From Low Tech Beginnings to High Tech Success
Joseph’s Story
I was born in rural Meru, Kenya and went to a remote under-resourced school with zero computer access. The first computer I ever saw was a Toshiba laptop that my brother had when he started university in 2007. My brother used the laptop mostly to play music videos, but I saw greater potential. Having no access to electricity at home, we used to charge the computer at a nearby school where there was a small donor-funded solar plant to support lighting. From that instant, I really wanted to understand how computers worked and developed my passion for them.
I worked hard in high school because my goal was to pursue a career in computer science. After high school, I joined the Technical University of Mombasa to study Computer Science. Unfortunately, I could not complete my course due to lack of funding. However, I also found that the computer science that was being taught there was very theoretical- with no opportunity to put into practice what we were learning.
Luckily, I was introduced to Asante Africa by my friend and was invited to join the East African team that was learning technology to develop educational tech systems through the Digital Employability and Entrepreneurship Program (DEEP) initiative*. The team leveraged open-source content and global certification courses to build their knowledge and skills. The learning took place in a corporate environment with hands-on skill development projects that opened my world to opportunities. My greatest lesson learned was that I can use open-source and low-cost certifications to develop real-life projects. From there I studied a number of certifications on my own, those included:
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Certified Full Stack Developer - Fundamentals of AI by IBM
- Digital Marketing Skills
- Project Management Skills by Edureka
- Certified Cloud Engineering by AWS
- Leadership and Management Course on Coursera.
I also supported the development of HTML5 modules specifically for the Kenya National Curriculum science as my project.
After this successful engagement, I built my first e-commerce site, Flimore, which won a Tony Elumelu award for 2022-2023. The business ultimately failed, but the experience taught me many invaluable lessons that I used to develop my career. Eventually, I decided to be an entrepreneur and joined a tech company as a Chief Technology Officer. While my CV included the business that I had developed, none of my competitors had tangible business experience to show, which gave me an edge. In the end, my business may have failed technically, but it turned out to be a stepping stone to my career. I lead a team of 13 people in developing EdTech systems for private schools and I have a satisfying career.
My dream is to gain enough business experience to build the next African solar powered data center to host and train education AI models. Thanks to Asante Africa, I believe I can one day achieve it.
*The Digital Employability and Entrepreneurship Program (DEEP) initiative provides out-of-school youth (ages 18-24) in rural areas with a 15-month intensive digital skills, entrepreneurship, and leadership program, training them in software development, hardware/software maintenance, entrepreneurial/business development, project management, and job readiness. Through hands-on project-based training and partnerships with industry leaders like Google, Cisco, Salesforce, and Amazon, as well as local businesses and national governments, participants gain globally recognized certifications, more than 1,500 hours of field training, and the skills needed to secure employment or create their own job opportunities in the digital economy.
