Why Tunapanda Institute Is The Best Tech Institution In Nairobi

Melkizedek Owuor
Aug 26, 2017 · 3 min read

Tunapanda Institute has been in operation for 3 years and has helped more than 100 young people around Nairobi and beyond with necessary knowledge in tech, design, and business. Our aim is to train young people in practical tech, design, and business so that they can become lifelong learners, earners, and problem-solvers. Most of our graduates are praised in their workplaces by their bosses and fellow employees for their creativity, hard work, innovation, and mindset. At Tunapanda Institute we make sure that our trainees are not only self-empowered but also empowered to support and appreciate the society they come from. This puts us at the frontline in the tech industry of Nairobi and East Africa at large.

Apart from that, we deploy the use of agile development system in the coaching and training of our trainees to make sure that every step our trainees are taking is correct. Before trainees can make the next step to a new project, the Tunapanda trainers meet with them to give necessary and recommended feedback. This helps trainees to always be in-line with what they are required to do. Again, since the feedback is given in real-time, the trainees make the changes in real-time before they forget and request for further explanation, in case they don’t clearly get the feedback. We have a lesson that teaches our trainees on skills of giving and receiving feedback. This teaches them how to handle feedback they are given and also how to give feedback to their fellow trainees in a proper manner.

We blend business skills with communication skills. Imagine having best business skills in town but you can’t talk well in front of people; you can’t pitch to a group of people! Definitely, you are not going to be of much help to the company you are working for. This shows how communication skills are vital in the current world, not in the business world only. The current world needs people with good communication skills; people who can tell a good story to win the trust of investors, clients, partners, and team members. And that’s why at Tunapanda Institute, we make sure that our trainees are good at communicating by teaching them the skills of pitching; be it elevator pitch, sales presentation or cold call pitch. This also puts our graduates at better chances of getting jobs when they go for job interviews. We believe that business skills without good communication skills are not enough as far as the current world is concerned.

We also provide outdoor classes to our trainees. We have community yoga classes in partnership with Africa Yoga Project. Each morning before daily classes start, we attend a special activity: warm-up. This involves playing less energy-demanding games and activities and serves to free-up the minds of both our trainees and trainers. We believe that warm-up and yoga boosts the creativity and innovation of our trainees and trainers.

Although we are dedicated to providing the best content to our trainees and clients, at the end of consuming the content, we want to see the product of what they learned. Just attending our program for 3 months and acquiring our certificates does not keep you in the best position in the community! Practicing the skills is what is going to keep you in the best position in whatever you dream of. And that is why we provide projects that require more practicals and research after every month of our 3-month program. This makes sure that our trainees are well equipped to face the real world.

We provide the skills that are necessary for the current world. These are skills that help solve the problems the world is facing currently.


Originally published at www.tunapanda.org on August 26, 2017.

Tunapanda Institute

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Thanks to Alex Oburu and Ipovi John Gitonga

Melkizedek Owuor

Written by

Lifelong learner.

Tunapanda Institute

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