Friday, June 5th 2020
Ishola has been offered a £10,000 coding bursary, as part of Babbasa’s #BeyondCOVID appeal.
Babbasa’s urgent appeal is supporting young people from underrepresented backgrounds to continue to pursue their dream careers throughout and beyond lockdown.
The bursary was generously provided by TechTalent Academy, who delivered a coding workshop to young people at Babbasa. After being impressed by a game that Ishola created using what he’d learned in the workshop, the team offered him a free place on their Full Stack coding course.
Ishola thanked the “supportive and dedicated” team at Babbasa for the support they have given him in pursuing his professional ambitions.
He said: “I want to make a change. I want to make a difference, and one thing I realised is that I can use apps, and software to achieve these goals, but I need the right knowledge to do it. Until now, I’ve always had obstacles, whether financial or because learning coding alone seemed really difficult.
“I took part in an online workshop in coding that Babbasa organised with TechTalent Academy and the very talented Sue Webster…The way coding was broken down by Sue made it seem simple, and so I entered their competition for a place in their academy worth around ten grand, using my attempt at a game.
“I was fortunate enough to be selected, and here I am, hopefully, one step closer to changing the world. Babbasa can only continue to do these great things with the help of yourself as well.”
What is the #BeyondCOVID appeal?
Young people from underrepresented backgrounds have been disproportionately affected by coronavirus, both in terms of rate of infection, and economically.
Babbasa has been offering 1-1 support, career guidance, training, and mentoring to young people throughout lockdown, to prevent the equality gap from widening further in Bristol’s inner-city.
The #BeyondCOVID appeal has a £60,000 target, which if raised, will give their team the capacity to provide flexible support to young people affected by the pandemic for the rest of 2020.
If you would like to support the appeal, you can do so here.