Salesforce Admin and Teacher: Inspiring the Next Generation of Coders in Kenya
In Thika, Kenya — about an hour outside of Nairobi — there’s a room full of children eagerly perched in front of computers. It’s Friday afternoon, and the Karibu Coding Club is in session.
They sit inside the new tech center at The Karibu Centre, a community program that provides pre-school and after-school activities, as well as job-readiness training for underprivileged families in Kenya. It’s estimated that more than 40% of Kenya’s population is under the age of 15, and many aren’t enrolled in school.
The Karibu Centre is working to close this education gap, in part through immersive STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) programs. Every Friday, kids ages 8 to 15 come from local schools to participate in Coding Club. Their teacher, 25-year-old Alimali Stephen, is a Trailblazer who’s educating the next generation of coders. I had the chance to speak with him and learn more about his story.
Can you tell us how you came to be at The Karibu Centre, teaching kids to code?
When I was young, I loved to solve problems and be creative and innovative. So, I decided technology was what I wanted to pursue. I began working at The Karibu Centre almost two years ago. At the time, I was also studying information technology at the Jodan College of Technology.
I had heard about The Karibu Centre from a friend and just walked in one day and asked for a job. I must have been convincing because they gave me an internship! I began as a tech intern, working with youth in the community teaching STEAM education and coding.
How has your role at The Karibu Centre changed over the past two years?
Today, I also serve as the Salesforce Admin for the organization. We have about 25 people working here, spread between various departments, so I use the Salesforce platform in a few different ways. The first way is to track our farm harvest. We operate a farm, where local mothers harvest aloe vera plants to help The Karibu Centre be self-sufficient.
The second way we use the Salesforce platform is for community surveys. Part of our work involves social workers making home visits, and the platform allows them to track all of the necessary information.
And of course, we use the platform to keep tabs on student enrollment. So, we’ve built customized apps for all three of these areas — farm harvest, community surveys, and student tracking. Customizing these apps with Salesforce has given me the confidence to make my own apps; I am currently making an app to help local Kenyans order simple services online such as house cleaners and handymen.
How did you get started using Salesforce?
I’ve been a Salesforce Admin for the last 12 months. I learned about Salesforce when some of the Salesforce employees came to Kenya as volunteers.
Every day as an Admin I get to work hands-on with the things I am studying in school — I’m taking night classes for my IT degree. But Trailhead has been the most important piece that helped me learn Salesforce. I’ve learned so many different parts of the app — basics like data security, analytics, and data modeling to name a few. Right now, I have 83 badges and am excited to reach 100 badges and become a Trailhead Ranger very soon!
“Our Salesforce Admin, Alimali, is nearly a Trailhead Ranger and he is very proud of the badges he has earned. Alimali helps oversee our Karibu Coding club for youth, and when he is not coding with kids, he is busy keeping our Salesforce Platform up and running. He makes sure that Salesforce is meeting our needs for various departments.”
— Luke Kincaid, Karibu Centre Director
There have been several volunteers from the Salesforce ecosystem that have greatly impacted me in a personal way. They’ve spent many hours answering questions for me over the phone and email. They have taught me so much. If not for this community of people I would never have gotten to the place I am right now.
How do your students usually react to the Coding Club?
The kids get very excited about the program because they get their hands on a computer and get to code. They’re learning and having fun at the same time. They’re still in primary school but some have already set their mind to pursue technology as a goal in life.
What advice would you give to other Trailblazers?
The best advice I can give is to just try it. I started using Salesforce only 12 months ago. At first, it was a little overwhelming, but as I started to learn more — and started using Trailhead — it got easier. There is also the great Trailblazer Community, full of people who can answer questions when you get stuck. I’ve learned so much. If I can achieve all that I have in just 12 months, maybe I can inspire others to be Trailblazers too!
