He equips Djiboutians with digital skills as a sustainable solution to the steady rise of unemployment in the country. 

Samatar Abdi Osman (photo) is the founder and CEO of Djiboutian incubator CTID (Centre of Technology & innovation for development), founded in 2017. His incubator supports innovative and social project owners, mainly in the renewable energies, agribusiness, environment, and social services sectors.  

“We offer young people digital training to enable the creation of projects that have social impacts. Digital technology is just a means and not an end. We aim to leverage it to find solutions to improve access to water, energy, education, etc.[...], and ensure that every project leader can specialize in a specific sector and find solutions to social challenges faced by Djibouti,” Abdi Osman told Senegalese Media Pressafrik in June 2022. 

Last year, the founder and his team launched Horn Digital Academy to offer web development and digital marketing training.  Apart from his works with the CTID, he is also the country representative of Club 2030 Africa, a think tank that shares skills to contribute to Africa’s emergence by 2030. He is also the Head of the Natural Hazards Analysis and Modeling Laboratory at the Djiboutian research institute CERD, since 2010.  

Abdi Osman started his professional career in 2006 when he joined the CERD as a Geographic information systems expert. From 2008 to 2011, he served as a part-time teacher at the University of Djibouti. Two years later, he became a consultant for the UNDP. He also consulted for the French Development Agency and the African Development Bank, respectively in 2015 and 2016. 

In June 2021, he was on the 2021 list of the French African Foundation’s 100 Young Leaders that celebrates “highest potential African and French talents” aged between 28 and 40. 

Melchior Koba