9jacodekids, TEM education institute providing coding and robotics programs for kids aged 4 to 16 years old, has raised seed fund of $350,000 from an angel investor and board member of Endeavour Nigeria, Bolaji Balogun. The investment was part of the Ultima Lions’ Den Season 2 reality TV show.
“We have many parents and clients out there that have desired for us to come to their cities but due to lack of funds, we have not been able to meet their demands. Now, we can inject more funds to, spread out, boost capacity and ensure more children have access to coding skills,’’ Ugochukwu Nkwocha, the chief executive officer of the startup said.
A Look At What The Startup Does
9jacodekids Academy was founded in 2016 with the goal of creating the next generation of technopreneurs by teaching kids aged 4–16 STEM skills such as coding, robotics, and artificial intelligence, as well as entrepreneurial skills such as Design Thinking, Market Research, and Prototyping.
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“We teach children between ages four and 16 everything about Coding, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, and 21st-century Tech Skills in general that have relevance to their future. The world is now run on technology and software,” Nkwocha said.
He stated that in 2014, schools in countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom began teaching coding to students as young as five years old. Some schools in the United States now make it a required subject, alongside English and Math.
“They have made it such that, you must have a minimum of credit in coding and computer science before you are allowed to graduate secondary school. In Nigeria, it should be incorporated into the school curriculum but unfortunately, it is not. So we as a tech firm have come in to fill the gap. Many parents know about this need because they travel abroad and see it. They wonder whether they must have to send their little children abroad just for this critical knowledge. They want to see it done in Nigeria as they see other students their children’s age build games, mobile apps, robots, and websites. Now, they can have that same opportunity with 9jacodekids.”
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert.
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard. You can book a session and speak with him using the link: https://insightsbyexperts.com/view_expert/charles-rapulu-udoh