Onja’s AI resiliency taskforce identifies new career pathways for underprivileged youth

Onja, a social enterprise training underprivileged youth into world-class software developers, is expanding its technical training programme to include mental health support to ensure Artificial Intelligence (AI) resiliency. In recognition of the growing adoption and integration of AI across sectors, this move will allow Onja to continue connecting talent with opportunity for better development outcomes.

The advent and progress of AI mean that organisations have to prepare for a present and a future in which AI shapes how society functions. Onja still believes that software development education is valuable and remains committed to investing in our graduates’ continuous learning so that they can thrive in this new and fast-evolving context. In parallel to providing topical professional development opportunities, we are updating our software development course for incoming student cohorts to ensure AI fluency.

However, AI is having a rapid and sizable impact in the software development industry as tech leaders recognise its rapidly increasing abilities, slowing the job market. Software development is not the only pathway that can provide meaningful employment opportunities to underprivileged youth in parts of East Africa where cycles of disadvantage persist. As we scale to reach 360 students by 2030, Onja is currently building capacity to train a portion of these students in other professions.

In 2025, Onja formed an internal task force dedicated to researching career pathways that are highly resilient to AI disruption; suitable for training in-house, and well-rewarded. This taskforce identified mental health support as a promising pathway as it ranked high against these three key criteria. There are over a billion people with mental health conditions, many of whom cannot access the help they need. We know that our graduates can help meet this need very effectively.

“Onja has always been about upskilling underprivileged but immensely talented youth for great careers by meeting needs in developed economies” says Sam Lucas, CEO and Founder of Onja. "What the team has created here over the past decade is pretty mind-blowing, and we are super excited at the prospect of allowing dedicated Malagasy people to achieve their potential, while serving the growing number of individuals struggling to access mental health support.”

A big part of Onja’s training is centered around cultural awareness. In our current education programme, students already receive additional training to ensure their success and ease of working in Western environments. This is a real point of difference for Onja Developers and will be even more important for students we train as mental health workers.

We are confident that we can train skilled, compassionate and culturally competent mental health workers. Onja’s partner companies in Europe and the US often cite how seamlessly developers fit into their teams; are liked by their peers; and positively affect morale, all while bringing diverse thought and life experiences.

Our pool of Onja Developers –Wave 1 graduates– remains a sought-after source of tech talent and we are committed to continuing to meet this need. At the same time, we are testing the feasibility of this new career pathway in specific markets and have begun the search for experienced professionals. We look forward to expanding our reach into new sectors so others can embrace better, more equitable talent strategies to break down barriers to success.

About Onja:

Onja trains underprivileged youth into world-class software developers. Our organisation is unified by a common mission: give life-changing work through sustainable social enterprise.

We are recognised for our innovative model that finds exceptional talent where opportunity is scarce, invests in its development, and connects it directly to the global tech economy. Through an intensive two-and-a-half-year program, we co-create pathways to long-term social and economic stability that prioritise self-reliance.

We operate as one integrated organisation, where education, hiring, and partner collaboration work together to deliver high-performing tech talent with lasting social impact. Onja developers invest in their own futures and in their nation’s development, while ensuring Onja remains self-funding and scalable, paying forward opportunities to the next generation.

For further information:

Media enquiries:

Savannah Jenkins Communications Manager savannah.jenkins@onja.org

Partnership and hiring enquiries:

Ahmed Syed Enterprise Growth Manager ahmed.syed@onja.org