PM
Proud Mpala
Chief Strategy Officer
Our story
It started in a room at the Bulawayo Public Library.
Emzini is isiNdebele for at the home of. Not the school, not the academy, not the bootcamp. That choice was deliberate, and it still governs how the place runs.
How it began
2019 to now.
A room, a projector when it worked, and students who came back the following week.
The first classes ran in Bulawayo, at the Public Library and later through the American Space at NUST. There was no platform, no curriculum repository and no grading system. There was a room and the people in it.
What that room taught us is the thing the organisation is now built around: the syllabus is not the hard part. Anyone can find a good syllabus. What is hard is the culture, the expectation that you will struggle and continue anyway, and the presence of somebody slightly further along who has already struggled with exactly the thing defeating you.
Going online was arithmetic rather than strategy. One room in Bulawayo holds thirty people, and there were more than thirty who wanted to learn. Scaling a room is easy; scaling the culture of a room is not, and that is where most online courses quietly fail. So we kept the mentorship and industrialised everything around it, which is how we ended up writing our own grading platform instead of buying one.
Where it ran
A borrowed room, a projector, and whoever turned up.
The Public Library first, then the American Space at NUST, which has since closed. Everything the organisation does now is an attempt to give that room more capacity than one room can have.
The founder
Eric Khumalo
Founder and Chief Executive
The syllabus is not the hard part. Anyone can find a good syllabus. What is hard is the culture, and somebody slightly further along who has already struggled with the thing defeating you.
Grew up in Gwabalanda and sat his A-Levels at Mpopoma High. Read Data Science at UC Berkeley as a Mastercard Foundation Scholar, interned at Twitter across three summers, and has worked as a data scientist and privacy engineer since. Teaches CS7 himself.
Mission
Emzini weCode builds Africa's next generation of problem solvers through rigorous computational training and deep mentorship, planting a discipline of hard work that turns talent into careers, companies, and communities.
We started in Bulawayo. We have never restricted it to Bulawayo.
Vision
A thriving, inclusive technology community in which underserved youth across Zimbabwe and Africa realize their full potential and lead the industries of the future.
How change happens
How change happens at Emzini weCode.
01
We surround students with rigorous training, mentorship, and a community that doesn't let go.
02
They build the skills, confidence, and discipline to solve real problems.
03
Their talent turns into careers, companies, and communities that inspire the next generation.
What we stand for
Values.
- Community
- We build belonging. Students, mentors, and alumni connect, support, and learn from each other as part of a larger movement of change.
- Mentorship
- Guidance through learning and career is the foundation of success at every stage.
- Inclusivity
- Everyone, regardless of background, deserves equal access to quality education, resources, and opportunity. Diversity strengthens our community and fuels innovation.
- Continuous Growth
- We foster lifelong learning through ongoing support, feedback, and encouragement.
- Empowerment
- We equip students with the skills and mindset to navigate the tech world and create their own opportunities.
- Impact
- We are results driven. Our success is measured by the growth and success of those we serve, during their time with us and throughout their careers.
Who runs it
The team.
Small, and most of us came through it.
NS
Nandipa Siluma
Operations Lead
AM
Andile Mbele
Technical Lead
MM
Methembe Moyo
Product Advisor
Support and collaboration
Who has backed this.
- Big Ideas at UC Berkeley
- Early funding, won through Berkeley's student innovation contest.
- Davis Projects for Peace
- Project grant.
- Education Matters
- Collaboration on access to education in Zimbabwe.
- Mastercard Foundation
- Funded the founder's degree at Berkeley, as a Mastercard Foundation Scholar.
- NUST American Space
- Hosted early in-person classes in Bulawayo.
Come in
The door is the same one we came through.
Whether you want to learn, to teach, to host a club or to fund one, it starts the same way.