Mustapha Khaled
Egypt
At age 17, Mustapha Khaled delves straight into the working world to pursue his passions. Instead of waiting for opportunities to knock on his door, he rushes to meet them head on.
He talks about the details of his application called “Educup” which he started two years ago when he was just 15 years old.
He says: “The world at times makes us feel that we are a generation that only cares about entertainment, that we are indifferent, and we cannot gain the trust of others. But coding has changed the equation completely and made us believe in our dreams. The One Million Arab Coders initiative is here to prove for all that we must believe in ourselves”.
Mustapha, who has been passionate about the world of technology and coding since a young age, says conflict can arise between his generation and his parents’ generation because they are so different.
“Leave that, take care of your studies or I’ll take your phone!” A sentence often repeated by Arab mothers.
Mustapha says his generation is a curious one – asking a lot of questions, which the older generation sees as rebellious.
Mustapha wants to change how people think and do things.
On the day he discovered the One Million Arab Coders initiative nearly two years ago, Mustapha almost broke the record in the number of courses in which he obtained certificates.
He discovered a world of people who listen to him and who are willing to meet him and his interests with equal enthusiasm.
For older generations, use of gamification in learning may seem insane. Mustapha says gamification is a sure way, if not the only way to communicate with the youth of his generation.
His first application, downloadable on any major app store, is based on interaction where Mustapha summarizes the school curricula and allows any student to add questions or create challenges that contribute to understanding lessons.
In honour of One Million Arab Coders, which has opened up many doors for him, Mustapha recently launched a special program for students in public schools to learn coding. “Every person in our generation should learn basic coding. This vow I have made!”
