We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Olumuyiwa Sobowale. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Olumuyiwa below.

Olumuyiwa, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start with education – we’d love to hear your thoughts about how we can better prepare students for a more fulfilling life and career.

Given the opportunity and with unlimited resources, one of the key challenges in Africa most especially in Nigeria that I would like to address is the lack of access to quality education (most especially digital education) to prepare them (students) for a more fulfilling life and career, particularly in underserved and rural communities.

Education is a fundamental human right and a powerful catalyst for social and economic development. However, in Africa, there are stark disparities in educational outcomes, with children and youth from underserved marginalized communities often facing significant barriers to accessing quality learning opportunities. This has far-reaching consequences, perpetuating cycles of poverty, limiting social mobility, and undermining the country’s overall human capital development.

To tackle this issue, I would adopt a multi-pronged approach that focuses on both expanding access and improving the quality of education.

Firstly, I would work to establish a nationwide network of community-based education hubs, strategically located in rural and underserved areas equipping them with necessary tools and resources. These hubs would serve as centers of learning, equipped with modern infrastructure, cutting-edge technology, and highly trained educators. By providing free or subsidized access to these hubs, we can ensure that children and youth from disadvantaged backgrounds have the opportunity to receive a world-class education, regardless of their socioeconomic status.

Secondly, I would invest heavily in the recruitment, training, and professional development of teachers. Too often, schools in marginalized communities struggle to attract and retain qualified educators. By offering competitive salaries, comprehensive training programs, and ongoing support, we can build a cadre of dedicated and highly skilled teachers who can deliver engaging, student-centered learning experiences.

Thirdly, I would prioritize the development of innovative, culturally-relevant curricula that not only impart academic knowledge but also foster critical thinking, problem-solving, technological and entrepreneurial skills. This would involve collaborating with educational experts, community leaders, and industry partners to design learning programs that are tailored to the needs and aspirations of local communities.

By implementing these strategies with the backing of unlimited resources, I believe we can revolutionize the education landscape in Nigeria, empowering the next generation to become agents of positive change and contributing to the country’s overall social and economic prosperity.

Personally, this endeavour would be a deeply fulfilling and impactful undertaking, as it aligns with my core values of social justice, equity, and the transformative power of education. Witnessing the tangible improvements in educational outcomes and the cascading benefits it would bring to individuals, families, and communities would be an immensely rewarding experience, solidifying my commitment to being a catalyst for sustainable change.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Here is an essay on your story of resilience in starting an initiative to help African children with digital education:

The Path of Resilience: Bringing Digital Education to African Youth

As an undergraduate student in 2023, I had a vision to empower African children through digital education. Having grown up witnessing the transformative potential of technology, I was determined to share that gift with the next generation. Little did I know, this noble endeavour would test the limits of my resilience.

It started with passion and idealism – the belief that access to digital skills could open doors and brighten futures across the continent. Galvanized by this mission, I founded an initiative aimed at bringing coding, computer literacy, and technology skills to underserved communities. The early days were electric, fueled by the energy of like-minded volunteers eager to make a difference.

However, our altruistic fire soon met the realities of being broke college students. Funding outreach programs, securing equipments, and simply keeping the lights on proved incredibly challenging. We pounded the pavement seeking sponsors, donors, any support we could muster. But our pleas too often fell on deaf ears in the capital-starved landscape of grassroots nonprofits.

Discouragement crept in as our financial runways dwindled. The emotional toll of rejections mounted. Doubt whispered insidiously – were we naively tilting at windmills? Perhaps this dream to uplift African youth through technology was fanciful overreach from privileged students. The pragmatic voice urged me to cut our losses, to quit while we were behind and move on. The future I’d envisioned seemed to be slipping through my fingers.

It was in this spiritual valley that resilience took root. I realized that the challenges we faced paralleled those of the marginalized communities we aimed to serve. To persevere against adversity was the shared struggle that gave profound meaning to our work. My commitment was fortified by a simple mantra: I am to do this and do it well, regardless.

With renewed determination, we got scrappy and innovative about raising funds through personal jobs as photographer,  freelance gigs as a product designer, sometimes we get partnerships and anything we could muster. We tapped into our networks to rally volunteers and in-kind resources. We sought out partners aligned with our vision of empowerment through access.

