In 2020, while the world was locked down, David Onilude was not thinking about building an organisation. He was thinking about his community: how to make sure young people in Badagry were not left behind as technology reshaped the world around them.
He did not answer that with a grand plan. He answered it with a class.
Together with Kazeem Quadri, he organised a free digital-skills training in Apa. There was no elaborate structure behind it.
Three hundred people registered. Two hundred and thirty completed it.
What the class became
That class became Tech Now Global. Over the next six years, the same conviction travelled further: digital literacy tours to schools, bootcamps, youth leadership events and programmes that have recorded more than 30,000 participations in 102 schools across 32 communities.
Along the way, Onilude kept building: as a software engineer for more than eight years and as co-founder of Beere Softwares. The work has been recognised with the Diana Award and as an Ashoka Young Changemaker.
Back where it started
On Friday 27 November, that conviction comes home in a bigger form. Tech Now Global hosts Badagry Tech Summit, the first technology summit held in Badagry, with a stage for the young builders the first class was always for.
The worry from 2020 was that Badagry’s young people would be left behind. On 27 November, you can come and see them out in front.