I founded SomoTech Africa after learning to code through the Goodwall app, starting with zero technical background. That experience taught me something simple but powerful: young people don't lack ability, they lack access.
The first thing we built to solve this was Somiqo, an offline-first learning platform delivering CBC curriculum, digital libraries, exams and reports to schools and learners across Africa, designed to work even where internet is unreliable or absent. It answered a real gap: most EdTech assumes constant connectivity, and most of our learners don't have it.
But as we ran programs like the Yunicode na AI Coding Tour across 12 sites in Kenya, I saw that an app alone wasn't enough. Many students didn't own personal devices at all. They could use the app during a session with our shared laptops, but once the tour moved to the next town, that access disappeared with it.
SOMIQO Hub exists to close that second gap. It's a physical place where the Somiqo platform and AI training actually live day to day, not just during a visiting program. Starting with a pilot in Kilifi Town, SOMIQO Hub gives learners somewhere to return to, with devices already loaded with Somiqo, mentors on hand, and a sustained relationship with the platform instead of a one-time encounter.
SOMIQO Hub is a community-based innovation centre built around the Somiqo platform. Somiqo itself is an installable, offline-first app delivering CBC curriculum, digital libraries, exams and reports to learners from Grade 1 through university, designed to keep working even without reliable internet.
The hub is where that app comes to life for learners who don't have their own devices. At the pilot site in Kilifi Town, learners come in for structured sessions using Somiqo alongside AI and coding training, guided by mentors and building on groundwork laid by SomoTech Africa's Yunicode na AI Coding Tour, which has already introduced these skills to students across university and TVET institutions in Kenya.
Because Somiqo is offline-first, hub devices don't depend on connectivity to deliver curriculum content, exams, or digital library access, which matters in a location like Kilifi where internet can be unreliable. A student can return to the hub the following week, pick up where they left off on Somiqo, and get mentor support to build on it, something that isn't possible when the only access point is a traveling program that visits once.
The long-term vision extends beyond Kilifi. SOMIQO Hub is designed as a replicable model, pairing the Somiqo app with physical local access, scaling county by county across a national vision spanning all 47 counties in Kenya.
Somiqo the app is already in use, serving learners from Grade 1 through university with offline-first access to curriculum, digital libraries, exams and reports. SOMIQO Hub is the next stage of that spread, giving the app a physical home in communities that need it most, with Kilifi Town as the first concrete deliverable.
The groundwork for this spread has already been laid through SomoTech Africa's existing programs. The Yunicode na AI Coding Tour, delivered in partnership with Goodwall and the NEXTGEN AI Alliance, has already reached students across 12 sites in Kenya, including universities, TVET institutions, and community youth groups. This tour has built relationships with institutions, local leaders, and learners across multiple counties, creating natural pathways for future hubs to open where trust and demand already exist, and where Somiqo can be introduced through a lasting local access point rather than a one-off visit.
As the Kilifi pilot moves forward and demonstrates results, pairing app usage data with hub attendance, the plan is to use that evidence to attract further partners and replicate the model, building toward the 47-county national vision.
For the app we have included the live sign language translator and a virtual laboratory which makes it better than the existing platforms and ours is open source
You can explore the Somiqo platform directly at somiqo.app, the offline-first app that powers learning both online and at SOMIQO Hub location in kilifi.
