Nairobi, April 24 -- When Angel Gabriella followed her mother into the kitchen one evening about five years ago, she expected nothing more than to watch dinner being prepared, maybe help with the tomatoes. What she got instead was a conversation that changed the direction of her life.

"I basically got the coding idea from my mum, and when I started building projects, I found out that it was very stressful, but at the same time, it was also fun."

From kitchen talk to code

She was nine years old at the time, a Manchester United fan who had picked up the habit from her older brother. With no teacher to guide her, Angel started from scratch on her mother's work computer, switching to her brother's laptop when she could. Her first project w...