is on a mission to help organizations improve their challenge readiness and develop their markets. Ghiabi was an advisor to large organizations like Digikala, Snapp, Careem, Zitel, Post Bank of Iran, Science and Technology Vice-Presidency. As a turning point in his career, In 2017, Ghiabi transformed the Oppmakr Institute into a think tank to be a platform for entrepreneurs and decision-makers to connect and create effective commercial ventures.
Ghiabi believes in creating positive change via culture development and sparking curiosity. That is why he started organizing TEDxTehran as the primary licensee in 2014. Supporting the mission of Ideas Worth spreading, TEDxTehran is local, independently organized events that bring thought leaders, innovators, and doers, from across different disciplines to share their ideas and stories in the heart of Tehran.
Ghiabi also gives speeches at the Sharif and Amirkabir universities as well as credible education centers like Industrial Management Institute. He translated Kare Anderson’s book: Opportunity Makers: Have Greater Impact, Meaning & Joy With Others into Persian. He also serves as an editorial board member at the Idea Designers magazine. He is a member of the HUS institute —a Lichtenstein-based think tank in Europe that works on the digital economy.
