Upskill with Cardtonic: Why Did We Start?

During our last Twitter space, someone asked, “Why did you start the ‘Upskill by Cardtonic’ Program?’.

When you think of that question, you’re probably expecting a sob origin story about how we had a dream to change the world one laptop at a time, or how we saw a young Nigerian coding on their Android phone and took pity. But no, that’s not how Upskill started.

Here’s the real story.

On Connecteam (our internal communication software), we have a suggestion form where staff members can submit ideas, from marketing ideas to product features to charity initiatives. One day, under the charity option, someone simply wrote: “Give out laptops to techies”.

Fast forward a few weeks. It was a fateful Monday morning in April 2022, the first meeting of the new quarter, during which we usually review suggestions. When this particular idea was read out, we had a back-and-forth discussion about it, until one of our designers asked a question that froze the room:

“But why should we do this?”

For a moment, silence. Then a management team member replied: “Why not?”.

Everyone paused, searching for a reason not to. No one found one. And that was the moment Upskill was born.

But the idea was only half the story. In fact, it was the easy part. Over the days that followed, we stressed about one thing: “How do we make this fair?”

How do we make sure nobody rigs the system? How do we prevent insiders from tipping off their friends? How do we stop the laptops from ending up with people who might just sell them off?

Because if it wasn’t fair, it wasn’t worth doing at all.

So we stressed, debated, mapped out a plan, and finally executed it.

Honestly, we didn’t plan for it to go beyond that one edition. But some months later, we reached out to the winners to hear how the laptops had helped them. And after hearing all their stories, that was when it clicked: One laptop does go a long way for those who need it.

And even though Upskill started with a casual “why not”, we realised that a laptop can power an entire designer’s career, an IT student’s livelihood, and even a community.

That ripple effect is why Upskill is no longer a one-time idea. It’s why we keep doing it, year after year. Not just as a program, but as a belief: that giving someone the right tool can trigger a chain reaction far bigger than any of us imagined.