Promotion 2026

The faces of the first promotion.

Meet the learners of our very first promotion. From Bangui, they trained together and built Scolar, their first end-to-end product.

12 learners in the promotion

More than 100 candidates showed up for our very first promotion. But the room we set up with our partner held only 20 computers. So we made a hard call: cap the promotion at 20.

Two years later, these are the ones who went all the way. We started with what we had, and it was they who showed us how much is possible, even with minimal equipment and just a few sessions a month.

We are proud that they believed in themselves, and in what IKOUĒ could offer them.

  • IKOUĒ - Caleb Balego

    Caleb Balego

    Bangui

  • IKOUĒ - Demetrius Bangake

    Demetrius Bangake

    Bangui

  • IKOUĒ - Arnaud Bayalé

    Arnaud Bayalé

    Bangui

  • IKOUĒ - Dora Olyndira

    Dora Olyndira

    Bangui

  • IKOUĒ - Moriac Kpangam

    Moriac Kpangam

    Bangui

  • IKOUĒ - Hermann Mandaba

    Hermann Mandaba

    Bangui

  • IKOUĒ - Jerry Mbenda-Leca

    Jerry Mbenda-Leca

    Bangui

  • IKOUĒ - Eliel Mengue

    Eliel Mengue

    Bangui

  • IKOUĒ - Jeanne Ongtiga

    Jeanne Ongtiga

    Bangui

  • IKOUĒ - Yann Ouafete

    Yann Ouafete

    Bangui

  • IKOUĒ - Christ Redemona

    Christ Redemona

    Bangui

  • IKOUĒ - Alphonso Yadjindji

    Alphonso Yadjindji

    Bangui

The promotion's project

What the promotion built.

Every promotion designs and ships a real product, from the field to deployment. The first one gave rise to Scolar.
IKOUĒ - A school director using Scolar on her laptop
Promotion 2026

Scolar

School management platform

Scolar is a school management platform built for Central African schools. Designed, developed and deployed by the first promotion, it runs a school's day to day, from enrollment to report cards.

Launch: Rolling out in the first schools from October 2026.

Free for schools

Scolar is free for every school that wants to adopt it. The essentials to run a school stay free; advanced features are paid.

  • Students & enrollment: Complete records, guardians, enrollment and academic history in one place.

  • Teachers & assignments: Profiles, subjects taught, class assignments and hours tracking.

  • Grades & report cards: Grade entry, averages, rankings and ready-to-print report cards.

  • Timetables: Class and teacher schedules, week after week.

  • Classes, subjects & tracks: The school's entire academic structure, clearly organised.

  • Communication: Announcements and messages to families, a class or the whole school.

  • Backup & export: Export lists and report cards to PDF and Excel, end-of-year archiving.

  • Offline & secure: Works without reliable internet, with data encrypted on site.

Why a real product.

The first promotion leads the way; the ones that follow will walk in its steps. Our goal is simple: that they take pride in building something people actually use.

To get there, they went into the field and met the schools. They did the research, co-built the product, and they are the ones deploying it in schools and supporting each one day to day.

Skills

Far more than coding a product.

Building Scolar end to end, every learner gained not only technical skills, but the mindset and business sense of a professional.

Engineering & technical

  1. IKOUĒ - DevOps & infrastructure

    DevOps & infrastructure

    • Collaboration & version control. Working together on the same codebase with Git. Every learner now has a GitHub account and ships their work there.
    • Deployment & infrastructure. Ship continuously with Vercel, manage the domain and DNS through Cloudflare, and wire in cloud services like Resend.
    • Security & cryptography. The fundamentals of security and cryptography, with SSH keys.
  2. IKOUĒ - Backend development

    Backend development

    • Backend development. Building the API and business logic in Node.js, with an ORM for the database.
    • Software architecture. Structuring code with hexagonal architecture, for testable, long-lasting applications.
  3. IKOUĒ - Frontend development

    Frontend development

    • Frontend development. Building modern, reactive interfaces with React.
  4. IKOUĒ - Craft & tooling

    Craft & tooling

    • Foundational principles. Writing clean, durable code with the YAGNI, KISS and DRY principles.
    • AI-assisted development. Coding with AI and the Cursor editor to move faster, without losing control.

Mindset & business

  1. IKOUĒ - Product

    Product

    • Minimum valuable product. The 'V' is for Valuable: ship what truly delivers value first, then iterate.
    • Product-market fit. Understanding when a product truly meets its market.
  2. IKOUĒ - Business & revenue

    Business & revenue

    • Freelance, solo or team. How independent work works, and choosing between building solo or growing a team.
    • Revenue models. The different ways a product can generate revenue.
    • Invoicing clients. Quoting, invoicing a client and tracking payments.
  3. IKOUĒ - Professional posture

    Professional posture

    • English certification. Every learner earns an English certification before the end of the year.
    • Professional ethics. The standards, rigour and integrity of a true professional.
The next promotion

Join the next promotion.

The next promotion starts in October 2026. Join the waitlist to be notified as soon as applications open.

Join the next promotion
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