“Give kids gadgets without skills and they’re just expensive toys.” That’s the blunt assessment from ‘Gbenga Sesan, our Executive Director at Paradigm Initiative (PIN), in a new long-form feature on Website Planet.

The article titled Global Tech Programs Are Failing Africa. This Grassroots Model Is the Solution traces ‘Gbenga’s journey from a teenager barred from his school’s computer room to the founder of a social enterprise now active in 11 African countries. 

“I walked away in tears in 1991, but also with a vow: no young African should ever be locked out of digital opportunity because of where they were born,” Sesan tells Website Planet. “Hardware hand-outs fail if you don’t build human capacity first.”

Why the Old Playbook Keeps Failing:

• Mobile data can consume 5 % of monthly income.
• Entry-level smartphones eat up to 40 % of a paycheck.
• Only 25 % of rural schools in Sub-Saharan Africa are online.
• Women are 36 % less likely than men to use mobile internet.

From the One Laptop Per Child fiasco to short-lived device-donation drives, ‘Gbenga argues that “top-down” programmes are doomed without local skills training, mentorship, and job pathways.

PIN’s alternative: Skills first, devices second

Through its LIFE Legacy Programme — Life skills, ICT training, Financial readiness, Entrepreneurship development — Paradigm Initiative equips underserved youth, then links graduates to real jobs and an alumni network.

Success stories like Famous Onokurefe (from unemployed school-leaver to Chartered Accountant and international consultant) show how the model converts potential into prosperity.

PIN’s next step: decentralise further by embedding the curriculum in grassroots youth organizations across Africa, with PIN providing oversight and shared resources.

“The question isn’t whether Africa needs digital inclusion,” Sesan says. “It’s whether we’ll invest in the community-led solutions that actually work.”