Betelhem Dessie is an Ethiopian web and mobile technology developer. She is currently Founder and CEO of iCog- Anyone Can Code (ACC) in collaboration with iCog Labs an Ethiopian research and development company that focuses on Artificial Intelligence. It trains children aged six to thirteen on topics ranging from robotics and AI up to programming. She owns four patented projects individually and an additional three in collaboration. She also works with Solve IT working with more than eighty young people to find solutions to society’s problems using technology. Not surprisingly, Betelhem was named “the youngest pioneer in Ethiopia’s fast emerging tech scene” by CNN.
Betelhem was born and raised in Harar and her career started at the early age of just nine. She notes that her father was one of the biggest supporters of her IT ambition. Betelhem was able to first become familiar with computers by using her father’s computer at his electronic shop.
In her interview with the Ethiopian digital news platform Addis Insight, Betelhem tells a story of how she asked her father for money to celebrate her 9th birthday. Her father replied that he did not have the money because he was busy with work. In response, Betelhem decided to work in his electronic shop and earn the money herself. She made 1600 Ethiopian birr by sending customers audio and video files. After this incident, her interest in computers gained momentum. She improved her skills in video-editing, computer maintenance, and installing cellphone software. By the age of just ten, Betelhem had started coding in HTML by herself. Alongside her regular school work, she taught basic computer skills to her classmates from school.
Betelhem Dessie received government recognition for her work in her community at an early age. Consequently, she was interviewed by multiple local and national media platforms. After moving from Harar to Addis Ababa with her parents, Betelhem was employed as a developer for the government at the age of twelve by the Ethiopian Information Network Security Agency (INSA) from 2011 to 2012. She has also trained forty girls from Girls Can Code, a United States Embassy project.
DigiTruck is the latest project she is involved in which aims to improve the opportunities for people in vulnerable and remote communities, Close the Gap developed the Digitruck: a used shipping container that is refurbished into a state-of-the-art digital classroom with connectivity that is completely self sustainable and can reach remote locations to provide access to ICT and the digital world. The income of people who live in rural communities’ increases when they have access to IT, and therefore they gain access to enormous amounts of knowledge and information.
For more technical details, Twitter @digiTruck Ethiopia
