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Jura Kaudo: A US expert who helps Africans learn IT to improve lives

What you need to know:

  • For his work, he has won numerous awards in the US and has just been nominated for the upcoming diaspora awards organised by DICOTA (the Diaspora Council of Tanzanians in America)

Born in Mwanza, Tanzania, to a Kenyan dad and a Tanzanian mom, Mr Jura Kaudo has been an integral part of the Tanzanian diaspora in America for more than three decades. An Information Technology (IT) expert, computer scientist, and mathematician, Mr Kaudo has for more than 20 years been helping to introduce and train Tanzanians and other Africans from different countries to IT.

For his work, he has won numerous awards in the US and has just been nominated for the upcoming diaspora awards organized by DICOTA (the Diaspora Council of Tanzanians in America). He has been designing and developing software and systems for international tech giants like IBM for the last 27 years as for the past 18 years he has dedicated his time to building training facilities so that he can train Africans in IT.

He said his focus was on introducing them to IT because he identified a need to get more Africans into the mainstream IT corporate professions.

He has remotely trained young people from Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, Ghana, and even in the remote areas of Goma in the DR Congo.

Although an internet connection has been one of the hurdles in reaching a wider number of Africans, Mr Kaudo admits that it’s getting better than years ago, and he intends to expand his work to reach more Africans. To date, he has trained more than 300 Tanzanians.

“All the Tanzanians whom you find doing IT work in America, I trained 99.9 percent of them” he informed.

His work is not only training them, but also he mentors, coaches, and helps them find jobs within the US companies, he has trained more than one thousand Africans nevertheless he feels there is so much room for growth and training more Africans in this rapidly growing profession.

“I have had more than 85 percent success rate,” he said.

At the age of 15 years Mr Kaudo had already started studying computer engineering, he would later study law at Nairobi University but when he moved to the US in 1990 as a student, a former law student transitioned to computer engineering and joined a university in Ohio, the US.

His impact on the East African diaspora in America cannot be understated, in all major corporations that have employed East Africans, it is a very high possibility that the employee is his former student. He even helped some get jobs at the United States’ National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

Mr Kaudo, a former NASA employee, has always opened doors for other Africans. “Everywhere I work, I make sure I bring in more Africans to work there” he said.

He was among the few students from his college chosen to participate in a NASA-sponsored programme at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. NASA paid for his school fees and after completing his studies he was interviewed and hired there.

A firm believer in paving the way, his selfless work has enormously helped elevate a lot of Africans around him. His Tanzanian wife was initially surprised whenever he would open his doors to help people, he transformed his living room into an IT class, moved all the furniture from the room and replaced it with chairs and computers, and welcomed Africans to his house to learn.

His wife was moved by his generosity and has since been his pillar of support as he continues to reach out to help more people join the IT world.

“She learned very quickly and has embraced my lifestyle, she has actually supported me for helping other people,” he said.

Mr Kaudo was part of the team spearheaded IBM’s first entrance in East Africa, eventually opening its first office in Nairobi, Kenya. He noted that the internet in East Africa was costly and a drawback to its advancement.

“If the internet is affordable, it makes a person like me to train them at any place,” he said.

He has a new training programme that starts this August with signed up East African students from Tanzania, Kenya to Goma in Congo” he said.

Mr Kaudo has even trained the Tanzanian Government’s employees of the Tanzania Forest Services (TFS) Agency.

He believes the future of Information Technology is in Africa, a continent boasting of a huge young population who are tech savvy, have good English, and a lot of potential. The jobs in IT wouldn’t even require you to leave the confines of your home and the pay is more than $100,000 per year.

He has always urged his students in the US to invest back home in Africa, to buy property in Tanzania, he has even helped them get credible property agents in Tanzania who will help them buy land and houses.

Mr Kaudo says the Diaspora awards are important because they highlight the recognition of those who have participated in helping share their knowledge and experience to empower their fellow Tanzanians, at home and abroad.

For Mr Kaudo who turned his home into a classroom, bought computers, and even cooked for his students, the awards are a form of appreciation for the extraordinary work he has done for his fellow East Africans, he went above and beyond to make sure his inclusion of Tanzanians in the tech corporates and the ripple effect will be felt for years to come, for those he helps will help others as well, each one teaches one.

Mr Kaudo could have easily lived his life in America and enjoyed the opulence that comes with it, but he learned from his parents the gift of giving, and the duty to extend a helping hand, it is something that he was born with.

He grew up in a family where his parents were paying school fees for less fortunate children in their neighbourhood, an act he is emulating, by paying school fees for more than 12 children.

As he continues to impact Tanzanians in the diaspora, he cautions Tanzanians going to the US to be keen on who they associate with.

“You have to be with people who can help you achieve your dreams and goals,” he said.

Mr Kaudo says he is willing to expand his training much further in Tanzania, and is ready to collaborate with any organisation so that he can reach more young people across the country.

“I’m not training people to only work in Tanzania, but also to work for companies that are in the US and Europe,” he said.

That concept is not new, many Indian companies work for US organizations while they are stationed in India and Mr Kaudo believes with an increasing population of young Tanzanians being tech savvy, the possibility of Tanzanian-stationed companies working with American corporations is feasible.

“All it takes is a few smart people to train others, and that knowledge transfer is all that we need,” he added.

“My training is just for three months, which is equivalent to five years of work experience,” he said.

Mr Kaudo is a nominee in the upcoming Diaspora awards under the giving back category, the awards will be held in Austin, Texas, on Sept 26-29, 2024.