Learn the ABCs of Coding and New Emerging Technologies with Codeaku

Codeaku is different than any other Egyptian school that you have heard of, it's a coding school. It is the first Egyptian startup specialized in delivering emerging tech concepts and uses such as Blockchain and Machine Learning. In the following Q&A, Hassan Ali, CodeAku’s Founder and CEO, revealed Codeaku’s ultimate goal and the team’s effort to reach it.

In a nutshell, What is Codeaku? 

Simply, a coding school. We believe in the power of coding and this is why we have built our programs to serve non-techies before techies. We aim at empowering all skilled Egyptian youth not just to land a decent or high paying job but to build a better country and a better economy, cause only through technology can we do that. 

“I believe that Blockchain is as big as the Internet itself, and I want Egypt to have a decent share of that huge potential.”

The idea came to my mind while I was watching Google I/O Keynote three months ago, I was interested in coding and decided to start my learning path and here in Egypt. I was amazed by the research outcomes; there wasn’t any offline coding school in Egypt that tackles emerging techs coding. My other option was online courses, but it didn’t work this time especially that I had zero tech background then.

That's when I decided I was going to build the first Blockchain school in Egypt, and I resigned from my full-time job and started studying. I talked to my best friend and now co-founder and Head of People and Training Operations, Tamer Samy. He has long experience in the training area, and I wanted to start it together.

We then started signing up for boot camps and events about entrepreneurship because we knew nothing and no one then. I then got to close another team member which is my CTO at a business boot camp that I was attending, and then took it from there.

We also have Loay Amin, he is a Deep Learning Researcher and he’s responsible for our Machine Learning courses, from researching, and designing the curriculum to the delivery.

What is Codeaku’s biggest achievement so far? 

We got accepted at Y Combinator Startup School among a few others out of the 15,000 startups who originally applied. We also signed a contract with Government Blockchain Association and started a Local Chapter in Cairo and I became its president. 

Last but not least, raising awareness about emerging techs like Blockchain and Machine Learning, we’ve partnered with Wuzzuf and IBM Egypt, additionally we delivered a series of meetups for free as they focused on non-techies to measure the market needs.

Yesterday, we held our second blockchain meetup for Banque Misr IT division staff. It was our first technical meetup and mainly designed to orient the attendees on how to adopt implement, deploy and use blockchain solutions for banking.

What are your future plans?

We will hold our third blockchain meetup at the American University in Cairo for AUC Alumni later this month. Furthermore, we will launch the first Blockchain Club in Egypt, more details will be released very soon.

Lastly, share your success factors with aspiring entrepreneurs

Although discipline and motivation are two ways to keep you going, I prefer discipline as it will help you focus on your goals and break them down into short-term achievable.

Stay updated to the entrepreneurship scene in Cairo. I also recommend reading “The Lean Startup” by Eric Ries and watching “How to Build a Startup” by Steve Blank.