How Nelson Boboye’s INELMARK Is Bridging the Digital Divide for Orphaned Children in Lagos

As Social Media Week Lagos (AFRICANXT 2022) wrapped up its landmark edition at the Landmark Centre this March drawing thousands of innovators, founders, and policymakers to discuss Africa’s digital future one Lagos-based founder is proving that the most meaningful technology innovation does not always happen on conference stages.

Nelson Boboye, the founder of Nelmark Multilinks Limited and creator of Nelagro an AI-powered farmers’ online marketplace supporting the whole of Western Nigeria has launched INELMARK, a structured digital skills programme that teaches foundational technology skills to children in orphanages across Lagos.

Nelagro: An AI-Powered Farmers’ Online Market for Western Nigeria

Before INELMARK, Boboye had already demonstrated his ability to build technology that transforms lives. Nelagro is a full-scale AI-powered online marketplace that connects smallholder farmers across Western Nigeria directly to urban buyers. The platform covers five states Oyo, Osun, Ondo, Ogun, and Ekiti and serves over 1,100 farmers in 60+ villages.

At its core is a proprietary AI pricing engine that analyses real-time market data from village markets, urban wholesale centres, weather patterns, and seasonal trends to generate fair, data-driven crop prices. Farmers who previously relied on exploitative middlemen can now see exactly what their cassava, yam, maize, or cocoa is worth broken down by crop, state, village, and season.

The results speak for themselves: a reported 40% income increase for participating farmers, 30% reduction in post-harvest losses through logistics optimisation, over 8,000 agricultural products listed on the marketplace, and more than ₦2.5 billion in revenue generated for farming communities across Western Nigeria.

“The farmers in Western Nigeria were not poor because they lacked skill,” Boboye explained. “They were poor because they lacked information and access. Nelagro gives them both.”

INELMARK: Teaching Orphaned Children to Build the Future

But it is Boboye’s latest initiative that reveals the full scope of his vision. INELMARK operating under the Nelmark Multilinks umbrella delivers structured technology education to orphaned and vulnerable children at Boboye’s training facility in Lagos.

The programme teaches Database Design for Young Children, where learners develop logical thinking, data organisation, and foundational database concepts through age-appropriate exercises. It also covers Python Programming, introducing coding fundamentals, problem-solving, and computational thinking. Students progress through Digital Literacy modules covering internet safety, basic computer operations, and productivity tools, before advancing to Product Thinking where they are encouraged to identify problems in their communities and conceptualise technology solutions.

The programme is delivered in partnership with System College (46 Queen Street, Alagomeji, Yaba, Lagos) and operates on a cohort-based model, with each cycle running for 8–12 weeks. Participation is entirely free for the children.

Inside the INELMARK Classroom

Nelson Boboye teaching Python programming at the INELMARK training facility in Lagos. Students work on laptops while following projected code on screen.

On a recent visit to the INELMARK facility, the scene was striking: young learners  some no older than ten sat at desks with laptops open, following along as Boboye projected Python code onto a screen at the front of the room. The whiteboard behind him was filled with notes from an earlier session on data structures

“We start with logic before we start with code,” Boboye explained. “If a child can understand why data needs to be organised — why a farmer’s crop record needs a name, a price, and a location — then they can understand a database. And if they can understand a database, they can build anything.”

The approach is deliberate. Rather than teaching technology as an abstract skill, INELMARK connects it directly to real-world applications many drawn from Boboye’s own experience building Nelagro. Children learn to think about data the way a product manager thinks about user needs: with purpose, structure, and empathy.

Where INELMARK Fits in Lagos’s Growing Tech Ecosystem

Nigeria’s technology sector raised over $2 billion in venture capital in 2022, with Lagos firmly established as the continent’s startup capital. Events like Social Media Week Lagos (AFRICANXT), Techpoint Inspired, and Lagos Startup Week have showcased enterprise-scale innovation from fintech unicorns to AI-powered logistics platforms.

But beneath the headline deals and conference keynotes, a critical question persists: where will the next generation of African technologists come from?

“Everyone celebrates the exits and the funding rounds,” Boboye noted. “But nobody is asking who will build the next wave of products if we do not invest in young people now especially those who have no family support system to fall back on. These orphanage children are brilliant. They just need someone to show them what’s possible.”

INELMARK represents a grassroots answer to that question building the pipeline of talent that Nigeria’s technology ecosystem will depend on in the decades to come.

A Pattern of Building Beyond Profit

What distinguishes Boboye’s approach is the deliberate integration of social impact into his commercial work. Nelagro is a revenue-generating platform with a three-tier subscription model serving farmers and cooperatives across Western Nigeria. But INELMARK operates as a social programme funded by Nelmark Multilinks and delivered entirely free of charge to participating children.

“I built Nelagro because farmers deserved fair prices and direct market access,” Boboye said. “I built INELMARK because every child deserves a chance to build something. The technology is the same. The mission is the same. Only the audience is different.”

What Comes Next

Boboye’s ambitions for INELMARK extend beyond the current cohort. He envisions scaling the programme to multiple orphanages across Lagos, developing a structured curriculum that can be replicated by other technology companies, and eventually creating a pathway for INELMARK graduates to contribute to Nigeria’s growing technology workforce.

“Five years from now, I want one of these children to build something that changes their community,” he said. “That is the return on investment I am looking for.”

In an ecosystem increasingly defined by valuations and exits, Nelson Boboye is building something harder to measure but perhaps more enduring: a generation of technologists who understand that the purpose of technology is to serve people especially those who have been left behind.