What's the goal of TechLit and how will you achieve it?

I grew up in rural Kenya, and have always asked myself “why is rural Africa poor?” TechLit Africa’s goal is to solve that, by teaching digital skills in remote primary schools

Some would say rural Africa is poor because of corruption. Some may say it’s because of poor leadership. Well, I can say it is not because we are lazy or lack the business acumen.

I grew up watching my mom work tirelessly to provide for my sisters and me. And no matter how hard she worked, our life was still the same. Sometimes missing school because of tuition, sometimes going to bed hungry and always being reminded of how little we had. There was no upward mobility. It was, and still is, really hard to make it.

I want to bring that grit, that hustle, that resilience to a bigger platform: the internet. I want to give rural Africa a choice: Instead of making $4 a day on construction, pick up some simple digital work and make $8 dollars an hour. Or learn how to code so you can work remotely for tech companies all over the world. Discover your niche and capitalize on it.

For rural Africans to thrive online, they will need new skills. They will need to become digital natives. It is pretty hard to get that if you first touch a computer when you are 18. Enter TechLit Africa.

TechLit Africa teaches digital skills in rural primary schools, because rural Africans lack opportunities to make a living, but digital skills unlock global opportunities. Our classes follow a curriculum designed to close the gap between the skills adults in rural Africa have, and the skills required to earn a living online.

We repurpose old tech from companies and institutions all over the world, install our custom linux desktop and deploy them in the rural schools we partner with.

We work with communities to cover all the local costs, so that our program can run even without us there. This ensures that once the computers get in the country, it can be deployed to schools and keep running without having to fundraise for those schools each year. With this setup we are positioned to 10x our impact year over year.

Last year, we partnered with 10 schools and taught over 4,000 kids. Our next milestone, 100 schools and 40,000 kids. We hope to hit by Q1 2023.