Country of Residence
Kenya
Age
19
Project title
Careers Lingo
Project Summary: Describe your project in one sentence
Careers Lingo is a youth-centered career guidance initiative that equips young people with the information, tools, mentorship, and digital experiences they need to discover their strengths, explore opportunities, and make informed decisions about their futures.
Website URL(s) or social media handles.
https://careerslingo.com/
Project Category
My project is an existing project that I started
Project Stage
Growth (We’ve moved past the very first activities and are beginning to have consistent weekly or monthly impact)
Founding Story: What was the spark that led you to start your project? What was the "Aha!" moment that led you to get started and see the potential for this to succeed?
The spark for my project began while I was growing up in a rural community and attending St. Joseph’s Boys Kitale. Occasionally, I travelled to Nairobi to visit my siblings, where I was exposed to technology, different careers, and possibilities that felt far removed from what I saw around me at school. When I returned, I would share these stories with my classmates. They became curious, and soon students started coming to me asking what careers they could pursue. I would research, speak to people in my network, and return with possibilities they had never considered. That is when I realized young people do not lack ambition; they simply lack exposure. Seeing someone pursue a career or opportunity that feels possible can completely change what a young person believes is within their reach. After completing high school, I organized a Career Week that brought together more than 200 students and 30 professionals to talk about careers, the future of work, university, and what to expect beyond school. I want to keep creating these opportunities, because when young people see people who look like them achieving what once seemed impossible, dreams begin to become goals, and that is how barriers get broken.
The Problem: What problem are you helping to solve? Why does it matter to you and your community?
I believe rural communities do not lack talent; they lack equal access to exposure, information, networks, and pathways that help young people turn their talent into opportunity. Growing up in rural Kenya, I saw how easy it was for young people to limit their ambitions to the careers and opportunities they could see around them. I experienced this myself until travelling to Nairobi exposed me to technology, different careers, and people doing things I had never imagined possible. Where a young person grows up can significantly shape the opportunities they can access. In Kenya, 66% of children in rural areas experience multidimensional poverty, compared with 28% in urban areas. Among young people aged 18–35, 40% of rural youth live in absolute poverty, compared with 30% in urban areas. I believe we cannot address these inequalities only by telling young people to “work hard.” We also have to help them see what is possible and show them practical paths to get there. That is why I am working to connect students, particularly those from communities with fewer opportunities, with professionals, career information, mentors, and real-world experiences. My goal is to help young people make informed choices and expand their sense of what is possible; not because they lack ambition, but because their circumstances should not determine the size of their dreams.
Your Solution: How are you solving this problem? Share your specific solution.
We are solving this problem by bringing career exposure, information, and real-world connections closer to young people, especially those in communities where access to these opportunities is limited. Our approach combines technology with direct human connection. Through Careers Lingo, we are building digital experiences that help students understand their strengths, explore different careers, discover the skills and education required, and learn about opportunities beyond the careers they see around them. But we believe technology alone is not enough. We connect students with professionals, mentors, entrepreneurs, and other young people who can share their real experiences. We organize career weeks, workshops, mentorship sessions, and conversations about careers and the future of work, giving students the opportunity to ask questions and see possible pathways for themselves. We want to make this model repeatable, particularly for students transitioning from secondary school to university or work. Instead of simply telling young people to “dream big,” we help them answer: What is possible? What does the journey look like? What skills do I need? Who can I learn from? And what can I do next? As a young person, I also bring students' voices into how we design these experiences. We listen to what they are curious about, what they struggle to understand, and what information they wish they had.
Impact: How has your project created impact / made a difference so far? Or, if at an early stage, what will impact look like?
