A Little Background

Columbus Tek (as we know it now) was born on July 18th 2007. But let's go back a bit further to the history behind it, to the events leading up to the opening.

The students were there from before since my partner, who is from Senegal, had been teaching for several years prior. He was offering private classes at his home and at students' homes. He would take his white board around and sometimes two or three of the students would meet at one house for an hour or two. They were mostly Senegalese and he speaks both native languages, Fulani and Pular, plus he's fluent in French and Arabic too so teaching English to West Africans comes naturally to him (and they are receptive to him and are not intimidated by him - which is the key). He was doing this for several years starting in the late '90s after migrating to the US from Dakar.

Meanwhile I was entering the IT field and deeply engrossed in undergraduate studies and certification, but I had several opportunities at work and in my personal life to train and mentor others in computer related classes. I gradually developed an interest in teaching and basic computer instruction.