Arielle Kitio Tsamo, the Cameroonian who trains young Africans in coding

Arielle Kitio Tsamo is a young Cameroonian computer scientist and entrepreneur. In 2017, she created Caysti, a center that trains young people from 6 to 15 years old in coding. Through her NGO WIT, she also encourages African girls to embrace science and technology.  

Since 2017, Arielle Kitio Tsamo has been sharing her passion for computer science to young people across Africa through her start-up CAYSTI (Cameroon Youth School Tech Incubator). Through coding, she also promotes African languages. 

In 2018, she initiated « AbcCode », an educational program using a fun and intuitive software for developing creativity that trains young people aged from 6 to 15 years old in computer coding and programming. The software also teaches young Africans to create digital applications in African languages, including Wolof, Hausa … 

For the Cameroonian entrepreneur, “every child, regardless of gender, language, religion, geographical location or social level must have equal opportunities for access to quality education in this era driven by the digital revolution,” she told Le Point magazine, knowing that only 3% of the content on the internet is available in African languages.

In 2019, she launched the “Coding in National Languages” contest, which is supported by the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie and UNESCO.

Promoting women’s access to technology

Her passion for instilling computer literacy in women comes from personal experience. After obtaining her baccalaureate, she studied computer science at the University of Yaounde I. In 2011, she got a bachelor’s degree in computer science and then a master’s degree in Cloud computing in partnership with the National Polytechnic Institute of Toulouse. During her studies, she discovered surprisingly that unlike her, the majority of girls in her field feared coding. 

This experience pushed her to create the WIT (Information Technology for Women & Youth) NGO in 2015. Through her organization, she aims to highlight women who stand out in the technological field and to encourage young girls to opt for scientific and technological fields. She also campaigns to end women’s segregation in terms of internet connectivity in Africa.

From 2017 to 2019, she was an Ambassador of the Next Einstein Forum whose objective is to propel Africa on the global scientific scene.

Since 2016, she has been a PhD student in computer science at the University of Yaoundé I. Her work focuses, in particular, on the creation of a platform that would allow to monitor tuberculosis.She is also an assistant lecturer at the University of Yaoundé I.

Arielle Kitio has won several distinctions. In 2016, she received the TechWoman Award from the US Department. In 2018, Forbes Africa included her in its 30 Under 30 Francophone Africa ranking. She also won the Margaret Africa Prize on Digital Women’s Day in 2019, alongside the Senegalese Diarata N’Diaye and the Cameroonian Rebecca Enonchong. In 2019, UNESCO also awarded her the Prize for Innovation in Education.