How Three Young Visionaries Simulated Ethiopia’s Financial Future

At a time when Ethiopia’s stock exchange was still a vision on paper, three young minds decided to act. They didn’t wait for the bell to ring — they built their own.

Meet Dr. Kasahun Delene, a researcher and strategic thinker; Rehana Abdelber, a senior software engineer; and Dr. Jibril Mohamed Ahmed, a capital markets advocate. Together, they created Ethiopia’s first stock market simulator — a virtual platform that allows users to trade, learn, and explore capital markets before the country’s official exchange even goes live.

Their project, developed under the bold initiative called SLab, is not just a tech tool — it’s a movement. “We saw a massive gap in financial literacy,” said Dr. Jibril Mohamed Ahmed. “People hear ‘stock market’ and think it’s not for them. We wanted to change that.”

SLab’s simulator is designed specifically for the Ethiopian context. It mimics trading conditions, allows users to build portfolios, follow mock IPOs, and understand how markets react to hypothetical events — all in a safe, educational environment.

Rehana Abdelber, who led the technical development, said, “Building this from scratch wasn’t easy, but we knew we were planting something big. Now people can experience the market before it exists.”

For Dr. Kasahun Delene, the goal is broader: “This is about mindset. About preparing a generation to think critically about money, ownership, and economic opportunity.”

With Ethiopia starting the operation of its own stock exchange, SLab’s simulator is ahead of its time — giving thousands of Ethiopians a head start in understanding a system that will define their financial future.

In a country where many still view investing as foreign or elite, these three visionaries proved that with belief, collaboration, and courage, you don’t wait for the future — you simulate it.