In 2019, Kenyan tech enthusiast and software engineer Nelly Cheboi, co-founder of TechLit Africa, made a daunting move when she quit a lucrative software engineering job in Chicago to start creating computer labs for Kenyan schoolchildren. Crazy as that was, the decision made total sense four years later when she was named CNN’s Hero of the Year and received a $100,000 grant to expand her work. The daring founder was also named an Elevate Prize winner, a prize with a $300,000 grant and additional support worth $200,000 for her nonprofit.
As she accepted the award with her mother, they sang a song onstage that had a special meaning because she grew up watching her struggle to make ends meet.
For Nelly, life started in the rural village of Mogotio in Kenya, where the dreams of most youths were stifled by poverty. She was raised by a single mother who fought tirelessly to give her a good education. Luckily for Cheboi, she landed a full scholarship to study computer science in 2012, which took her to Augustana College in Illinois. By 2016, the tech enthusiast graduated with a bachelor’s degree in applied mathematics and computer science.
Although she started her studies with almost no computer experience, she would write on paper and struggle to transcribe her notes to a laptop. She even had to practice touch-typing for six months before passing a coding interview. She fell in love with computers and technology and thought, “I must take this back to Kenya!”
During her time at the university in the United States, the inspiration to allow other Kenyan students to experience technology struck her like a lightning bolt. Helping other students in her community become tech-savvy excited her, and she couldn’t wait to start. At first, her plan seemed impossible as the project required massive funding, but she didn’t care. In her junior year of college, Cheboi built a school in Kenya called Zawadi Yetu.
While working in the software industry, Cheboi saw how computers were being thrown away as companies upgraded their technology infrastructure. She found this strange because children from her community didn’t even know what computers looked like.
Therefore, in 2018, she began collecting and repairing discarded computers, which she later transported along with donated computers from the United States to rural communities in Kenya.
One year later, Nelly Cheboi– along with Tyler Cinnamon– quit her job and founded a non-profit organisation, TechLit Africa. With its headquarters in Zawadi Yetu, Kenya, the organisation teaches basic computer skills to students aged 5–14 and recycles technology to facilitate the creation of computer labs in African schools.
As of 2022, the establishment had trained 4000 students and built 10 computer labs in rural Kenya, with plans to build 100 more. With this redistribution system, rural schools without the hope of being digitalised are gradually being transformed into mini-tech learning hubs where students gain invaluable technology and digital skills.
TechLit Africa has sparked ambition in the hearts of the youth it serves. Students who once saw technology as unreachable are now coding, designing, and operating technical computer systems—just like Ogutu, the little Kenyan kid who can type 62 words per minute. The child taught himself Vim, Ruby, music production, and 3D modelling.
Cheboi’s remarkable impact has earned her several recognitions, notably as CNN’s Hero of the Year in 2022. This accolade celebrated her innovative work with TechLit Africa for underserved communities. The same year, she was named one of the 30 under 30 on the Forbes list for social impact.
Her plan for TechLit Africa is for the establishment to become a thriving network that empowers even more youths across Kenya and beyond. She plans to expand computer labs to more schools and introduce advanced coding and digital literacy courses. Nelly believes every child deserves an opportunity to be included in the growing technology industry. She is determined to help young Kenyans who dare to dream of a colourful future in technology.
