Most people meet cybersecurity as a list of warnings: pick a better password, do not click that link. It is hard to care about defending something you have never built.
Giiyo CyberBridge starts at the other end. Across ten sessions, students aged 14 to 19 build the network of a fictional company called CamTech — then go looking for the holes in it and learn how to close them.
What students actually do
Each session ends with something working that did not work before. Students start by asking what a network even is and building a first one, then move through the equipment that carries traffic, the addresses that let devices find each other, and what to do when none of it behaves as expected.
From there the course turns outward: how data moves between networks, how websites, email and servers fit together, and how someone reaches a network safely from outside it. Only then does it turn to defence — spotting where a network is weak, putting a firewall in the right place, and finishing by building and protecting CamTech end to end.
The order is deliberate. A student who has wired the thing together has somewhere to put the security lesson.
Who teaches it
Nady Fotie teaches the sessions live from the United States, and a Giiyo Tech facilitator stays in the room in Douala throughout. Students get a working professional taking the material and a person beside them when a cable is in the wrong port.
The course uses the Cisco Networking Academy, so students also come away with an account and a track they can keep following on their own.
The practical details
- Ages 14–19, and no previous experience with computers, networking or programming is needed.
- Ten sessions of two hours, starting November 2026. The proposed time is 12:00–14:00 Cameroon time, and remaining session dates are arranged with registered students.
- Douala, with computers and software provided. Nothing to buy.
- 10,000 FCFA to register, 5,000 FCFA returned on completion — a commitment deposit rather than a price. It exists so that a place is not taken by someone who will not come, and finishing the course earns half of it back.
Why the deposit
A free place costs a family nothing to abandon, and a course with ten sessions only works if the same students come back to each one. The deposit is small enough not to exclude and large enough to mean something, and half of it goes back to the student who sees the course through.
Families who need support with the deposit should tell us when they register. We would rather arrange something than lose a student who wants to be there.
Register a place
Registration is open now, and a place is confirmed by our team after you register.
See the full course outline and register for CyberBridge.
Questions, or want to bring CyberBridge to your school? Write to hello@giiyotech.com or call +237 670 199 687.
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Maureen
Founder
The Giiyo Tech team works directly with schools and students to deliver hands-on STEM education.
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