Meet Nigerian innovator building STEM platform to support less-priviliged African kids

Nsisong Okon's shares his journey, from his early struggles in Lagos, Nigeria, to moving to Portugal, where he works remotely and now giving back to his home country.

Before moving to Europe, Nsisong Okon experienced firsthand the hustle culture in Lagos, Nigeria, learning to write code and build things from scratch. Even though some of the early ventures he tried his hand at failed, he wasn’t discouraged.

After the birth of his son, he moved abroad in search of greener pastures. In his voyage so far, he has contributed to the EU tech ecosystem and helped shape certain infrastructure development. Not only that, but he’s also building a community back home to support less-privileged children, helping them learn STEM skills that can provide an escape route from poverty.

In this edition of Techpoint Diaspora, we follow Nsisong Okon’s journey from his early struggles in Lagos, Nigeria, to Portugal, and his generosity in giving back to his homeland via his STEM initiative.

Early Life and Background in Tech

I was born in a village in Akwa Ibom State, and I attended primary and secondary schools there before moving to Lagos in 2006. I started my tech journey from the database side before I moved to Java.

I attended NIIT to acquire the necessary skills, and in 2009, I became an Oracle-certified expert. Prior to this, it was the big boys from eTransact, Interswitch, and Chams that ruled the market, until Google came in and opened up the tech ecosystem in Lagos and Nigeria.

Luckily, I was one of the few candidates selected for Google’s Get African Businesses Online (GABU) initiative, a program that leveraged Google’s technologies to help some businesses go online. After this, I attended the University of East London from 2011 to 2014, earning a degree in software engineering, before returning to Nigeria for my internship. The decision was based on my mum’s advice. She was fond of saying, “You need a certificate; even if you don’t use it, keep it.”

I was part of the team that deployed a system for Lekki Concession Company Limited (LCC), but when it came to the automation of the toll gates, we weren’t qualified; they had to bring in expatriates because there was n...