{"id":87771,"date":"2026-03-03T08:37:39","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T08:37:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cloudfest.com\/americas\/?page_id=87771"},"modified":"2026-08-24T13:53:01","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T13:53:01","slug":"groundbreaker","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/cloudfest.com\/americas\/groundbreaker\/","title":{"rendered":"Groundbreaker"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n \n \n \n \n \n <\/g>\n \n \n \n <\/clipPath>\n <\/defs>\n <\/svg>\n <\/div>\n
<\/div>\n <\/div>\n
\n\n
\n
\n
\n

Building the Next Generation of African Tech Talent<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Talent is universal. Opportunity is not. Until now<\/mark>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>
\"\"<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n
\n
\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

CloudFest Americas is proud to support Groundbreaker Talents, a nonprofit training young African women to become Software and AI Engineers, so they can build sustainable careers, gain financial independence and help shape Africa’s digital future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

93% graduate. 98% find a tech job within three months. On average, their income grows 22\u00d7 with their first job.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Groundbreaker believes technology can only benefit everyone when it is built by everyone. Yet only 3% of the world’s AI talent comes from Africa \u2014 not because talent is missing, but because access to education, technology and professional networks remains deeply unequal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the Groundbreaker Campus in Uganda, the organization removes these barriers through a fully funded residential program that provides technical training, accommodation, meals, laptops, reliable internet, mentorship and career support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meet a Talent<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

One story from the 153 women who have participated since 2023: Nakato Lilian Bagalya, Cohort 4<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>
\n

\u201cI now work as a Software Developer at a US-based company. I can support myself, help my family, and I\u2019ve started a small perfume business alongside my job \u2013 something I\u2019d always dreamed of.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lilian’s story shows how access to a career in tech can create financial independence and generate opportunities that extend far beyond the individual.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

See Groundbreaker in Action<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Meet the Talents and discover life at the Groundbreaker Campus in Uganda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
watch the film<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How You Can Support<\/strong><\/strong><\/h5>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>
\n

Help Train 100 Talents in 2027<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Groundbreaker aims to start its biggest cohort of talented women in January 2027.

Your donation helps fund the training, accommodation, equipment, mentorship and career support each Talent needs to build a sustainable career in tech.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

100% of your donation goes directly to the residential training program.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
SUPPORT THE 2027 COHORT<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n

BECOME A MENTOR<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Join Groundbreaker’s global community of mentors. Many members of the CloudFest community have already taken part.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through 1:1 virtual sessions, mentors share their expertise and expand a Talent’s professional network. Mentoring takes place in English for approximately one hour per week over eight months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
BECOME A MENTOR<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Impact in Numbers<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

