The spotlight is on Karim Nyumba, Student, University of Dar es Salaam, United Republic of Tanzania.

Perched atop the scenic Observation Hill in Dar es Salaam, the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) is Tanzania’s oldest and largest public university. It is home to a vibrant community of over 40,150 students, including 5,000 postgraduates and more than 1,000 international students from 42 countries.

Since its establishment in 1961, UDSM has served as a beacon of academic excellence and cultural diversity, shaping leaders and innovators across Africa and beyond. Its mission is to drive the economic, social, and technological development of the United Republic of Tanzania and the wider world through outstanding teaching, research, and knowledge.

The College of Information and Communication Technologies (CoICT) stands out for its unique integration of academic excellence with innovation through problem-based learning, and its pivotal role in virtual learning support across the University of Dar es Salaam. The college has two academic departments: Computer Science and Engineering (CSE), and Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering (ETE), which, apart from their academic relevance, provide innovative ICT solutions, support tech-based startups, enhance digital skills, and offer expertise in telecommunications and system development.

CSE student Karim Nyumba, currently in his fourth year, is leader of the CoICT incubator unit known as UDICTI, whose objective is to nurture UDSM students who wish to establish their own ICT-related businesses. He champions the use of Oracle APEX and Oracle Cloud in the many innovative projects gestating under UDICTI’s task force.

Oracle Academy: Can you tell us how the University of Dar es Salaam become involved with Oracle Academy?

Karim Nyumba: Our first encounter, for students and teachers alike, was at the Oracle Academy Cloud Day in April 2024, an event co-hosted by UDSM, UDICTI, and various tech companies. It was an inspiring day full of presentations, workshops, and hands-on sessions delivered by Oracle experts. I attended the workshop Building Scalable Applications with Oracle APEX. This was an eye-opener into the rapid development of scalable applications, using Oracle APEX running on an Oracle Cloud tenancy.

Immediately after the Cloud Day, the university became an Oracle Academy member, and six lecturers were trained in the resources, principally Java Programming, Oracle APEX and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI). These instructors teach classes in Software Engineering, Electronics and Telecommunications, Database Management, and Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Oracle Academy: And how are these new courses impacting you as a student?

Karim Nyumba: They have become powerful tools in my third-year studies. Oracle APEX and the Oracle Academy Cloud Program go way beyond the basic curriculum and have deepened my understanding of database systems and their impact on software engineering and AI, which I am also pursuing. I now have a stronger foundation in the creation of real-world applications running in the cloud. I am currently applying what I have learned to my final year project.

Oracle Academy: Great. And what is your final year project?

Karim Nyumba: The project is a tool that I have named “Automated Network Vulnerability Assessment and Reporting Tool for Small to Medium Enterprises.” In the United Republic of Tanzania, SMEs don’t always have the cash or availability to conduct their own vulnerability assessments. My goal is to create a centralized tool, a cost-sharing platform that small companies can access to analyze and assess the vulnerabilities of their systems.

It is a database-driven app built with Oracle APEX, utilizing OCI for managing computing instances and for hosting backend services such as block storage. The tool requires strong security in self-service user provisioning and to that end I am getting up to speed on OCI’s identity and access management (IAM).

This project is in line with the type of initiatives we have created in UDICTI, the Innovation Hub in which I play a lead role, facilitating multiple student-led programs.

Oracle Academy: How does the Innovation Hub work?

Karim Nyumba: UDICTI, which stands for University of Dar Es Salaam ICT Innovation hub, provides training on innovation and entrepreneurship, along with technical skills development. We believe in the transformative power that technology holds in shaping our communities for the better. Our website motto reads: You have crazy Idea? Act now!

Students come with an idea or brainwave, and we try to mold it into something commercially viable. Among the initiatives are the Startup 101 and Upskilling programs. We also host SmartGirlz, which is about helping secondary school girl students to build ICT skills; and there are other projects that address social challenges.

Oracle APEX and OCI are helping us to kickstart new initiatives and move maturing prototypes toward commercial realization. We are doing quite well because Oracle Academy won a Digital Award for providing the tools with which we in UDICTI are spearheading start-ups, upskilling and social advancement projects. I am proud to have been the one selected to receive the award on behalf of Oracle Academy.

Oracle Academy: Good for you! Can you expand a little on some of the UDICTI projects?

Karim Nyumba: Upskilling is about taking newbies and teaching them various technologies that can be used in industry, progressing from beginner to higher-level tech skills. Oracle APEX and OCI are core tools for rapid application development and cloud infrastructure, storage, and database management. We start with a basic APEX workshop to show how a spreadsheet can become an app very quickly, creating a simple student management system.

I am not a lecturer, but I have learned enough to coach in these tools and know from experience that they stick. It’s my observation that if you tap into the enthusiasm of a student during his or her training period, then they become firmly attached to what they learn.

