Joseph Mwenda

Kenyan educator building digital classrooms in rural Africa

Joseph Mwenda is a Kenyan tech entrepreneur whose Sunrise Classes initiative has brought solar-powered education to 500+ rural schools across East Africa. Born in Kakamega in 1988, Mwenda grew up without electricity but taught himself coding using donated textbooks. His 2021 launch of Off-Grid Learning Pods uses AI tutors and Raspberry Pi devices to deliver curriculum-aligned lessons in Swahili and English.

By 2024, Sunrise Classes reached 250,000 students through its network of 3,000+ edu-kiosks installed in schools and community centers. These solar-powered kiosks store offline educational content and enable peer-to-peer learning via mesh networks. A 2023 UNESCO study showed Sunrise schools saw math proficiency improve by 75% and literacy rates rise from 45% to 82% in two years.

Mwenda's 2022 Girls Code Africa program has trained 15,000 girls in robotics and app development, with 80% continuing STEM studies. His partnership with Google's Africa Code Week expanded access to digital literacy tools. Mwenda's TEDx Talk "How We Got 500 Schools Online Without Internet" has 1.2 million views.

In 2024, Mwenda launched EduDrone—a solar-powered drone network delivering textbooks and medical supplies to remote regions. This initiative won the Tech4Good Global Innovation Prize, with $500,000 funding to expand operations into Chad and Mali. His work is profiled in BBC Future's "Education Pioneers" series.