Richie O'Brien

• MSc Strategy, Innovation & People Management, NUI Galway

• Location: Dubai, UAE

Richie is a Galway city native from Wellpark who graduated from NUI Galway, holding a Master’s degree in Strategy, Innovation and People Management (2012), as well as a BComm (2011) specialising in HR.

Soon after graduation, ten years ago, Richie pursued his international HR career in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, having worked with some blue-chip companies such as adidas, Amazon, Uber and most recently SWVL. During his ten year journey to date, he spent four years in Germany working in the adidas HQ as Senior Manager HR Talent.

Today Richie has returned to the Middle East and holds the position of Global Head of Performance Management, Learning and Development with a mass transit tech start-up, SWVL, based out of their HQ in Dubai. Swvl is the first company launched from Africa and second Middle Eastern company to list on the Nasdaq via a $1.5BN SPAC merger (U.S women-led blank check company Queen’s Gambit Growth Capital.)

In his spare time, Richie enjoys keeping fit in the martial art of Judo, he is a keen runner, occasional golfer as well as a keen investor in the stock market