Japanese transportation conglomerate, Subaru Corporation is willing to fund Abisoye Ajayi’s Pearls Africa Foundation with $50,000 to teach more disadvantaged girls how to code. But there is a clause to the fund, that is — ‘voluntary individuals should raise $50,000 first so as to match up the donation’.
Abisoye, a computer programmer was recognised by CNN for her work in trying to alleviate one of Nigeria’s major predicaments – child education – especially for disadvantaged girls in Lagos.
The passion for what she does was borne out of her first visit to Makoko, the world’s largest “floating slum” built on the Lagos lagoon. She was perturbed with the living conditions of the slum’s occupants, seeing most girls trapped in a cycle of poverty, without any solid plan for the future.
In 2012, Abisoye resigned at her fulltime IT consulting job to start the Pearls Africa Foundation and then birthed “GirlsCoding,” a free programme that aims to educate and excite girls about computer programming. It has helped over 400 privileged girls gain the technical skills and confidence they need to transform their lives.
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Here is how GirlsCoding operates – Girls ages 10 to 17 get trained in HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Python and Scratch after school and during vacation. Asides from students from the slums, other girls brought up in harsh environments like – orphanages, correctional homes and Boko Haram IDP camps also partake in the training.
If Pearls Africa Foundation receives this fund, it will be used to intensify the firm’s efforts to establish in different states across Nigeria. Not only that, there are long-term goals to have an institution named Girls Village – a residential program that would provide all types of training for young girls. The initiative is aimed at giving girls a chance to incubate their ideas about how to solve problems in their communities and also, teach them to pitch to big investors. If you want to donate to her cause, you can do that here.