Layire earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Cheikh Anta Diop University-Senegal and an MS from Drexel University, where he attended on a Fulbright Scholarship. He has extensive experience as a journalist, news anchor and editor at the Senegalese National Broadcasting. His interests center around development communication specifically the use of media in development strategies. Focusing on the penetration of mobile phones and the Internet in Africa, his research investigates the constraints and challenges related to the implementation and appropriation of ICT4D in rural and urban areas.