About Us

What began in 2006 as a personal commitment to hands-on engineering education in Ethiopia has evolved over two decades into STEMpower—a continental movement delivering permanent, self-sustaining educational infrastructure across Sub-Saharan Africa.

Built on twenty years of real-world testing, iteration, and direct execution, STEMpower constructs, equips, and transfers ownership of hands-on, lab-based STEM engineering centers.

We believe true innovation happens when students work directly with actual physical lab equipment—not just textbooks or software simulations.

What Makes STEMpower Unique:

▪️︎Direct Physical Hardware & Installation: We acquire, import, and set up top-tier physical lab equipment—from robotics and electronics to 3D printing and computing workstations—ensuring each facility is fully operational from day one.

▪️︎Train-the-Trainer Execution: We train local university professors, technical staff, and center coordinators on how to teach, maintain, and expand the hands-on curriculum.

▪️︎Seamless Hand-Off via MOU: Through formal Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) with host universities and local authorities, day-to-day operations are handed off to local leaders, creating permanent, self-sustaining community assets that require no long-term external management.

▪️︎An Interconnected Continental Network: Our 164 opened STEM centers do not operate in isolation. They form a collaborative family of host sites that share best practices, foster peace, and spur regional development.

▪️︎Anchors for Real Innovation: Beyond routine lab work, our host-operated centers serve as incubators for national Science & Engineering Fairs, FabLabs, Entrepreneurship training, and local problem-solving.

Refined through two decades of hands-on experience, direct hardware delivery, and empowering local host institutions to independently run their own centers for the long haul.

Written Sept 2026, as STEMpower apparently became the first nonprofit ever to directly establish permanent infrastructure (in our case, hands-on STEM Centers,) in every reachable country of subSaharan Africa, even the small island countries.)

Our Mission

Solve Societal Problems

Hands-on lab-based STEM education emphasizes real-world problem-solving, creativity, and skill-building empowering youth to engineer their homeland away from stubborn poverty.

Strengthen Nations

Engineering skills complete a country's production value chain, which leads to more exports, fewer imports, and reduced dependency.

Implement Empowerment

Pre-university STEM enrichment enhances education, competency, innovation, and careers on a national scale that "lifts all boats".

Eliminate "Application Bias"

Bring historically-denied access of first-hand STEM lab equipment (not merely books or simulations) to many hundreds of thousands of curious students across sub-Saharan Africa.

Board Members