I founded SomoTech Africa after learning to code through the Goodwall app, starting with zero technical background. Nobody asked me to pay to learn AI, I took free courses and taught myself, and that became the foundation for an EdTech platform now used free by schools across Kenya. Young people don't lack ability, they lack access.
We built Somiqo, a learning platform delivering CBC curriculum, digital libraries, exams and reports, designed to work both online and offline, so learning never stops when connectivity does.
But what changed how I saw this work happened outside a classroom. I trained older women from a local chama on AI assisted coding, at their pace, in their language. Together we built a website where they could report gender-based violence cases, paired with the International Justice Mission so every report reached people who could act. Watching women who had never touched a computer use one to protect each other, that is when I understood AI's real power: not a tool for the privileged few, but a lifeline for anyone willing to learn, at any age.
That belief runs through everything we do now, from teacher AI training to youth digital storytelling, all free, all built on the same idea: access changes everything.
In practice, SOMIQO Hub is a physical room in Kilifi Town fitted with devices loaded with Somiqo, our platform that works both online and offline. A learner walks in, logs into their own profile, and picks up exactly where they left off, whether that's CBC curriculum, an exam, a digital library book, or a coding lesson. A mentor is on hand throughout, not just to supervise, but to actively teach and guide.
The Hub runs structured tracks. School learners use it for curriculum access, exams, and coding fundamentals. Teachers come for AI-assisted lesson planning and content generation. Youths train in AI-assisted digital storytelling and graphic design. Critically, it isn't limited to students. Older community members, including women from local chamas who had never touched a computer, have trained here on AI-assisted coding, at their own pace, and gone on to build real tools, like a website for reporting gender-based violence cases directly to the International Justice Mission.
None of this costs the participant anything. Every session, every device, every mentor hour is free.
What sets this apart from a one-off training visit is continuity. Learners return the following week and keep building, because the Hub doesn't leave.
It started small, with one platform and one founder learning to code for free. Somiqo now reaches partner schools and learners across Kilifi, Homa Bay, and Mombasa, with teachers trained and youth reached in digital literacy through direct school partnerships.
The real growth engine has been the Yunicode na AI Coding Tour, which we ran across 12 sites in Nyanza in partnership with Goodwall and the NEXTGEN AI Alliance, reaching hundreds of students in universities and TVET institutions. That tour proved the model works, and it directly shaped SOMIQO Hub as the next step: instead of visiting a town once, we now build a place learners can return to.
The Hub itself started as a single pilot in Kilifi Town. From there, the plan is to scale county by county, with Homa Bay, Migori, Kwale, Kisumu, Turkana, and Kajiado identified as the next rollout sites, building toward a national vision covering all 47 counties in Kenya.
Spread has also come through people, not just sites. Youths trained in our early programs have gone on to build their own projects and train others in their communities, and the chama training with older women became its own story of AI reaching people never thought to be included in tech at all. That word of mouth, from learner to learner, mentor to community, has been as important as any formal rollout.
We've added two major features that set Somiqo apart from existing platforms. The first is a live sign language translator, a learner signs to the camera and the assistant reads Kenyan Sign Language and signs back, so deaf and hard of hearing learners aren't left out of a lesson because no interpreter is present. The second is a virtual laboratory, letting learners run science experiments they'd otherwise never access without physical lab equipment or a fully stocked school.
Both additions come from the same principle behind everything we build: AI for all means all, not just learners with devices, connectivity, or full hearing. That's the same principle behind training older women from a chama on AI-assisted coding, and behind the Hub itself being open to community members, not just students.
Localization matters just as much as accessibility. Somiqo runs in English and Kiswahili, built around CBC, Kenya's own curriculum, not an imported one. And unlike most platforms, Somiqo is fully open source, so any school, developer, or country can adapt it to their own language and context, instead of being locked into ours.
Just go to www.somiqo.app in your browser, it's not on any app store yet. Once you're there, you can install it straight from the browser as a web app, and it works whether you have internet access or not.If you'd like to experience the Hub side specifically, the pilot is running in Kilifi Town, where you can walk in and use a device already loaded with Somiqo with a mentor on hand. If you're a school, teacher, or community group interested in bringing Somiqo or a Hub-style program to your area, reach out at support@somiqo.app.
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