UNO R4 Stars: Meet Brenda Mboya

The launch of the Arduino UNO R4 marks an enormous leap ahead for our neighborhood. For us, it’s additionally the prospect to have fun the individuals who convey our ecosystem to life with their shiny concepts, radiant enthusiasm, and shining perception.

That’s how the UNO R4 Stars weblog publish collection started: to focus on makers who haven’t solely created wonderful tasks with Arduino, however who’re giving again to the neighborhood by sharing as they go and serving to others make something they need.

We invite you to find every profile, hoping you would possibly discover a North Star to navigate round an increasing galaxy or enterprise into fully new universes.

Brenda Akoth Mboya, a trailblazing STEM educator and the co-founder of Jenga Labs Africa, embodies the spirit of Arduino-driven innovation within the realm of training and neighborhood empowerment. “My ardour lies in inspiring African youth through the use of know-how and management as instruments,” she affirms – and we take pleasure in being the platform of selection for her imaginative and prescient. 

Mboya’s journey with Arduino started with a revelatory second, when she realized that know-how could possibly be each simple and enjoyable, empowering even youngsters beneath 13 to create significant and revolutionary tasks of their very own.

Initiating Jenga Labs Africa in 2019, Mboya launched into a groundbreaking enterprise to introduce 4th Industrial Revolution applied sciences to the subsequent technology of African innovators and makers. By collaborations with West African faculties, the startup has seamlessly infused STEM actions into curricula and arrange makerspaces accessible to all college students.

As well as, Mboya actively engages younger minds within the know-how house as a part of the Arm Interact program and the Arduino person group in Kenya, organizing occasions that convey collectively electronics fans desperate to dive into the huge potential of microcontrollers. A current main achievement was the profitable orchestration of a 12-hour hackathon in Kisumu, leveraging the capabilities of IoT to handle essential agricultural challenges in western Kenya. The occasion showcased the distinctive skills of the native youth – one thing that Mboya holds expensive: “Being a maker in 2023, particularly within the African continent, means having the instruments to create options tailor-made to African wants – thus transferring away from being mere customers of Western applied sciences, and in direction of turning into creators of options that tackle particular African use instances.”

Certainly, the challenge that the majority deeply resonates together with her imaginative and prescient in the meanwhile is the one-year Management and Know-how Program Jenga Labs is about to launch in Kibera, one among Nairobi’s largest slums. This initiative goals to empower the neighborhood by coaching them on Arduino know-how, enabling them to create revolutionary options for the myriad issues and challenges they face day by day. Mboya sees this as a transformative approach to give again, fostering a way of management and innovation that may spark constructive change. In Mboya’s world, Arduino isn’t just a device: it’s a catalyst for African youth to form their destinies and contribute to the development of their communities.

We requested Mboya, “What’s your favourite a part of the UNO R4?”

• The LED matrix for fast visualization, permitting for fast satisfaction in addition to clear assist in debugging.
• The USB-C connector: having this extraordinarily widespread possibility means “I may even use my cellphone’s cable to shortly do one thing on the Arduino.”
• The highest-notch pace and connectivity options in comparison with the UNO Rev3.

Sustain with the updates on Mboya’s affect on the world by following her LinkedIn profile or go to Jenga Labs’ web site!