Denver Chikokonya

BSc/MS Computer Science

Zimbabwe

Phase

II

Cohort

8

A changemaker is a servant leader who is committed to solving a social problem. Changemakers make personal decisions to use their passion for positive change. To be a changemaker, one must be willing to be part of the solution, making sacrifices and taking action to solve people’s problems.

Denver Chikokonya is a Mastercard Foundation Scholar and technology enthusiast pursuing a Bachelor’s in computer engineering and a Master’s degree at Arizona State University through the International Accelerated Degree Program (IADP). Upon graduation from ASU, he plans to transform the technology level in the African classrooms by facilitating access to modern learning equipment such as laptops, projectors, kindles and simulation software. Denver aspires to build an electronics firm that produces low-cost education-related tech devices. Denver believes in collective action for development, and aims to use his firm to set up a tech hub for other young technology enthusiasts who care about education to converge and collaborate on innovative solutions to modernize African classes. He has interned at Liquid telecoms(Zimbabwe), Open Foundation West Africa(Ghana) and volunteered to teach computers at Kakora High school(Zimbabwe) Denver is also an environmental activist who values environmental conservation and sustainability. His care for the environment motivated him to co-found African Transformers, an initiative that encourages the youth to practice plastic waste recycling through basic recycling training, high school workshops, and awareness campaigns. Using a Systems thinking approach to understand the complex plastic pollution problem in Accra, Ghana, Denver reached the global Map the System final 6 competition.