Kindly introduce yourself, your education and work experience.
My name is Jackson Mwirigi, the Founder and Coding Teacher at Jit Tech Learning (http://jit-tech.co.ke/). I studied and graduated with a degree in ICT from Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University and that’s where my journey into software development started. I have had a wide range of work experience across different industries including Banking, Telecommunications, and Training Institutes.
What inspired you to become and entrepreneur and what are the highlights of your entrepreneurship journey?
It has been a journey of self-discovery. I lot didn’t know about myself and purpose but my hard work, trust in the process and most of all doing my best to fix what I can has led me into discovering my passions and finally brought me here (entrepreneurship journey). I can say the journey has just started. I have always heard entrepreneur say things like “I wanted to try something different”, “I needed to fix this” At least I know I am not lost since, I also can say I found myself fixing a problem that pandemic had brought. Kids were idle at home.
They needed to be engaged with something exciting and fun and this is how I started teaching coding for kids. It is as a great way of preparing them for the future. Besides, parents have come to appreciate the importance of coding when done at an early age. We are living in a tech driven world and kids should be well equipped with the 21st century skills. Working adults too should be ready and willing to adapt to new ways of doing things and this requires learning new skills, especially tech related. Coding has become a basic literacy that everyone should learn and understand.
Tell us about your family.
I come from Igembe North sub-county in Meru County and I am the last born in a family of 7. Raised by two parents but lost dad when I was in form two. They practiced subsidiary farming, including growing miraa as a source of earning.
How would you describe the business environment in Kenya?
Being a first-time entrepreneur, I haven’t explored this sector of entrepreneurship enough to comment on this.
Who has been the greatest influence in life/business and why?
I can say that my uncle who runs retail businesses with a number of shops in Malindi, Kenya influenced me into the dream of becoming financially independent. I was brought up in complicated setting where I was part for the Uncle family more than my own. The obvious in such upbringing would be you will not get everything you want in life as you would from your own Father. This set back has always pushed me to work harder to gain financial independence.
Business wise, my former boss at Safaricom, James Njuguna, was heaven-sent and really pushed me into pursuing my business idea. I had started my business while still in employment although due to COVID we had been sent home. At the time was business was picking, my employer demanded that we resume. I couldn’t abandon my business at the time it needed me the most. I had to quite the job. James did a good job by pushing and encouraging not to lose the one time opportunity that I had at hand. Since then I have been pushing my business to greater heights, having enrolled and trained around 150 kids and 16 adults up to 5th FEB 2021(interview date).
Part 2 – The business
Tell us about your business: How you started the current business (es).
My educational background in ICT has played a great role in establishing my business. I developed great interest and passion for writing computer code since I was in my second year. Although I didn’t work as a software developer as I wanted, I had invested a lot of time in self-teaching and working on personal projects.
I kept writing code while I was working in different IT roles that I came across. At some points while looking for job, I decided to attend a workshop at a college in Westlands. While in high school up, I used to dislike teaching because I saw how stressful it was dealing with students.
However, I noticed how teaching coding was an easy and exciting thing. After the workshop, I decided to engage the college director and explain my willingness to be of help. It didn’t take more than two weeks before they called me for a part time job to teach coding. I took the opportunity and it was amazing.
The idea of teaching kids was initiated by James. He had wanted his children to learn coding but didn’t know where to take them. He shared about an arrangement where his church organises workshops for children to learn different skills on Saturdays. So he suggested I share a proposal to teach coding at the church at least his kids would also benefit. By then I was only teaching working adults and high school graduates at the college.
However, in the process COVID-19 came in and school and churches closed. We were sent on unpaid leave and it’s during the stay at home I decided to take the idea to a different dimension. Kids were home, didn’t have much to do, and no outdoor activities to keep them busy. That’s how the Creative Coding Club started. I designed lessons that are engaging and fun to keep the little one busy at home.
What is the range of your products and services?
I offer services in form of coding lessons for young children aged 7 to 14 years. My focus is to promote creativity and confidence to build among kids by helping and guiding them through creative fun and exciting coding activities. I teach kids how to create simple animations, stories, games, and computer programs. In addition, I work closely with the working adults interested in software development and data analytics by simplifying their learning journey. I help them to better understand programming concepts using real world examples.
Some of the training/coding programs I offer include Scratch Programming Python Programming, Data Science Fundamentals, Web Development, and Android App development.
What are the greatest achievements and challenges in business so far?
Establishing an online presence and being able to sell my coding lessons to a good number of parents is a great achievement. I was able to enroll and train almost 150 kids last year (2020). I wish and hope to double the number this year. At first, it was hard to grow an audience and become visible on social media but I thank God for bringing the right people on my path who helped break on social media.
Who is your competition in business, and do you do to stay ahead in the game?
To make sure my services stand out from the crowd, our classes are designed in ways that ensure learning by using real world application examples. Most people agree to the fact that programming topic in most universities is mostly theory based and lacks some practicality. As the founder and Coding Teacher, Jit Tech, I designed our coding programs to ensure a hands-on and project based -learning approach. In every session, we work on a different project addressing implementing different concepts.
What lessons have you learnt on managing people: staff, customers, partners, and other stakeholders?
In terms of managing clients, I have come to learn that good customer relations can go a long way. If you relate well with your customers, they will always be ready and happy to refer and recommend your services to their friends and relatives. Besides, meeting customer expectations or/and objectives is another sure way to have happy customers.
Customer service is one of those skills, I know I am competent at considering I once worked as a Customer Support officer providing both firs line and second line support at the Kingdom Bank (initially Jamii Bora Bank). However, I am constantly learning new and better ways to deal and manage clients.
Part 3 – Future plans
Where do you see your business in the next 5 years?
In 5 years’ time, Jit Tech’s mission will have grown beyond just a coding club to becoming the most sought after Software Development College for young children. I want to support young children in embracing tech, discovering their potential and nurturing the talents in tech though progressive coding classes.
Besides, I wish to help many more kids become more creative and innovative by giving them a place where they can experiment and utilize their mind power and imagination by writing computer code.
Part 4- Parting shot
What is your biggest fear in business?
There was a time I use to fear becoming unemployed. But when I wasn’t employed, I was still living a happy life and paying bills although I wasn’t very sure what future would look like. So I am not sure if I have anything to fear. I know I don’t have total control of my business, so anything can happen there is God who knows better. Furthermore, anything happens for a reason. I am still growing and very open to learning.
What do you do for leisure?
I enjoy listening to old school music mostly soul, country, and rhumba music during free time. Besides, I love swimming and GP Karting.
Anything you ever regret not doing? Anything you wish you had done differently?
I have nothing to regret about. My journey has been of personal growth and self-discovery.
What advice you would give to a young person starting out in business?
That they need to ensure they are passionate at what they are doing, have confidence and a stronger believer in themselves.
Parting words?
I wish to thank Bizna for giving an opportunity to share about my journey as an entrepreneur and a platform to market my coding classes at Jit Tech’s coding classes.
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