The Cleaner Who Brought a Laptop to Work — Precious Etim’s Story

My name is Precious Etim. Like every child, I had big dreams about my future. But everything paused when my mom passed away in my second year of secondary school, and three years later, when my dad passed too. My siblings and I were no longer thinking about big dreams — certainly not tech or the corporate world. All we could think about was survival.

My elder brother stepped up and helped me finish secondary school. As soon as I graduated, I started working as a POS agent for a man who later proposed marriage to me, even though I was very young. In 2021, I started my own POS business, but I was scammed and ended up in debt — that was the turning point of my life.

In 2022, after selling my POS machine, my neighbor introduced me to desktop publishing. During my free time, I watched tutorial videos on W3Schools, but that didn’t put food on the table. While looking for work, someone introduced me to a woman who ran a cleaning agency. I tried it for a while, but the transport costs took most of my salary. Back at home, I was told about an opening for a cleaner at a company. I got the job, and the strangest thing happened — it was always quiet, and everyone carried laptops around.

I didn’t realize it at the time, but your environment truly matters. Seeing people carrying laptops inspired me to use my free time to continue my coding tutorials. I borrowed my brother’s laptop and started bringing it to work — so yes, I was the cleaner who brought a laptop to work. Some staff members noticed and asked if I knew what the company did. That’s when I discovered I was working at Semicolon, a company that has trained over 700 people in its Techpreneurship program.

I was home and didn’t even know it. The next step was to join the program, but while I was convinced, my family wasn’t. In fact, everyone opposed it when they heard the fee. They suggested I focus on learning a vocational skill like makeup. But I knew what I wanted, and I knew great things required sacrifice, so I took the leap.

My first day in the program was strange. I felt like everyone knew I was a cleaner, and I was uncomfortable. The people who spoke were well-educated and formal, and the A/C was very cold — I felt out of place. But soon, I realized no one cared who I was before. Whether you were a CEO, a student, or a cleaner, we were all there for one goal — to learn.

My toughest months were the first three. I was broke and had no hope. I couldn’t go home, and the stress started affecting my health. I confided in some of the staff, and a miracle happened. A woman interested in supporting women in tech — my fairy godmother — decided to sponsor two women in the program, and I was one of them. Part of the payment was given to me as monthly stipends, and that kept me afloat for 10 months. My days of panicking were over.

To add to my insecurity, I was made Priestess (one of the class representatives). This meant that, on top of struggling to learn concepts like OOP, I had to manage a diverse class with different ages and professional backgrounds. Sometimes, the program felt like a trial to me. It was so difficult that I thought my family might be right, and I considered returning to them. But I held on. I knew I had to trust the process, even though it was tougher than I expected.

Thanks to everyone who made this fairytale possible, today I’m no longer the cleaner watching others. I am a woman with a dream — a software engineer. My sacrifices, tears, and resilience in the face of doubt and failure have led me to where I am now, a Techpreneur.