We are Africa Teen Geeks

Meeting the disadvantaged with IT skills and exposure

Since its inception in 2014 Africa Teen Geeks has grown to become the largest computer science non-profit organisation in Africa in terms of reach. Through its strategic partnership with the SABC Foundation, Oracle Academy and the University of South Africa the organisation has the key strong ingredients needed to be an influential organisation with strong social impact.

Mission
Africa Teen Geeks exists to eliminating the barriers faced by disadvantaged communities in pursuing science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

Background
Only 5% of South African schools offer computer science with majority of them being in affluent schools leaving the poor majority of poor black African children out. The main reason beside the apartheid legacy is the lack of qualified IT teachers in black townships. Africa Teen Geeks is looking to change this by training high potential unemployed youth and placing them in poor schools to introduce computer science closing the opportunity gap where access to technology education for poor kids.

Highlight
The highlight for us was when Africa Teen Geeks successfully hosted its first computer science week where we exposed 12500 children from disadvantaged communities to computer science at UNISA labs across South Africa in 2015. 98% of those kids had never touched a computer before; by the end of the day they had written their first code. Some were already dreaming of becoming the next Mark Zuckerberg. We have been able to reach over 48,000 children and we work with over 1, 300 volunteers. The impact continues to grow and we keep working to give a bright future to our geniuses. They must not be held back by their realities or challenges; that is really why we are here.

Introducing coding at school from a teacher’s perspective