"I escaped by dreaming" Mark Kamau of NairoBits speaks at TEDx Amsterdam

Online, November 15, 2009 (Newswire.com) - Mark Kamau was born against a backdrop of crime and hardship in the slums of Nairobi in 1980. Mark's dream of a better future finally became reality in 2000 when he registered at web design school NairoBits (founded by the Dutch foundation Butterfly Works).

Although he had never touched a keyboard before, Mark began as one of the first web design students in East Africa studying design, technique and African culture.

Following graduation he moved from creating his first website for an international client, to becoming a trainer at NairoBits, he set up his own web company, then became manager of Kilimanjaro Film Institute in neighbouring Tanzania.

Soon Mark will become manager of Nairobits (now a hub of technological innovation with a near 100% graduate employment rate). His next step will be to inspire the next generation of NairoBits students.

Mark (and many NairoBits students like him) has shown what inspiration, talent and drive can achieve when given exposure and fertile ground.

Mark is excited about the future and will be talking about how he escaped by dreaming at TEDx Amsterdam on November 20.
See About Mark Kamau at TEDx: http://www.butterflyworks.org/content/13695/mark_kamau_at_tedx

About Nairobits
Nairobits is a unique web-design school in Nairobi, founded in 2000 by the Dutch foundation Butterfly Works. Each year, sixty students are admitted to course one, of whom twenty will participate in the third year graduation course - The Media Lab.
Whilst this sounds like the description of an expensive private college, Nairobits is anything but that. All NairoBits students come from one of Nairobi's informal settlements, more commonly known as slums.

NairoBits is absolutely free of charge for its students, and selection is based on merit - not so much academic merit, but level of need, commitment and enthusiasm as well as the applicants' level of social engagement, their involvement in community activities and their background as volunteer workers.

Companies who employ NairoBits graduates - including major international and Kenyan internet companies - praise NairoBits' practical and creative approach, the motivation of the students and their eagerness to learn.

NairoBits is more than just a web-design school. It is a way out, a stepping stone for ambitious, bright young people who have the creativity but not the means to express themselves.
The result of NairoBits is a group of individual people who have gained a voice that wasn't there before, a voice widely divergent from that of the average, a voice with the power to affect global change.

About Butterfly Works
Butterfly Works is an inspiration-driven social solution and design agency.

The products and services of Butterfly Works range from consumer social product design and distribution to digital and mobile educational materials and learning environments.

It invents, designs, and implements social events and so connecting people, businesses and organizations by building a positive chain of events. Butterfly Works initiates projects and provides sustainable answers to international social issues.

In short Butterfly Works is an inspirational creation company with clients all over the world that are intertwined with a deeply rooted sense of global justice