UNITED STATES: non-profit wants to help make Zimbabwe a tech capital

By easthamptonstar.com

UNITED STATES: Uncommon.org, a nonprofit that takes coding and computer science education to children and young adults in Zimbabwe, will hold a fund-raiser in East Hampton, New York on Saturday, July 20.

Founded by Peter Kazickas, formerly of Amagansett, Uncommon.org has grown from a 2017 pilot program providing 20 laptops to young people to a full-fledged nonprofit reaching 5,000 young people.

In elementary school Mr. Kazickas was inspired by Mark Crandall of Amagansett and his nonprofit Hoops 4 Hope, which works in Zimbabwe. He eventually volunteered with the organization, which took him to the country for the first time.

“It was unexpected, and it was a life-changing experience,” he said.

In 2017 Mr. Kazickas launched the pilot programme with 20 laptops from the Amagansett School.

“The initial concept was to teach unemployed young adults to teach kids how to code,” he said.

Fairly soon after the pilot programme, the organization pivoted instead to train the young adults for full-time employment in the tech world.

“Now we teach design, software development, marketing, and we’re introducing entrepreneurship,” Mr. Kazickas said. And the students still teach coding to children in the afternoon in after-school programs.

Uncommon.org has become a part of many communities by building its own infrastructure for learning: “innovation hubs.” These hubs are modified shipping containers with solar panels attached to provide energy.

“We wanted to make it clear to communities that we’re here for the long term and we’re here permanently,” Mr. Kazickas said.

The July 20 fund-raiser will feature a discussion on artificial intelligence.

“We just thought that with the way that A.I. has come into the mainstream narrative,” he said, “it would be really cool to get A.I. experts to come and do a short panel conversation about their work in A.I. and also A.I.’s effect on humanity.”

The panellists will include Sami Ghoche, the co-founder and C.T.O. of the A.I. startup Forethought, and Michael Albergo, an incoming professor of applied mathematics at Harvard University.

Moderating will be Anna Bernasek, the global head of thought leadership at State Street, and Dan Mongan, a partner at the law firm Leech Tishman and chairman and senior managing director at Cumulus Capital Partners.

Mr. Kazickas’s hope is that Uncommon.org will be able to reach 10,000 kids in its after-school program this year, doubling the total from 2023, and he has big plans for the future.

“We want to expand into every province, introduce teacher training programs, formally get computer coding in all schools, and make Zimbabwe the tech capital of the continent,” he said.