How Nelly Cheboi rose from a poor rural village in Kenya to become CNN Hero of the year

by Abu Mubarik, Face2FaceAfrica

Nelly Cheboi is a Kenyan software engineer and founder of TechLit Africa, a Kenyan company that recycles technology to rebuild computer labs in African schools. The launch of her company was influenced by her background.

Cheboi grew up in poverty in rural Kenya. Like many of her kind, she did not have access to computers but eventually got a scholarship to study computer science at Augustana College in Illinois.

After her course, she worked in the software industry and realized that companies just throw away computers when it’s time for an update. This inspired her to found TechLit Africa to repurpose the computers for rural schools in Kenya.

“I came up with this idea to build a school, and the idea for this school was mainly focused as being a source of income for the family,” she told POCIT. “The kids would go to this school and pay about $10 a month, and that money is enough to keep the school running, pay for the teachers, pay for food by stationar-