Young innovators have been challenged to play an active role in shaping Africa’s future as the East Africa Code Festival 2026 concluded at the Technical University of Mombasa (TUM) today.

Speaking during the awards ceremony, Hon. Jonathan Mueke CBS, Principal Secretary, State Department for Livestock Development and Patron, iSkillsMasters Global, challenged the young innovators not to simply be spectators of the future, but to become architects of what lies beyond Kenya’s Vision 2030.

The PS urged the learners to dream beyond their classrooms, build rather than simply consume, develop solutions to African challenges and ensure that their innovations contribute to environmental sustainability. He also encouraged them to think globally, use technology meaningfully and create opportunities rather than wait for employment.

He reminded the learners that they are not too young to build Africa, address climate challenges or contribute to writing Kenya’s story beyond 2030, urging them to take the ideas and skills developed at the festival to the next level.

TUM Vice Chancellor Prof. Laila Abubakar commended the learners for their creativity, innovation and willingness to apply their knowledge to real-world challenges, noting that the festival had provided an important platform for young people to explore how technology can respond to the needs of their communities and the environment.

Prof. Abubakar said the focus on coding, robotics and artificial intelligence in addressing environmental and community challenges was closely aligned with TUM’s mandate as a technical university, where education is geared towards enabling learners to apply knowledge, create solutions and respond meaningfully to society’s needs.

She noted that the skills being developed by the young innovators could position them not only as future employees but also as creators of products, enterprises and employment opportunities. She encouraged them to develop a mindset that sees technology and innovation as tools for creating solutions and opening opportunities for others.

The Vice Chancellor further emphasised that nurturing innovation requires an ecosystem in which teachers and mentors cultivate curiosity, parents provide support, partners create opportunities and institutions provide pathways through which ideas can grow. She said platforms such as the East Africa Code Festival bring together young talent, mentorship and the wider innovation ecosystem, creating possibilities that extend beyond the competition itself.

Prof. Abubakar expressed hope that the festival’s first edition at TUM would mark the beginning of a lasting partnership with iSkillsMasters Global and its partners, through which more young people can develop their skills, nurture their ideas and explore the possibilities that emerge when technology, creativity and purpose come together. She reaffirmed TUM’s commitment to supporting the East Africa Code Festival and similar initiatives that provide young people with opportunities to develop their technological skills, showcase their ideas and contribute to solving challenges facing their communities and the environment.

Prof. Abubakar congratulated all the participants, noting that their achievement extended beyond the awards presented during the ceremony. Whether or not they received recognition, she said, the learners had been challenged to think, create, collaborate and apply their skills to real-world challenges, and should carry that spirit with them beyond the festival.

Speaking during the closing ceremony, Raphael Nyongesa, CEO of iSkillsMasters Global, highlighted the range of ideas witnessed during the three-day festival, including a security system developed by a Ugandan team to respond to climate-related challenges, a mobile application developed by Kenyan learners to help farmers predict rainfall patterns, and a game created by 12-year-olds to teach kindness and empathy. He described the projects as more than experiments, noting that they could become the seeds of future enterprises.

Nyongesa announced that iSkillsMasters Global would support the young innovators through a six-month hybrid incubation programme combining physical mentorship with online engagements. The programme will provide learners with continued access to guidance, resources and networks as they develop their projects further.

He said the goal was to move the young innovators’ projects from innovation to commercialisation, giving them an opportunity to develop their robots, applications and games into solutions capable of reaching and serving communities at scale.

Nyongesa also emphasised the importance of partnerships between institutions of higher learning and schools in preparing young people for the future. He noted that universities should engage learners before they transition into higher education, adding that iSkillsMasters Global had deliberately chosen to partner with institutions of higher learning because of their role in preparing the next generation of learners and innovators.

He encouraged the young innovators to continue nurturing their curiosity and exploring emerging technologies, reminding them that every line of code, robot and technological creation can contribute to transforming Africa.

The competition featured four tracks, namely App/Web, Internet of Things (IoT), Robotics and Scratch/PictoBlox, with participants competing in three age categories comprising a special category for learners below 10 years, 10–14 years and 15–18 years.

At the awards ceremony, the young coders were recognised for their performance across the different tracks and age categories, with teams receiving awards for their outstanding projects and achievements in their respective areas of competition.

The overall school rankings saw St. Peter’s Juja, Kiambu, emerge as the overall winner, followed by Strathmore School, Nairobi, in second position and Cradle Land International School, Uganda, in third position.

One of the participants, Linus Nduati from St. Peter’s Juja, said, “I was a participant at the festival. It was nice and we were able to participate well, and we went on to take the first position as the best school. As for my team, we took second position. Our project was about a Green Mazingira app which helps local farmers and large-scale farmers connect on one platform to help their farms grow larger.”

The East Africa Code Festival 2026 concluded with recognition of the young innovators while providing a pathway for their ideas to continue developing through mentorship, incubation and partnerships. For TUM, the event has also opened an opportunity to deepen its engagement with initiatives that equip young people with practical technological skills and create space for them to turn ideas into solutions.