Reza Ghiabi is an Iranian strategic advisor, business developer, and nonprofit activist. 

He is an unshakable “opportunity maker” who has worked with the business elite of Iran and the Middle East for over fifteen years in several capacities, including financing, business model innovation, corporate strategy, community building, and alliance formation.

Ghiabi is the founder of Oppmakr Institute, a think tank that enables him to serve on various projects. He is also a board member of Ghasedak Venture Capital, organizer of TEDxTehran, and an advisor to a handful of private and public organizations, including the Post Bank of Iran.

He approaches life with a combination of pragmatism, optimism, and good elitism. Ghiabi earned a Bachelor’s degree (BA) in Industrial Engineering from Azad University while self-studying Cultural Anthropology. He also holds an MBA in Information Technology from Industrial Management Institute. Ghiabi is active on social media as “oppmakr.”

For more information, please visit ghiabi.com and view his current professional roles here.

In 2005 when he was 19, Ghiabi founded the Oppmakr Institute to serve as a management consulting firm. Up until 2017, his pragmatic views and professional network have earned the firm working with an array of organizations, including UNDP, UNRIC, RSP Group, Qatar Airways, Knauf, IrToya, Franchise Middle East, Barkat Ventures, and Pardis Tech Park. 

At its peak, the institute was one of a few consulting firms bridging the global community and Iran’s private sector. Based on this financial success, In 2017, Ghiabi transformed the Oppmakr Institute into a think (and action) tank, enabling growth opportunities for organizations leveraging digital transformation.

Today, the institute serves its members where they need it, from Iran to Syria and Switzerland. As a think tank, it has worked with clients like Careem, Syriatel, Hilti, Butane Industrial Group, Bahman Group, Omidyar Network, and Saman Bank to get them ready for their future challenges.

While directing the Oppmakr institute, Ghiabi advises private and public organizations. 

By nature, Ghiabi is a business developer. Not only he advises companies, but he also connects them to each other and new markets. 

In 2016, Ghiabi founded Ghasedak Ventures to work as a hedge fund that, as a strategic partner, also provides market opportunities for its partners. The fund has invested in over 15+ startups in the Middle East, from BiPark to Fadfed.

Ghiabi is a business development partner at SeeTo —a multinational movie media company working with clients like the History Channel, VICE, and Arte.

Since 2014, Ghiabi is organizing TEDxTehran, a local, independently organized event licensed by TED that brings hundreds of thought leaders, innovators, and doers from across different disciplines, to embrace “Ideas Worth Spreading” in the heart of Tehran. 

Since 2014, Ghiabi is organizing TEDxTehran, a local, independently organized event licensed by TED that brings hundreds of thought leaders, innovators, and doers from across different disciplines, to embrace “Ideas Worth Spreading” in the heart of Tehran. 

Since the first waves of the Iran startup ecosystem in 2009 to its relative maturity in 2015, as a nonprofit initiative, Ghiabi dedicated a part of the Oppmakr Institute to help Iranian tech startups with market penetration and fundraising strategy. Ghiabi has been a mentor in several entrepreneurial events, from startup weekends in Tehran to Seedstars World in Lausanne. These activities have earned him recognition as “a pillar of the startup community in Iran” by entrepreneurs who worked with him.

Ghiabi shares his views with all who listen. His online book, “The Four Seasons of Opportunity Making,” is available on his Virgool blog for free. 

In 2020, he also translated Kare Anderson’s book: “Opportunity Makers: Have Greater Impact, Meaning & Joy with Others” into Persian. 

He regularly writes articles for Idea Designers magazine and contributes to innovation-related podcasts, events, and large conventions where he comments about how collectively we can make opportunities. In cooperation with Pardis Tech Park, Ghiabi is a member of the INOTEX think tank since 2017. 

Ghiabi also speaks at the OppmakrHeroes event series organized by a community of like-minded igniters in Tehran. He has spoken at the TEDGlobal>Geneva, TEDxCannes, Tehran CreativeMornings, and the local and international press, including TEDBlog, Al Jazeera, AFP, Tehran Times, TechRasa, Tejarat-e Farda, Tadbir Magazine, and Iran’s national TV.

Ghiabi also speaks at the OppmakrHeroes event series organized by a community of like-minded igniters in Tehran. He has spoken at the TEDGlobal>Geneva, TEDxCannes, Tehran CreativeMornings, and the local and international press, including TEDBlog, Al Jazeera, AFP, Tehran Times, TechRasa, Tejarat-e Farda, Tadbir Magazine, and Iran’s national TV.