Nelly Cheboi: Kenyan techpreneur named CNN Hero of 2022

Nelly Cheboi at Zawadi Academy in Mogotio, Baringo County on August 31, 2022. [Harun Wathari, Standard]

Cheboi will receive Sh1.2 million ($100,000) to expand her work, as the CNN Hero of the Year.

For attending the gala, the winner and the other top 10 CNN Heroes will receive Sh120, 000 ($10,000) cash award.

They will also get additional grants, organizational training, and support from The Elevate Prize Foundation through a new collaboration with CNN Heroes.

Nelly Cheboi, 29, was born and brought up in a poor family in Mogotio, Baringo County.

Her fortunes changed when she secured a scholarship through Zawadi Africa to study computer science at Augustana College in Illinois. She graduated in 2015.

Thereafter, she worked as a business analyst and lead software engineer for two US firms - New World Van Lines and User-Hero.

However, in 2019, she left all that behind and came back to her village, aiming at empowering her community borrowing from her experiences in the US.

Cheboi co-founded Technologically Literate Africa (TechLit Africa), a company that uses recycled computers to create tech labs in schools. She serves as its CEO.