By leveraging digital tools to drive equal opportunity, he is providing a practical solution to the educational and economic gaps that persist in rural areas.

Ntende Beka Isabirye is a Ugandan entrepreneur and the founder of Tech Reach Africa, a non-profit organization working to expand access to digital skills for students, teachers and young people in rural Uganda, with the aim of improving educational outcomes and income opportunities.

Founded in 2021 under the name ICT4Education and later rebranded as Tech Reach Africa, the organization operates primarily in eastern and central Uganda. Its work focuses on bringing practical digital learning to rural schools and underserved youth, positioning digital skills as a key driver of long-term community development.

As part of its school outreach, Tech Reach Africa deploys mobile computer labs to remote schools, giving students and teachers hands-on experience with basic computing and digital tools.

The organization also runs training programs for out-of-school youth and recent graduates, designed to help participants overcome financial and geographic barriers to employment. Courses cover web development, graphic design, videography and photography.

So far, 2,650 students from 21 schools have taken part in the school program. In addition, 350 teachers from those schools have been trained as digital mentors, enabling them to pass on skills and integrate digital tools into classroom teaching. Separately, more than 870 young graduates have completed the organization’s vocational training programs.

In 2017, Isabirye became a youth issues consultant for Swisscontact, a Swiss technical cooperation foundation, in Uganda. Between 2018 and 2024, he worked as a trainer with Dance4Life, an organization focused on sexual and reproductive health and rights. From 2019 to 2020, he also served as a project coordinator for Irise International in Uganda, which specializes in menstrual health management. He holds a diploma in organizational leadership and civic engagement from Louisiana State University, obtained in 2024.

Melchior Koba