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We had the distinct honor of hosting Dr. Werner Vogels, CTO & VP at Amazon

28 Jan 2025 · 2 min read

On Tuesday, June 10, 2025, ALX Rwanda had the distinct honor of hosting Dr. Werner Vogels, Chief Technology Officer and Vice President at Amazon, at the ALX Tech Hub located at Deco Center, Kigali. Widely recognized as a global leader in cloud computing and a pioneer of Amazon Web Services (AWS), Dr. Vogels visited with a delegation from across Africa to engage with our learners and alumni, providing invaluable insights and inspiration.

Event Highlights

Inspiring Address from Dr. Vogels

During a fireside chat, Dr. Vogels shared powerful reflections on the future of tech talent in Africa. He praised the ALX model for its agility and scale, remarking: “ALX gives people hope... It’s about creating a future for Africa’s youth, whether as software engineers or entrepreneurs, and building a foundation for a successful life.” He emphasized that the ALX approach—focused on skills-based, flexible learning—responds more effectively to industry needs than traditional four-year degrees. Drawing from a recent trip to Germany, he highlighted the 80,000+ open IT roles as evidence of the global demand for talent developed through models like ALX.

Call to Action

Dr. Vogels challenged learners to solve the continent’s most pressing challenges using technology—from healthcare to agriculture—and cited examples from his Now Go Build documentary series, such as a startup that empowers Indonesian farmers through digital identities. His key messages included:
  • “Build businesses that do good.”
  • “Don’t fear failure—use it as a learning tool.”
  • “Think customer-first, secure, scalable, and cost-effective from day one.”
Learner & Alumni Engagement During the visit, ALX Entrepreneurs showcased several mission-driven tech innovations: from Signverse, Lifeline, MediXR and Dr Vogels shared very insightful feedback but with much admiration about the challenges these learners were solving. Vogels also had a chance to hear from our learner and alumni during a round table discussion. 

Conclusion

Dr. Vogels’ visit marks a milestone for ALX Rwanda, not only reinforcing the global credibility of our talent pipeline but also affirming our role as a catalyst for Africa’s digital transformation. The engagement left learners and staff deeply inspired and further energized to build bold, tech-driven solutions for African challenges.  

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