Research, coverage and one honest statement
I write less than I build. This page collects the research I have contributed to, selected press coverage of the work, and a short statement of intent.
SteamBlockly
In 2019 I co-authored a paper with colleagues from Steamledge and the Institute of Computing and ICT at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, presented at the 2nd International Conference of IEEE Nigeria. The paper, Steamblockly: A Block-Oriented Programming Environment to Enhance and Engage Interest in Software Engineering, describes a visual block-based tool built on Google Blockly that lets beginners learn HTML and the foundations of web development by connecting blocks rather than wrestling with syntax.
The research grew directly out of classroom experience: we watched syntax errors, not concepts, drive beginners away from programming, and built a tool to remove that barrier.
The work in the press
- TechCabal: Fostering Innovation, the journey to introduce technology education to public schools in Nigeria (opens in a new tab) (December 2023)
- Vanguard: We plan to upskill the Nigerian child (opens in a new tab) (April 2023)
- Microsoft: Announcing #BuildFor2030 Hackathon winners (opens in a new tab) (January 2022)
What I am building towards
I have come to think of my career as a series of answers to one question asked at increasing scale. As a founder, the question was: can technology reach the learners that schools cannot? As a consultant, it became: can national systems be designed so that reaching them is normal rather than heroic? As an academic leader, it is: can institutions hold their doors open in practice, not just in principle?
The next version of the question is about capital. The social innovations I most admire rarely die of bad ideas. They die of undercapitalisation, impatient money, or funding that quietly bends them away from the people they were built for. I am learning venture capital and early-stage investment now, deliberately and from first principles, because I want to be part of the answer to that.
I do not know exactly what form that will take. A fund, a vehicle, a partnership: the structure matters less than the discipline. What I know is the standard it should meet, because I have stood on the other side of it, building things that deserved patient backing and watching peers who never got it.
I also document this journey as it happens, in short videos and posts on my social channels, because I think the honest middle of the story is more useful to people than a polished ending. You can follow along on LinkedIn (opens in a new tab), Instagram (opens in a new tab) and TikTok (opens in a new tab).
If you are working on the same question, from any side of it, I would like to hear from you.