About

A Black-led nonprofit putting modern tech skills into reach for the communities most often left out.

Spark Nucleus puts AI readiness, cybersecurity, cloud and DevOps skills, mentorship, and engineering support directly into the hands of Black and underserved youth, nonprofits, and small businesses. Rooted in Ottawa, Ontario.

Mission

Closing the gap between underserved communities and the modern technology economy.

Access to technology has become a precondition for economic mobility. Yet for Black and underserved communities, the people, tools, and pathways that lead into the modern tech economy remain out of reach. Spark Nucleus exists to close that gap.

  • Technology access & equity Lowering the cost and complexity of getting started in tech for communities historically underrepresented in the field.
  • AI readiness Plain-language, hands-on AI education that meets people where they are.
  • Cybersecurity education Practical defense and safe data handling for learners and the organizations that serve them.
  • Cloud & DevOps career pathways Structured routes from "interested in tech" to a first role in the field.
  • Mentorship for Black youth One-on-one and cohort guidance from working engineers.
  • Engineering support for small organizations Free or low-cost digital transformation help where it would otherwise be out of reach.

Leadership

Who's accountable for the work.

Spark Nucleus is run by working practitioners. These are the people accountable for what we deliver, who funders, partners, and volunteers can reach directly.

Founder & Executive Director

Ahmed Dirie

Cloud architecture and security specialist with 15+ years building secure systems for enterprise and public-sector organizations. Currently in cloud and security at the Government of Canada and founder of Octelligence, a platform modernizing corporate records, governance documentation and cap tables, for startups and growing companies. Founded Spark Nucleus to put the same caliber of practitioner expertise into the hands of underserved communities. Based in Ottawa.

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Director of Operations & Partnerships

Abdallah Dirie

Operations and infrastructure leader with 12+ years building the operational and technical foundations behind growing organizations. Founder of Luxano Labs, a cloud infrastructure and DevOps practice serving client production systems on Azure, GCP, and AWS. Also serves as COO at Beydan. Prior depth includes Canadian public-sector IT and enterprise database management at TD and IBM. At Spark Nucleus he leads operations and partnerships. Based between Nairobi and Ottawa.

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The team

A network of practitioners, mentors, and community partners.

The work isn't delivered by a static org chart. Each program brings together engineers, mentors, and community partners who fit what the cohort or engagement needs. Everyone who delivers our programming has done the work professionally.

01 · Practitioners

Working engineers

Cloud architects, security engineers, software developers, and AI/ML practitioners who deliver the technical work. The same expertise we apply in our day jobs, given directly to the communities we serve.

02 · Mentors

Volunteer engineers

The Black Youth Tech Mentorship Network and our skills accelerators run on volunteer engineering time. Mentors lead one-on-one engagements, cohort office hours, and workshop sessions.

03 · Community partners

Schools, nonprofits, employers

Programs are co-delivered with schools, community organizations, and employer partners who bring participants, host workshops, and open pathways into first roles.

How we work

A few principles that shape every program and engagement.

These aren't slogans. They're the operating rules we hold ourselves to, and the lens we use to decide which work we take on.

Free by design

No one pays to participate

Programs are offered at no cost, or at deeply subsidized cost, to the communities we serve.

Practitioners

Not theorists

Programs are delivered by working engineers, not career trainers. The same expertise we apply in our professional work.

Outcomes

Over activity counts

We measure whether the person or organization on the other side ended up better off, not how many sessions were held.

Priority

For the underserved

We focus on people and organizations who would otherwise have gone without, especially Black and underserved communities.

Handover

No lock-in

When we build something for a partner, we document it and hand it over. Partners can run it without us afterwards.

Scope

We don't displace paid work

We don't take on commercial product development or work that would displace paid practitioners who do this for a living.

Work with us

Partnership, sponsorship, mentorship, all start with a short note.

For program inquiries, see the Programs page. For partnership, sponsorship, or volunteer inquiries, see Get Involved. For everything else, write to us directly.

Write to engage@sparknucleus.org

Get involved See partners