Social Enterprise
Collective Development (CODE)
Collective Development [CODE] is a nonprofit grassroots foundation empowering vulnerable children, youth, and women in unserved communities across Nigeria through education, digital skills, and entrepreneurship.
- Founded by Dr. Babangida Ruma
- Nonprofit Organisation
- Katsina State, Nigeria
- Linked to Opportunities Hub (OHUB)
Who We Are
Changing Lives Through Skills & Opportunity
Founded in 2013 as Ruma Initiative and registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission in 2023, Collective Development [CODE] is a non-governmental, nonprofit grassroots foundation working in unserved, underserved, underprivileged, and marginalized communities across Nigeria.
We leverage technology, innovation, and creativity to close learning gaps, tackle digital inequity, unemployment, and access to opportunities — ensuring skills development for poor and vulnerable children and youth from low-income families.
Our model is centered on Training And Placing (TAP) our graduates through partnerships with private sector corporations and Federal Government public-private companies. Graduates receive trade-specific toolkits and are eligible for cooperative enterprise start-up grants. READ MORE
Impact by the Numbers
Our Reach & Results
Artisans trained to bridge the digital skills gap
Vocational skills training sessions for unserved youth
Women trained on ICT and entrepreneurship
Persons living with disabilities trained
Our Initiatives
Opportunities Hub
A Digital Business Incubation Training and Capacity Development hub with over 5 million subscribers worldwide. Officially recognized by UNIDO, connecting marginalized people to new opportunities in 190 countries.
Digital Skills Clinic
Dual-mode enterprise education delivered through public-private partnerships. Combines virtual learning with on-campus practical training, internship and mentorship. Supported by UNIDO, Google, and NBTE.
Digital Skills Bank
Designed to boost livelihood and employability for 10,000 uneducated rural youth every year over 10 years through informal training in digital, vocational, and technical skills.
Women & Girl-Child Entrepreneurship
An entrepreneurship initiative focused on ICT, vocational skills, and business management — creating a platform for Women and Girl-Child to access sustainable income and continuing education.
Go Back To School
A broad-based coalition of NGOs, Tech Companies, Start-ups, and Entrepreneurship Hubs dedicated to ensuring quality education for all, with a focus on out-of-school children across Nigeria.
Digital Innovation Centre
A hub for work placements and apprenticeships facilitating skills advancement and co-operative learning opportunities that connect trained graduates to industries nationwide.
What We Stand For
Literacy Skills
Foundational literacy and numeracy programs for children and adults in underserved communities.
Access To Opportunities
Connecting marginalized youth to scholarships, grants, internships, and career pathways.
Girls' Child Education
Ensuring no girl is left behind through targeted interventions and advocacy in rural communities.
Youth-Led Innovation
Championing creativity and entrepreneurship as the key skills needed for the fourth industrial revolution.
10-Year National Goal · 2030
2 MILLIONS
Children, youth, and women educated, empowered, and skilled up by 2030.
- Training and capacity development for 1 million Women and Girl-Child in 3 years
- 10,000 uneducated rural youth skilled annually over the next decade
- Business incubation centres established across all states in Nigeria
- Graduates equipped to access startup financing from BOI, CBN, and World Bank
- National rollout through NBTE-accredited vocational certificate programmes
Leadership
A Message from Our
FOUNDER
Dr. Babangida Kabir Ruma
Founder & Executive Director, CODE
“For over six years, Collective Development [CODE] has been championing Creativity and Innovation as the two most important skills of the future — since inception, it has been the heartbeat of opportunities and hope for the marginalised.”
At Collective Development [CODE] we are committed to making a difference to the lives of marginalized people from unserved, underserved and underprivileged communities. We are working to eliminate poverty and improve the sustainable socio-economic condition of poor and marginalized families.
We’re currently working with industries to shape the new generation of competent, global workforce — creating innovation to bring industries to new levels of productivity and building a new generation of thinkers who will re-invent the way the world works.
Today, thousands of beneficiaries from our digital and vocational skills training programs are holding key positions in industries. They bridge the digital knowledge gap, providing content that creates life-changing opportunities for new sources of wealth generation and development.
How CODE Works
CODE is guided by four principles that define every program it designs and every community it enters:
Community-Led, Not Externally Imposed
CODE designs its interventions in collaboration with communities, not for them. Every program begins with a listening process that ensures the initiative addresses real, self-identified needs — not assumptions made from outside.
Practical & Skills-Based
CODE avoids programs that offer certificates without competence. Every initiative is skills-first — participants leave with tangible, employable, or income-generating capabilities that immediately improve their economic situation.
Gender-Intentional
CODE places women and girls at the centre of its programming. This is not tokenism — it is a strategic recognition that investing in women produces the highest social return on investment, generating ripple effects that benefit families, communities, and entire generations.
Technology as an Equaliser
CODE believes that technology, properly introduced, is the fastest route out of poverty. Every program CODE runs incorporates a digital or technology component — whether that is a smartphone-based income model, a digital photography skill, or access to an online opportunity platform.
At a Glance
Full Name
Collective Development (CODE)
Type
Nonprofit Social Enterprise
Founded By
Dr. Babangida Ruma
Dr. Ruma’s Role
CEO & Executive Vice Chairman
Parent Organisation
Opportunities Hub (OHUB)
Location
Katsina State, Nigeria
Flagship Program
INCOMING — Girl-Child Initiative
Communities Reached
75+ villages across Northern Nigeria
Status
Active · Operational
Explore More
Biography
Meet Dr. Babangida Ruma
Entrepreneurship
Ventures & Initiatives
Recognition
Awards & Honours