From Breaking Motherboards to Scaling Farmer Apps: Girum Dibia

For most of us, our parents had our careers mapped out before we could even spell them.

Top of that list were options like: lawyer, doctor, or architect. In those early years, working in these fields was perceived to guarantee success.

Girum’s story was no different. His mother wanted him to follow in his late father’s footsteps as an architect. However, while his mom saw blueprints and construction sites, Girum saw radios, cameras, and phones waiting to be taken apart. Whether he was breaking his friend’s motherboard or accidentally locking a neighbor’s work phone, his curiosity often landed him in trouble.

Still, that urge to figure out how things work from the inside out stuck with him.

Today, that same curious Girum is dissecting agritech to ensure it creates the most impact for our teams and the farmers we serve. 

Take us back to when you were growing up. When did tech first enter that picture? 

The real spark happened when my mother enrolled in computer classes at an IT academy. After her sessions, my sister and I would sneak into the academy’s computer lab to play on the computers—learning to type, digitally paint, play games, and run simple functions on Excel. Computers were rare back then, so having access to them was a huge deal.

In my teenage years, a friend introduced me to Adobe Photoshop and Premiere, which sparked an interest in graphics and animation. But I soon realized applications were just one layer; I wanted to understand how the underlying software, hardware, and robotics worked. That led me to study Electrical and Computer Engineering at Addis Ababa University. 

Agriculture isn't usually the first sector tech professionals think of. How did you end up in agritech, and what sparked that pivot?

I started my career in fintech building mobile payment systems, then moved into healthcare to manage teams building digital health platforms and systems.

While working in health tech, a friend said something that has stuck with me since: "In agriculture, a small solution can make a massive difference." 

Having built complex fintech and healthcare systems, the challenge of creating simple, scalable solutions for millions of farmers appealed to me. The underlying tech stack and project management principles stay the same across industries, but the sheer scale of impact in agritech set a whole new bar. 

I was referred to an open tech role at One Acre Fund by a former colleague who works on the team. I applied, went through the interview process, and was hired. The new role was in Rwanda and I relocated in December 2021 to step into agritech. Taking the leap into agritech and moving to a new country felt like a risk, but it was a challenge I couldn't pass up.

What does your role look like on a day-to-day basis, and how does your work contribute to better outcomes for farmers?

As a Senior Project Manager, I support strategic projects such as building AI frameworks that’ll help our organization navigate the AI landscape. Also, I support Engineering and IT teams like Information Security in building frameworks that help them serve our staff and farmers more efficiently. 

My daily focus is on creating project plans, mitigating risks, facilitating stakeholder alignment, and reporting progress to various leadership teams.

In the past, I’ve led major initiatives like replacing a vendor product with customized in-house solutions for the Kenya program, updating our global Business Intelligence infrastructure, and upgrading global HR payroll software. 

What do you enjoy most about working here?

The people! The teams I work with are exceptionally ambitious, smart, and driven. Also, the connection to the field. Visiting farmers and knowing that a tool we optimized saves a field officer time, or helps a farmer earn additional income, gives me deep fulfillment.

Describe your job using only emojis.

😄 — I start every day, task, and project with positivity.
⚡ — I always plan to effectively deploy solutions and move as fast as possible.
💻 — I'm a techie; I can't move without my laptop.
📊 — I always work with numbers.

When you finally close all your tabs and go offline, how do you recharge? 

I love spending time with my family. I’m also an avid reader of biographies and leadership books—my favorite read is Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek. 

If you could have any superpower to help you with your daily tasks, what would it be?

Time travel! As a project manager, I can manage priorities and resources, but time is strictly linear. Time travel would allow me to break that rule. I could jump straight to project kickoffs to align teams on the vision, or step into the future to see how risks actually play out in real time.