What we do
We enable high-potential under-resourced students in Kenya and Ethiopia realise their full potential in the globalised economy through our coding bootcamp scholarship where they learn the most sought-after digital skills on the market.
Developer shortage
The US Buereau of Labor Statistics projects a software engineer shortage exceeding 1.2 million by 2026
The shortage of IT professionals in Europe amounts to half a million
38% of companies in Europe plan to oursource more in the next 2 years
Where traditional charities fail
Transparency - who received my donation? What was it used for?
Feedback - what difference did my donation make? How is it transforming someone's life?
Efficiency - charities often spend 25% of their revenue on administrative overhead and marketing
Our programme
We work with leading software development educators and universities to identify high-potential students and design a cost-effective and scalable coding bootcamp
Inclusive - our scholarship ensures that all students have the means to participate
Demanding - our rigorous programme is short but extremely demanding
Evidence based - combining research and best-practice from world-leading coding bootcamps
Why donate?
Transformative impact: “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime"
Direct donations: 100% of the money you donate to the scholarship pool goes to the student
Donor’s token: any digital wallet containing the donor’s token can access the students’ progress page of the cohort they are supporting
Digital art: donors receive digital collectibles, each with a story created by our students
Donor’s dinner: invitation to an annual "DirectEd donor's dinner" in Oxford.
Scholarship naming right: the naming right of each scholarship cohort can be purchased. For example the "Simon Sällström Scholars"
Step-By-Step Process
1. Onboarding
We partner with leading high schools and onboard teachers and students onto Atala PRISM self-sovereign identity wallets and Cardano wallets. Teachers are taught how to issue verifiable credentials to students.
2. Scholarship pools
We setup a smart contract scholarship pool. Each pool gathers funds for a particular high school and coding bootcamp. The smart contract defines the milestones the students need to reach to receieve the scholarship payouts.
3. Bootcamp
After a merit-based selection process students enroll in a 10-week bootcamp. The bootcamp covers the most sought-after skills as identified by our employer surveys. The bootcamp utilizes project-based learning where the milestones are divided into 2-week sprints.
4. Graduate Programme
Upon successfully completing our coding bootcamp, we continue to support our scholars through a graduate scholarship.
This has two pathways:
Entry into a longer full-time coding bootcamp
Internship project with our partner companies
5. Employment
When our students are employed as remote software engineers, part of their salary goes back into the pool, creating a self-perpetuating cycle of funding for future scholars.
Our Team
Learn more about our team & advisors
How we stand out
Read more about how we disrupt and innovate
Follow our work
Find out more about our organisation, our team, what we do and read monthly project updates on our Notion page.
Contact
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