Nelly hit the most pronounced highlight of her life journey last year when she was named the CNN Hero of the Year, an award that recognises individuals who have stamped impactful marks in society.
The feat was part of the recognition of the sacrifice that she made when she quit a lucrative engineering job in Chicago, US to create computer labs for Kenyan school children.
The award saw her bag $100,000 (Sh1.2 million) to expand her impactful work, on top of additional grants, organisational training, and support from the Elevate Prize Foundation through a collaboration with CNN Heroes.
But that was not the first of her fortunes.
"“I believe everyone is resourceful and has the power within them to do whatever they desire, they just need to be motivated. Whatever skill you have, whatever dreams you have, you can accomplish it if you obsess about it long enough and work for it." "
The 30-year-old founder and CEO of TechLit Africa, an organisation that re-uses donated computers to teach digital skills in rural primary schools, bagged her first major treasure when she scored an A in her KCSE from Maryhill Girls, a feat that saw her secure a scholarship to study Computer Science and Applied Mathematics at Augustana College in Illinois, the US, graduating in 2016.
Using savings that she made while doing various side jobs at the campus, Nelly established a school in Kenya and named it Zawadi. It is from here that the TechLit idea was born.
To date, the firm has built 10 computer labs in rural Kenya, serving over 4,000 students and engaging 20 teachers.
Nelly aims to reach 40,000 students in 100 schools.
But what makes her tick?
“I believe everyone is resourceful and has the power within them to do whatever they desire, they just need to be motivated. Whatever skill you have, whatever dreams you have, you can accomplish it if you obsess about it long enough and work for it,” she says.
Kabui Mwangi