Oracle Academy: And Startup 101?

Karim Nyumba: The Startup 101 program is focused on guiding students through the fundamentals of building and launching startups, turning concepts into projects that can fly. Oracle Cloud has been invaluable here, providing a scalable and secure infrastructure that allows students to develop and test their ideas with cloud resources — similar to application development cycles in private industry.

I have been a prime mover in one such project, named KilimoKipya — an AI-driven innovation that helps farmers and banks to make informed decisions. It cuts through guesswork in predicting crop yields and provides scientific collateral for approving bank loans. The system operates by utilizing satellite imagery refreshed every six weeks, combined with spectral analysis, to provide detailed insights into soil conditions and crop health. Spectral analysis allows the system to measure specific wavelengths of light emitted or reflected by the soil and crops, identifying key attributes such as soil nutrient and moisture content. This technology eliminates the need for physical ground sensors, enabling large-scale, cost-effective monitoring.

For each piece of farmland, the system generates tailored recommendations, including a ranked list of crops based on potential yield, optimal seed varieties, appropriate fertilizers, expected yield quantities, and projected revenue based on real-time market prices. This data is further augmented by real-time weather forecasts and crop price trends, ensuring farmers are equipped with actionable intelligence.

All backend computations, model processing, and data storage are powered by Oracle Cloud.

In a nutshell, KilimoKipya connects farmers and banks to real-time intelligence governing planting, weather forecasts, crop yields, prices, market conditions, and other facts that should mitigate the financial exclusion that many small stakeholders face.

Oracle Academy: Sounds like something you could sell to the World Bank!

Karim Nyumba: Well, you know, we entered KilimoKipya into the Huawei Tech4Good competition, and it won a prize in the category Sub-Sahara Seeds for the Future. Some of us were invited to Shenzen in China for a leveling-up in Huawei technologies. Tech4Good aims to raise awareness of challenges to local sustainable development, and how to use ICT skills in solutions that are both technically and commercially viable.

Oracle Academy: Congratulations! Tell us, what is involved in being a student lead?

Karim Nyumba: It’s a role involving continuous supervision and mentoring of initiatives. It means being a pioneer, acting as a role model, moving things forward. To become a student leader, you must pass through a year-long program to prove that you are capable of being an example to other students; that you are capable of sourcing partnerships and sponsorships, bringing to students the resources that will help them further their careers. It involves promoting UDICTI projects to industry, mentoring the participants, and encouraging them to excel in their studies.

Thanks to Oracle Academy, I coach on database design, Oracle APEX and also Oracle Cloud, all of which play a crucial role in each UDICTI project. I also help to organize monthly hackathons, in which participants show how rapidly one can spin up prototype apps. The hackathons are not limited to UDSM but also are open to students from other universities. In September we welcomed students from all over the United Republic of Tanzania to a session focused on the power of open-source tools, taking the opportunity to introduce APEX to them.

Oracle Academy: A lot going on at UDICTI... do you also get into the area of certification?

Karim Nyumba: Absolutely. To be more effective in my role of student lead, this year I followed the Get Started with Oracle Cloud Infrastructure tutorial, a two-hour course that has expanded my understanding of cloud fundamentals, infrastructure services, and security principles. Currently, I am preparing for the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Architect Associate certification exam, a 22-hour training course. How can I help others if I’m not skilled up myself? I am also aware that sometimes the cost of obtaining professional certification can be high. But to my mind, if you show the advantages of industry-recognized qualifications, then getting a sponsor to support you should not be a hard task. Oracle certifications make me stand out in the job market.

Oracle Academy: Excellent. What about workplace training?

Karim Nyumba: Workplace training is a requisite at UDSM. As a third-year requirement, I recently completed a training program at an Egyptian energy company. In that eight-week induction I gained first-hand experience with Oracle e-Business Suite. This exposure gave me valuable insights into how large enterprises use Oracle tools to manage complex workflows and operations. It also showed me how database management and cloud infrastructure are essential backbones to ERP systems and their critical role in business. That certainly broadened my perception of what Oracle skills can lead to.

Oracle Academy: Lastly, do you get any time to do fun stuff outside of the university?

Karim Nyumba: It’s true that my studies and UDICTI take up a lot of time and energy. But what I like to do is swimming. Not in the sea, very close to Dar es Salaam, but in swimming pools where I can reach out, burn up energy, and relax. Travelling to different places is also a great pleasure. My recent trip to China was a fantastic experience. In addition, I enjoy being involved in community projects and voluntary work. Last weekend, I joined a group of young people trying to protect the planet in simple ways. We pick up plastic trash strewn over the roads and fields, take it for recycling. Simple, but, alas, so necessary.

Thank you, Karim Nyumba, for your passion for technology and Oracle Academy.