I grew up in western Uganda, in Bushenyi, and stumbled into computer science almost by chance. My cousin mentioned the course, my dad encouraged me to apply for it, and soon I was enrolled at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda’s capital. I had no idea where it would take me.
During my master’s at the university, I encountered Data Science Africa (DSA) through the 2018 summer school held in Kenya. I barely understood the first course I took, but something clicked: the power of data applied to real problems.
That experience inspired me. So, I visited Uganda’s National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO), talking to farmers and researchers about banana crop pests. There were no datasets available, so I traveled village to village, collecting data, experimenting, and building a system to classify banana diseases. The work later became my first conference presentation and the code is still openly shared today.
DSA guided every step of my journey, from attending summer schools to PhD funding, from mentorship to research collaboration. These experiences cemented my love for research and the mission of DSA: connecting African students with real-world problems and providing the skills to solve them.
Currently, I lead a research lab in Uganda, training masters and PhD students in AI and developing tools to help local farmers. We also run regional summer schools to give others the same opportunities that shaped me.
Outside the lab, I tend a small farm of bananas, cassava, and vegetables. Staying close to the land reminds me why this work matters: it’s about solving real problems for our communities.
DSA isn’t just a program to me; it’s everything. It identified my talent, nurtured it, and now allows me to pay it forward. My hope is to see more African researchers tackling local challenges and representing our continent on the global stage.