Free Tech Training for Disabled Talent: Inside LearnArk's Bootstrap

By Olivia Hart

A Nigerian product manager has trained more than 1,000 learners through LearnArk, a bootstrapped edtech platform whose Inclusion Academy now offers tuition-free tech instruction to deaf, blind and physically impaired Nigerians. Adedolapo Oguntayo-Williams pays for it herself — and says she cannot sustain that model alone.

"I have been bootstrapping the academy from inception," she told TechCabal. "There are real costs attached to providing learner support, upgrading accessibility tools, and expanding our intake."

The venture began with a specific failure. In 2024, Oguntayo-Williams arrived at a conference hosted by one of Lagos's leading commercial banks, pushing her daughter in a stroller. There was no accessible pathway. "If a leading financial institution could overlook something as fundamental as an accessible pathway, what would the situation be like in many other public spaces?" she said.

The incident prompted her to audit physical and digital accessibility wherever she went. Persons with disabilities were, more often than not, overlooked. Her conclusion was narrow and pragmatic: "I knew I could not solve Nigeria's wider accessibility challenges on my own, but I could contribute in an area I understood: education and technology."

What does the Inclusion Academy actually deliver?

Candidates register through a portal, specifying preferred tracks and accessibility requirements. The academy runs structured cohorts in product management, data analytics, cybersecurity and emerging technologies, with interview coaching and recruitment placement support. Mentors provide specialised support, while the organisation works to scale closed captioning and sign-language interpretation.

The commitment is zero tuition fees. That promise has a cost, and Oguntayo-Williams acknowledges it: she is open to strategic partnerships, institutional grants and technical resources to scale without dropping the free model.

She also concedes the metric that matters most remains unmeasured. "LearnArk has trained more than 1,000 learners, which is an important milestone, but I want us to deepen how we track outcomes: whether learners secure roles, apply their skills in the workplace, or advance within their respective disciplines," she said. Enrollment, in other words, is not yet employment data.

How did a pilot dream become cybersecurity compliance?

Oguntayo-Williams once wanted to fly planes. "I wanted to be the different one. I wanted to go into a field where there were not a lot of women," she said. Aviation college in Zaria was unaffordable; the University of Lagos offered her an alternative course after she applied for petroleum engineering. "Obviously, I wasn't having it," she said.

In 2012, at 16, she left Nigeria for Eastern Mediterranean University in Cyprus to study industrial engineering. In 2013 she won the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus State Scholarship, with a monthly stipend, added business administration as a second major and graduated top of her class in her department. In her second year she founded Deroy Consults, running entrepreneurship seminars for undergraduates.

After graduating in 2016, she worked as a paralegal secretary in Brooklyn, then returned to Nigeria in 2017, taking a marketing director role at ₦50,000 a month — roughly $140 at the 2017 exchange rate. She lasted nine months.

In 2018 she joined the children's fashion brand Ruff 'n' Tumble as executive assistant and later buyer, valued for the Turkish she learned washing dishes and waiting tables in Cypriot cafes. Founder Adenike Ogunlesi drilled discipline into her. "She would say, 'Your brain is not to jot down notes; your brain is to think.' That scared me," Oguntayo-Williams recalled.

In 2019 she moved to AXA Mansard as a business transformation analyst, replacing legacy manual workflows with automated digital systems. In August 2020 she joined ShortPoint, a global software company building corporate intranet tools, as associate product manager — working remotely from her mother's home in Abule Egba, Lagos. She was promoted to product manager within a year, moved into cybersecurity and compliance in 2023, and added human resources responsibilities in January 2026.

"I would never have thought that I could be in Lagos and be working for someone in another continent," she said.

Why the first version of LearnArk failed

The original LearnArk, conceived in Cyprus, was an online portal where accredited universities would deliver subsidised or tuition-free courses to African students. She held talks with Rutgers University; Eastern Mediterranean University agreed to supply curriculum content. She hired a software engineer and spent her personal savings building it.

"Eventually, I had to pause the project because I could not sustain it financially," she admits.

In 2023, on maternity leave, she re-evaluated. Years of informal mentoring showed the obstacle was not academic theory but the transition into formal employment — structured learning, mentorship and a path to a job. She pivoted accordingly.

After burnout, she now plans her week ahead, delegates and sets boundaries. "I no longer see being constantly busy as proof of impact," she said.

Over the next year she wants deeper industry partnerships, stronger learning pathways and a bigger Inclusion Academy intake. Whether the bootstrapped model survives that expansion — or forces her first outside funding decision — is the question she has not yet answered.