For Taonga Ngomba, STEM education is not simply about putting more science and technology into the classroom. It is about giving young people the chance to actually experiment, build and create.

That thinking sits behind NextGen STEM Center, a Zambian-owned organisation focused on practical STEM learning for children and young people aged 4 to 18.

Ngomba comes to the space from a somewhat different angle. Her background spans Business Administration, Project Management, Leadership and Human Resource Management, giving her an entrepreneurial and organisational perspective on education.

Rather than approaching STEM purely as an academic subject, she has built NextGen around a more practical question: what happens when children are given the tools and environment to make things for themselves?

Taking STEM out of the textbook

The problem Ngomba is addressing is familiar.

Many children are curious about technology, science and engineering, but opportunities to experiment can be limited. STEM equipment can also be expensive for schools, particularly when practical learning requires dedicated facilities and specialised resources.

NextGen's approach is to take those experiences directly to learners.

Its programmes cover coding and robotics, computer science, renewable energy and solar engineering, experimental sciences, as well as arts, music, leadership and entrepreneurship.

The model means schools do not necessarily have to build expensive STEM facilities before their pupils can access practical learning.

Building a Zambian STEM ecosystem

For Ngomba, there is also a bigger question about ownership.

NextGen is designed as a locally developed and Zambian-owned organisation rather than simply importing an education model developed elsewhere.

That means developing programmes suited to the local environment while creating opportunities for Zambian instructors, educators, engineers, creatives and entrepreneurs to participate in the ecosystem.

Since beginning operations, the organisation says it has reached more than 3,000 children through school programmes, weekend classes, holiday camps and STEM Days.

It has also created opportunities for young Zambians to work as instructors and facilitators.

From education to opportunity

Ngomba's business background is important to the model.

Running a STEM organisation requires more than knowing how to teach robotics or coding. It involves building partnerships with schools, working with parents and organisations, managing programmes and creating a sustainable institution around the learning experience.

That entrepreneurial perspective is reflected in NextGen's inclusion in the 2026 ZICTA ICT Innovation Programme's Top 100 innovators, a programme that provides business and technical development support to technology innovators and startups.

For Ngomba, the opportunity is therefore not only to teach children STEM skills, but to build an institution around the idea that those skills should lead somewhere — into experimentation, entrepreneurship, careers and eventually locally created technology.

The bigger idea

NextGen's story points to a broader issue in Zambia's education system: teaching innovation and creating opportunities to practise it are two different things.

Ngomba is betting on the latter.

The lesson is fairly simple. You cannot build a generation of innovators by only teaching them about innovation. At some point, you have to give them something to build.

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NextGen STEM Center Takes Hands-On Learning Beyond the Classroom