- Isaya Yunge’s journey begins in poverty in Tanzania before technology opens doors to new opportunities.
- His passion for innovation takes him from humble beginnings to entrepreneurship and eventually across the border to Kenya.
- His relationship with Charlene Ruto now marks another remarkable chapter in a story of hardship, ambition and love.
Isaya Yunge’s story does not begin in boardrooms or embassies. It begins in a small mud-walled house in northern Tanzania, where he grew up watching his mother sell vegetables by the roadside to feed him and his two siblings.
Isaya’s parents never married. His father worked as a casual labourer on farms and was rarely home. “We shared one plate sometimes,” he would later tell friends. “But my mother told me, ‘Education is the only door that cannot be locked.’” Those words became the foundation of his life.
He attended Mwandeni Primary School in his village. The school had no electricity, and desks were shared by three pupils. Every morning at 5am, Isaya walked six kilometres barefoot, carrying books wrapped in a polythene bag to protect them from rain.
Teachers remember him as a quiet boy, but one who asked too many questions. He loved mathematics and would stay back after class to sweep the compound in exchange for extra time using the teacher’s old solar radio. It was on that radio that he first heard words like “computer” and “internet” — words that sounded like another world to him.
From hardship to technology
In secondary school, he joined Arusha Day Secondary School on a county bursary. Fees were still a struggle. On weekends, he sold second-hand clothes and repaired phones for neighbours just to buy exercise books.
The turning point came in Form Three when he met Madam Grace Lema, a computer studies lecturer who volunteered at the school’s computer club every Saturday. She found him fixing a broken desktop with a screwdriver and tape.
She asked him what he wanted to build. He told her, “I want to build something that helps people like my mother sell faster without being cheated.”
From that day, Madam Lema became his mentor. She taught him coding basics, gave him free data bundles and helped him buy a second-hand laptop. Isaya spent nights at an internet café in Arusha town, teaching himself how to design websites and mobile apps.
While in Form Four in 2019, Isaya entered a regional innovation competition with an idea he called “Soko Moja.” It was a simple USSD and mobile app platform that connected small-scale farmers and traders directly, cutting out brokers. The idea was born from watching his mother struggle to get fair prices for her vegetables.
He did not win the top prize, but his prototype caught the attention of a tech foundation. He was awarded a full scholarship to study Software Engineering at a university in Nairobi.
On scholarship, he refined Soko Moja. By his second year, more than 3,000 traders in Arusha and Nairobi were using it. The app earned him small grants, which he used to pay school fees for his younger siblings back home.
Meeting Charlene Ruto
Isaya met Charlene Ruto in 2022 at a youth digital summit in Nairobi. She was speaking on youth empowerment. He was on a panel demonstrating Soko Moja. They connected over a shared passion for using technology to uplift rural communities.
What started as a professional conversation grew into friendship and later into love. On Saturday, the two were united in a traditional ceremony at President Ruto’s Ntona rural home in Kilgoris — a union that brought together Kenya and Tanzania.
Today, Isaya says the lessons from his mother and Madam Lema still guide him: work hard, stay humble and build things that serve people.
READ ALSO: Politics takes a back seat as culture takes centre stage at President Ruto’s daughter’s engagement
From walking barefoot to primary school, to founding a digital app on scholarship, to now joining one of Kenya’s most prominent families — Isaya Yunge’s journey is one of poverty waded through with chalk, code and courage.
By Enock Okongó
You can also follow our social media pages on Twitter: Education News KE and Facebook: Education News Newspaper for timely updates.
>>> Click here to stay up-to-date with trending regional stories
>>> Click here to read more informed opinions on the country’s education landscape