Brick by brick, our work built momentum in those underserved communities. Eyes were opened to possibilities. Skills were upgraded. Horizons expanded for a new generation. Each small victory provided fuel for our resilience.

In reflecting on that transformative journey, I’ve come to appreciate resilience not just as a means of powering through adversity, but as a very premise for tackling society’s biggest challenges. The path toward meaningful change is inevitably lined with naysayers, roadblocks, and humbling setbacks. To surrender to those hurdles is to uphold an unacceptable status quo.

True progress requires the resilience to push forward, to embrace “the struggle” as a source of purpose and renewal. It demands the tenacity to construct new realities in the face of daunting resistance. This hard-fought lesson has stayed with me as a guiding force long after that student initiative evolved into a structured sustainable global movement.

So to any idealistic changemakers who may stumble upon stories like mine, take heart. Resilience is forged in the fires of uphill battles that initially consume our energy and shake our confidence. When we refuse to be deterred, we access reserves of grit that unlock our greatest growth and impact. The path is never easy, but those who endure ultimately wield resilience as a superpower for shaping a better world.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

Here is an essay on my goal and mission of promoting digital literacy for African children:

A Continent of Untapped Potential: My Mission for Digital Literacy in Africa

Amidst the relentless march of technological progress, a sobering reality persists – most African children remain disconnected from the skills and access that could unlock their creative and economic potential. This divide, driven by systemic inequalities in education and infrastructure, perpetuates generational cycles of marginalization. It is a moral and pragmatic failure we cannot accept.

For me, the driving force behind my creative work and advocacy is a steadfast belief that digital literacy represents the ultimate equalizer. By democratizing technological fluency, we equip the next generation with the Promethean spark to shape their own futures on an equitable playing field.

This mission strikes at the heart of my identity – having witnessed firsthand how computer skills elevated my own horizons from humble beginnings. When I first laid hands on a rudimentary workstation as a wide-eyed child, I experienced a jaw-dropping awakening to the vast worlds and problem-solving capabilities that technology could unleash. A fire ignited within me to master these powerful tools and share that empowering gift with others.

In our hyper-connected era, digital competencies are not optional accessories, but fundamental literacies intertwined with socioeconomic mobility. Those shut out from coding, data analysis, digital creation, and computational thinking are effectively disconnected from the lingua franca of the modern world. This alienation severely constrains access to educational resources, entrepreneurial avenues, and the innovation economies that drive 21st century prosperity.

My deepest convictions crystalized after engaging with underserved communities across Africa’s rural and urban landscapes. I bore witness to the extraordinary untapped human potential – brilliant young minds brimming with creative problem-solving instincts, if only given the technological on-ramps to apply that ingenuity. At the same time, I encountered shameful structural impediments – lack of devices, sporadic electricity, and dearth of qualified instructors.

In the face of such daunting challenges, the path forward is clear: We must prioritize scalable digital literacy initiatives as accelerants for individual empowerment and sustainable development across the continent. Grassroots movements already underway illustrate what’s possible – resourceful organizations utilizing limited means to bring coding clubs, computer labs, and mobile learning to underserved populations. With strategic investments, we can massively expand such train-the-trainer models to reach every child.

Yes, the obstacles are immense – issues of infrastructure, policy barriers, education pipelines, and engrained cultural attitudes must be addressed in parallel. This holistic undertaking requires partnership across public, private, nonprofit, and community-led efforts. But we cannot defer action until utopian conditions are met.

At the heart of this work is the fundamental dignity of cultivating human potential unbound by arbitrary constraints. By upskilling African youth in digital fluencies, we are planting seeds of self-actualization, economic self-determination, and Afrofuturist innovations that could reshape the horizon of human possibilities.

Whether the throughline is curriculum development, software donations, cross-border partnerships, or public awareness campaigns, all my pursuits flow back to that unifying vision – a critical mass of digitally literate African problem-solvers inscribing their imprint on our shared destiny. Only then can we spawn the societal transformations that create a prosperous, just, and deeply human-centered technological renaissance.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yiwas__gallery/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sobowaleolumuyiwa/