In April 2026, I organized a Career Week that brought together more than 200 students and 30 professionals from different fields. Students had the opportunity to ask questions directly to people working in careers they had previously known little about, learn about university and the world of work, and hear honest stories about different career journeys. For me, the most meaningful impact was seeing students move from asking, “Can I really do this?” to asking, “What do I need to do to get there?” That shift - from possibility to action - is the change I want to create. Through my work with Careers Lingo, I have continued contributing to initiatives that have reached more than 1,000 young people through career exploration, workshops, mentorship, and digital learning experiences. We have also worked with teachers and schools to make career information more accessible to students. Ultimately, we will measure our impact not only by how many young people we reach, but by whether they leave with greater confidence, make more informed education and career choices, and take concrete steps toward opportunities they previously could not see for themselves.
Your Innovation: What is different about your project compared to other programs or solutions already out there? How is your project new or innovative?
Traditional career guidance often happens as a one-time talk, depends on a school having a career guidance officer, or gives students general information about courses and occupations. For a student in a rural or underserved community, this can still leave a major gap: “I know this career exists, but I don't know anyone who does it, what the journey looks like, or whether someone like me can actually pursue it.” We are combining three things to address that gap. First, we put young people at the centre of the design. As a 19-year-old who grew up experiencing this exposure gap myself, I bring students' questions, experiences, and perspectives into how we design our programs and digital experiences. Second, we combine technology with human connection. Careers Lingo uses digital tools to help students explore careers, understand the skills and education required, and discover pathways. We then connect that exploration to professionals, mentors, workshops, and career conversations where students can ask real questions and hear real stories. Third, we are building an approach that can work beyond a single school or event. A Career Week can inspire a student for one day; our goal is to create a continuing journey where a young person can discover a career, understand the pathway, meet someone working in it, identify the skills they need, and take their next step. The innovation is therefore not technology for technology's sake. It is using technology, youth participation, and human networks together to solve an opportunity gap.
How many people are on your team?
2
Your team: What role(s) do your team members play? How do you share leadership with them?
Jerome (me) and Pula lead the Career Week initiative. We share responsibility for planning, coordinating speakers, engaging students, and shaping the experience. We make decisions together and divide responsibilities according to our strengths. Worth mentioning is we receive mentorship and organizational support from the wider Careers Lingo team, who run other Careers Lingo programs, while we retain sole ownership of The Career Week
What’s Next: What are the next steps you plan to take to grow or strengthen your project over the next year? If your project is still in the idea stage, describe the steps you will take over the next three months to launch or begin developing it.
Over the next year, I want to grow Career Week from one event into a program that can reach more students, especially students from rural and underserved communities. Our first step is to organize another Career Week and use what we learned from our first event to make it better. We want to bring together more professionals from different careers and create more opportunities for students to ask questions, build connections, and learn what different career journeys actually look like. We also want to take Career Week to more schools. We will work with schools, universities, professionals, companies, and youth organizations to find people who are willing to share their experiences and support students. We plan to connect the physical events to Careers Lingo's digital platform so that students can continue exploring careers after the event. We don't want Career Week to be something that inspires a student for one day and then ends. We want students to leave knowing what they can do next. Most importantly, we want to listen to students and measure whether the program is actually helping them. We will collect their feedback and track changes in their confidence, career awareness, and the actions they take afterwards.
How do you encourage other people to join your project or learn about the problem you’re working on? If you have a new idea, tell us how you will do this in the future.
I believe the best way to get people involved is to give them a role to play. When I organized our Career Week, I reached out to professionals and invited them to share their experiences with students. More than 30 speakers joined us, bringing different careers, experiences, and perspectives into the conversation. We also brought together more than 200 students who participated, asked questions, and explored opportunities they may not have known about before. I also encourage other young people to get involved by listening to their questions and giving them opportunities to contribute. Paula and I are both young people, and we want students to see that they do not have to wait until they are older to create change. As we grow, we want to involve more professionals as mentors and speakers, schools as partners, and young people as volunteers and organizers. We also want students who participate in Career Week to become ambassadors who can share what they learn with their friends and communities. Through social media and Careers Lingo's digital platform, we will share career stories, opportunities, and practical information that young people can use and pass on. My aim is to build a community where young people are not just attending career programs but actively helping other young people discover what is possible.