153<\/mark><\/strong> Women have participated since 2023<\/p>\n\n\n\n

93%<\/strong> <\/mark>Program graduation rate<\/p>\n\n\n\n

98%<\/mark><\/strong> Secure employment within three months<\/p>\n\n\n\n

22\u00d7<\/mark><\/strong> Average income increase with their first job<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CloudFest Americas is proud to support Groundbreaker Talents, a nonprofit training young African women to become Software and AI Engineers, so they can build sustainable careers, gain financial independence and help shape Africa’s digital future. 93% graduate. 98% find a tech job within three months. On average, their income grows 22\u00d7 with their first job. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":87773,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"content-type":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-87771","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nGroundbreaker - CloudFest Americas<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Discover the who attends CloudFest Americas and get in the room with the leaders, builders, and deal-makers driving the future of cloud, hosting, and web infrastructure.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cloudfest.com\/americas\/groundbreaker\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Groundbreaker - CloudFest Americas\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Discover the who attends CloudFest Americas and get in the room with the leaders, builders, and deal-makers driving the future of cloud, hosting, and web infrastructure.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cloudfest.com\/americas\/groundbreaker\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"CloudFest Americas\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-24T13:53:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cloudfest.com\/americas\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Social-Background-image-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1256\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cloudfest.com\\\/americas\\\/groundbreaker\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cloudfest.com\\\/americas\\\/groundbreaker\\\/\",\"name\":\"Groundbreaker - CloudFest Americas\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cloudfest.com\\\/americas\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cloudfest.com\\\/americas\\\/groundbreaker\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cloudfest.com\\\/americas\\\/groundbreaker\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cloudfest.com\\\/americas\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/Graduation_Groundbreaker.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-03T08:37:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-08-24T13:53:01+00:00\",\"description\":\"Discover the who attends CloudFest Americas and get in the room with the leaders, builders, and deal-makers driving the future of cloud, hosting, and web infrastructure.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cloudfest.com\\\/americas\\\/groundbreaker\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cloudfest.com\\\/americas\\\/groundbreaker\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cloudfest.com\\\/americas\\\/groundbreaker\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cloudfest.com\\\/americas\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/Graduation_Groundbreaker.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cloudfest.com\\\/americas\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/Graduation_Groundbreaker.jpg\",\"width\":2048,\"height\":1365},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cloudfest.com\\\/americas\\\/groundbreaker\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cloudfest.com\\\/americas\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Groundbreaker\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cloudfest.com\\\/americas\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cloudfest.com\\\/americas\\\/\",\"name\":\"Cloudfest USA\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cloudfest.com\\\/americas\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cloudfest.com\\\/americas\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cloudfest.com\\\/americas\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"CloudFest USA\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cloudfest.com\\\/americas\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cloudfest.com\\\/americas\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cloudfest.com\\\/americas\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/cf-americas-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cloudfest.com\\\/americas\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/cf-americas-logo.png\",\"width\":356,\"height\":40,\"caption\":\"CloudFest USA\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cloudfest.com\\\/americas\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Groundbreaker - CloudFest Americas","description":"Discover the who attends CloudFest Americas and get in the room with the leaders, builders, and deal-makers driving the future of cloud, hosting, and web infrastructure.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/cloudfest.com\/americas\/groundbreaker\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Groundbreaker - CloudFest Americas","og_description":"Discover the who attends CloudFest Americas and get in the room with the leaders, builders, and deal-makers driving the future of cloud, hosting, and web infrastructure.","og_url":"https:\/\/cloudfest.com\/americas\/groundbreaker\/","og_site_name":"CloudFest Americas","article_modified_time":"2026-08-24T13:53:01+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2400,"height":1256,"url":"https:\/\/cloudfest.com\/americas\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Social-Background-image-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/cloudfest.com\/americas\/groundbreaker\/","url":"https:\/\/cloudfest.com\/americas\/groundbreaker\/","name":"Groundbreaker - CloudFest Americas","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cloudfest.com\/americas\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cloudfest.com\/americas\/groundbreaker\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cloudfest.com\/americas\/groundbreaker\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cloudfest.com\/americas\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Graduation_Groundbreaker.jpg","datePublished":"2026-03-03T08:37:39+00:00","dateModified":"2026-08-24T13:53:01+00:00","description":"Discover the who attends CloudFest Americas and get in the room with the leaders, builders, and deal-makers driving the future of cloud, hosting, and web infrastructure.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/cloudfest.com\/americas\/groundbreaker\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/cloudfest.com\/americas\/groundbreaker\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cloudfest.com\/americas\/groundbreaker\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/cloudfest.com\/americas\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Graduation_Groundbreaker.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cloudfest.com\/americas\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Graduation_Groundbreaker.jpg","width":2048,"height":1365},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/cloudfest.com\/americas\/groundbreaker\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/cloudfest.com\/americas\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Groundbreaker"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/cloudfest.com\/americas\/#website","url":"https:\/\/cloudfest.com\/americas\/","name":"Cloudfest USA","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/cloudfest.com\/americas\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/cloudfest.com\/americas\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/cloudfest.com\/americas\/#organization","name":"CloudFest USA","url":"https:\/\/cloudfest.com\/americas\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cloudfest.com\/americas\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/cloudfest.com\/americas\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/cf-americas-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cloudfest.com\/americas\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/cf-americas-logo.png","width":356,"height":40,"caption":"CloudFest USA"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cloudfest.com\/americas\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cloudfest.com\/americas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/87771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cloudfest.com\/americas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cloudfest.com\/americas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cloudfest.com\/americas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cloudfest.com\/americas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87771"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/cloudfest.com\/americas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/87771\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87799,"href":"https:\/\/cloudfest.com\/americas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/87771\/revisions\/87799"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cloudfest.com\/americas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cloudfest.com\/americas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}