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Elena Lausberg - Marketing Manager (Groundbreaker)

Lead Designer

Design Company

https://www.instagram.com/sidebyside.studio

Profile Website

https://sidebyside.studio/project/groundbreaker

Project Website

Client

Design Team

Groundbreaker operates a residential tech campus in Uganda, training ambitious young women to become software engineers through full scholarships. Despite delivering exceptional outcomes (a 93% graduation rate, 100% job placement within three months, and a 20x average income increase for graduates), Groundbreaker faced credibility and recognition issues that prevented them from scaling their impact across Africa.

The challenge wasn’t their programme quality but their positioning. Tech companies actively seeking diverse talent pipelines couldn’t find Groundbreaker, and when they did, the presentation failed to inspire confidence in corporate partnerships. Lost among predictable 'women in tech' aesthetics and well-intentioned but ineffective initiatives, Groundbreaker needed a brand that matched the significance of their results.

We repositioned Groundbreaker as a strategic tech talent development partner rather than a charity project, creating a sophisticated identity system that builds corporate credibility while authentically representing the agency and potential of African women in tech.

Gold Winner in Branding for NGO & Non-Profit