[Tech] Meet Hackerfemo Femi Owolade-Coombs – A White Kid With Nigerian Name That Codes

Femi Owolade-Coombs—also known as Hackerfemo—has been coding since he was 9 years old. After learning to hack Minecraft using Python on a Raspberry Pi computer, he decided to set up South London Raspberry Jam to share his passion for coding with other young people. Owolade-Coombes has since run hundreds of coding and robot workshops throughout the world.

His community events have are fully inclusive, welcoming young people who have autism or—like him—Tourettes Syndrome, while his business brings workshops to companies and public organizations. Owolade-Coombes was presented an inaugural Diana Award, where he was invited to St James’ Palace and presented with his award by the Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry.

Hackerfemo has been coding since he was nine years old. After learning to hack Minecraft using Python on the Raspberry Pi computer, he decided to set up South London Raspberry Jam – to share his passion for coding with other young people. Three years on, Femi has run hundreds of coding and robot workshops across the UK and internationally.

The community events he runs, with other volunteers, have been praised for being pioneering as they are fully inclusive and welcome young people who have autism or, like him, Tourettes Syndrome. In 2017, he won an Inaugural Legacy Diana Award for his kindness, compassion and duty to the community.

Femi has successfully set up his own business, hackerfemo.com, delivering workshops and inspirational talks to corporate companies and public organisations, whilst continuing his community work. He has been recognised as a ‘Change- enabler’ and an inspirational young coding ambassador.

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His present initiative is his most ambitious; with other young coders, he aims to develop an inclusive Young Coders community, running monthly youth-led coding MeetUps, partnering with Tech Industry professionals and overseeing an outreach programme to increase accessibility for under-represented groups. He has set up a crowd-fund campaign to raise £25,000 in order to have the maximum reach.