The Kelvin Doe Foundation create collaborative learning spaces where people gather to explore,
create, learn, and share as a community while building things that are meaningful to them.
The Kelvin Doe Foundation (“KDF”) was started in 2016 by Kelvin, aka DJ Focus, as an informal hobby group comprised of young Sierra Leoneans who wanted to explore, create and learn STEAM (science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics) in a playful, hands-on exploratory learning way. In the process of making and exploring, Kelvin and his friends would mobilize and showcase their “innovations” to a large audience and encourage people to support their work while also affecting and unravelling their identities.
Side by side, their contributions became part of one enormous group showcase in Freetown, Sierra Leone (see highlights from the 2026 Mini Maker faire at The Country Lodge Hotel in Freetown). What started as a hobby group in Sierra Leone has now grown into a federally registered Canada-based organization.
Today, KDF is working with partners across Canada and around the world to create creative spaces while also bringing hands-on experiential learning to schools in underserved communities. The Kelvin Doe Foundation believes that creativity is universal and can be found in places where one does not expect to find it.
Launched in 2016, with support from various national and international partners (including The UNFPA Sierra Leone, CICA Motors (SL) Ltd., and KANO), the Kelvin Doe Foundation hosted the first-ever Mini Maker Faire, “a celebration of invention, creativity, and resourcefulness,” in Freetown, Sierra Leone.
In February 2017, KDF rolled out the Catalyst Tour in Ghana to promote a maker & DIY culture among African youth. Combining a series of keynotes and interactive sessions, our founder, Kelvin, alongside Kwame Opoku, a Ghanian entrepreneur, engaged with over 300 students at various educational institutions, including the University of Ghana, IPMC, Webster University, and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. Collaboration, risk-taking, learning from mistakes, and problem-solving were among many topics explored. In addition to meeting with students, Kelvin also engaged with other Ghanaian entrepreneurs in the country’s capital, Accra, and held talks with government ministers, artists, CEOs, and H.E. Nana Addo Akufo-Addo, President of Ghana (January 7, 2017 – January 7, 2025). President Akufo-Addo and Kelvin discussed KDF’s strategic vision and future initiatives to be carried out by the Foundation as part of its work programme.