Dieudonne Allo helps the youth nurture their skills and creativity
Cameroon-born Dieudonne Allo is the founder of the Global Leading Light Initiative which equips high school learners with future-fit skills such as coding, entrepreneurship and design thinking. Raised in a community affected by poverty and abuse, he grew up watching his mother struggling to make ends meet and having to sell items at the local market as a way to pay for his school fees. After completing school he studied mathematics at the University of Buea in Cameroon before moving to Yaounde to complete his post-graduate diploma in teaching.
Through his mother, Dieudonne learnt about entrepreneurship and how to survive using one’s brains and hands. As he grew older he realised that there is more to life than just getting a good career and family and that your use is not to yourself but to other people and one’s community. Throughout his career he has worked with helping communities, moving to South Africa after his studies to work with a non-profit organisation. Moving around South Africa and Africa for various projects, he eventually settled in Mthatha after receiving a teaching post there. Drawn to the Mthatha he decided to start a program there to help transform the type of education learners receive in schools, which would become the Global Leading Light Initiative. Thanks to his experience in education he was acutely aware of the failings the industrial schooling system had, especially regarding in poor communities. The idea was to create an environment for children and give them the tools and skills 21st-century skills that will help them to adapt to the changing needs of the global market such as coding, robotics, entrepreneurship and design thinking. The idea is to prepare the students for the job market but also to make them use their creativity and passion.
Photo by Mpumelelo Macu
Funding is a major challenge for Dieudonne as the program needs it to pay salaries and rent for his projects. Having started with 8 volunteers that number has shrunk to 2 non-fulltime volunteers. This means that Dieudonne wears many hats and spends most of his time working on the project, as they don’t have the funds to train and retain staff. The program also needs skills development for the team involved as well as a more balanced spread between working and private life for Dieudonne.
Dieudonne gets a lot of satisfaction from making children believe in themselves and their ideas and turning that into product or services that can change lives. He believes there is a light in everyone, what others might call a skill or talent, hence the name of his program and he gets fulfilled when young people discover their talents.
Photo by Mpumelelo Macu
Dieudonne is looking to expand the program to an after-school version for young people who have dropped out of school, giving them certified training on how to repair electronics allowing them to get jobs or setup businesses. In the longer run, the goal is to setup an academy where certified training can take place, people can bring in their devices to be repaired by certified personnel and working with companies to place trainees.
Dieudonne is excited to meet new people with more experience than him at the Amaphiko academy in order to learn from them, especially in the area of strategic planning. He is also looking forward to the 18-month journey after the academy and the mentorship that it brings. He is also looking forward to networking with fellow social entrepreneurs and is hoping to find funding for his project.
This profile first appeared on Red Bull