Tech prodigy Enoch Kambale had defied the odds, achieving groundbreaking advancements at just 20 years old despite dropping out of university.
He did not halt his university education by choice, but was compelled to do so after an unfortunate incident at the University of Nairobi, where his approach to projects clashed with his lecturers’ expectations.
Kambale’s academic journey was remarkable, marked by exempelary performances in national examinations. In his Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE), he scored 436 marks emerging as the top student in the Coastal region.
He then proceeded to join Mang’u High School, where he registered an impressive A grade of 83 points in his KCSE exams. This would pave the way to his enrollment to the University of Nairobi, where he applied for the Computer Science program.
His time was short-lived, as lecturers took issue with how he approached class projects, one arguing that he over-delivered and another taken aback by his intellectual capabilities which he interpreted as braggadocio.
”I joined UoN’s Computer Science Program but I dropped out after a lecturer told me I did too much on a class project, and another one told me that I have an attitude,” Kambale narrated to a popular news outlet.
After dropping out of school at 19, Kambale chanelled his passion for technology into the developing a collection of products dubbed Talent, a leading AI-powered jobs app, which he says has helped over 20,000 young people to find jobs.
Kambale shared that his journey in technology began in his teenage years. As an only child, he initially found solace in drawing and sketching, but everything shifted when he discovered coding at 16. This newfound passion became the foundation of his future, and hence further influenced his decision to quit school.
“I started the company when I was 16, while still in high school. I have been juggling this and school but I’ve always been dissatisfied with school, and especially after my second year, I just decided I didn’t want to continue,” he noted.
”But there’s also the fact that the company is getting bigger and serious, with us now working with the UN-so that pushed me to just narrow down.”
The Talent app was just the beginning, as together with his colleague Matt Magera, Kambale developed another app, named Jobzy, which assists recruiters in Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, and South Africa.
The software helps recruiters in the countries run background checks on candidates using government records.
”I also built software(known as Jobzy) to help recruiters in Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, and South Africa run background checks on candidates using government records in their countries,” Kambale shared.
Kambale is currently in collaboration with UNHCR on a project that focuses on humanitarian support for refugees living in the Daadab and Kakuma camps in Kenya.
‘‘So, what we’re doing with the UN is a project that is still in the planning phase. The project will be done through the UN’s body, to support refugees working in Kenya,” Kambale stated.
Kambale, much like Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates, embodies the idea that groundbreaking innovation and success often emerge from a relentless pursuit of passion rather from the conventional academic path.
