“It's a starter pack, basically, for life.”

Judith Obonyo is Vice President of Operations at Digital Divide Data, overseeing Nairobi and partnerships across Africa. She recruits beneficiaries through community-based organizations in underserved areas like Kibera and Mathare—partners who can vouch for young people they've known since childhood. The minimum requirement is a C-minus on the KCSE exam, intentionally set to avoid cutting off deserving students while maintaining standards. DDD verifies everything: grades, background information through home visits, and financial inability to afford higher education. No computer skills required. "The intention is to remove you from a state of not knowing to a state of knowing," she says. New recruits go through BEST training—Business, Employability, Soft, and Technical skills—learning everything from basic computer knowledge to how to dress, communicate, and conduct themselves professionally. Since 2018, over 2,100 people have completed this training. After a year of monitoring performance and discipline on commercial projects, associates can apply for scholarships to pursue certificates, diplomas, or degrees at partner universities while working seven-hour days instead of eight, leaving time for studies.

The biggest challenge, Judith says, is the culture shift. Young people come from communities where people earn 200 shillings (around $1.50) daily for construction work, buy food that evening, and start over the next day. Parents expect every household member to bring money home nightly. DDD offers financial literacy coaching to help trainees budget and save. The biggest impact is breaking poverty cycles and empowering women, who see female role models throughout DDD's leadership. About 600 Kenyan graduates have been placed in jobs, with many moving their families out of slums—or staying to give back to their communities. Alumni return quarterly to mentor current associates, refer employers, and prove that transformation is possible. Obonyo’s message for DDD's 25th anniversary: "The impact is bigger than the effort. That one life that has been saved, chances are, we've saved an entire lineage."