John Brown is the seventh of nine siblings. His parents are farmers from Western Kenya. Brown was introduced to computers by his aunt in 2005, when he was 9 years old and in class 2. She taught him how to play games like BowMan, which created a sensation and enthusiasm unlike any other. He was able to improve his eye-hand coordination by playing a game that involved pointing and clicking.

He was thus excited when he learnt that he could continue learning about computers when inABLE set up the first computers-lab-for-the-blind at Thika School for the Blind, where he was schooling, in July 2009.

His enthusiasm grew with the passage of time, and he especially took a liking to responding to emails after being introduced to Gmail. So much that when visitors came to the school, he was quick to ask for their email addresses so they could communicate more frequently.

Although some of his classmates found computer concepts to be complex, he saw them as an extension of himself, which made them simple for him to grasp. Brown has risen above the rest by consistently asking questions in class and being willing to conduct web-based research on class material. At the end of 2010, he was the number one student in the entire class 7 with 377 points out of 500.

Brown once approached his teacher with a sketch of a web page he wanted to create after learning some basic HTML concepts. He intended to include a picture of himself and some personal information in the sketch. As it displayed images and text at various points, the teacher got a good sense of the finished product. He made every effort to avoid grouping the details on one page. Later, he put pen to paper and created the sketch in HTML.

He is currently working on improving his HTML skills in order to develop market-fit products. He was one of the students who helped design their school’s website.