Maxwell Kamau

Maxwell Kamau is the young innovator behind Bunifu Youths Kenya, a Nairobi learning community that helps children and teenagers move from consuming technology to building it. The organisation's name comes from the Swahili word for innovative, and that idea runs through everything it does: learners work on real projects they can explain, test and improve, rather than simply watching screens.

Operating from an innovation centre at AFRALTI on Waiyaki Way, Bunifu runs programmes in creative coding, animation and game design, web and AI development, hands-on robotics, and 3D design and printing. It also offers holiday and weekend bootcamps, school outreach, mentorship and training for teachers who want to bring project-based STEM into their classrooms. For schools, it offers a coding-club partnership model aimed at improving learner outcomes and digital readiness. The organisation reports reaching more than 500 young learners with the help of over 20 mentors, and it counts Kabarak University, AFRALTI and StartUpAfrica among its partners.

Bunifu learners have tested their skills well beyond the classroom. Students have pitched prototypes on stage at the Startup Africa showcase at Kabarak, and the organisation has supported Team Kenya robotics students preparing for the FIRST Global Challenge, an international robotics competition. Through this work, Maxwell is helping to build a pipeline of young Kenyan engineers, coders and makers who see themselves as creators of Africa's technology future.