John Atem’s family fled conflict in South Sudan and settled in Uganda as refugees. He would later be admitted to the elite Stanford University in the United States. While in the US, he has set up a tech company that he hopes will inspire young people who emerge from a similar background like his, writes Derrick Kiyonga.
When John Atem Agwer’s parents gave birth to him in the border town of Nimule in 1999, the last thing on their minds was that their boy would one day attend Stanford University in California, USA.
It was hard for them to envisage this scenario because Atem was born amid the second Sudanese civil war, which started from 1983 to 2005 between the Sudanese government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) led by John Garang, who would pass in 2005, after the Ugandan helicopter he was travelling in crashed on the South Sudan-Uganda border.
The second civil war in South Sudan was largely a continuation of the first Sudanese civil war, which started in South Sudan but spread to the Nuba Mountains and the Blue Nile, lasting more than 22 years, ultimately resulting in the independence of South Sudan six years after the war had ended.
It’s within this context of violence that Uganda became a home of refugees trickling from South Sudan. By 1995, an estimated 170,000 – 210,000 Sudanese refugees were settled in Uganda and by the end of 2020, there were more than one million refugees in the country.
Among the South Sudanese refugees who settled in Uganda were Atem, who started going to Kampala metropolitan schools. In 2012, he sat his Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) at Kings Way Primary School, where he obtained Aggregate 6. Yet in his education journey, his performance in Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) examinations at St Mary’s Boarding Secondary School, Kitende, stood out as he obtained Aggregate 8 out of 8 subjects, qualifying him among the best performers in the country.
Yet within this moment of victory, reality set in that he could actually miss out on A-Level due to lack of school fees. The reason behind his lack of school fees again was attributed to the politics of South Sudan, where, having obtained independence, the newly born state would be plunged into a civil war.
Tensions erupted into civil war in December 2013 following a political struggle between President Salva Kiir and Vice President Riek Machar. Kiir accused Machar of plotting a coup d’état against him, leading to Machar’s removal as vice president.
Soon after, violence erupted between presidential guard soldiers from the two largest ethnic groups in South Sudan. Soldiers from the Dinka ethnic group aligned with Kiir, and those from the Nuer ethnic group supported Machar. Violence quickly spread to the states of Jonglei, Upper Nile, and Unity.
From the outbreak of conflict, armed groups targeted civilians along ethnic lines, committed rape and sexual violence, destroyed property, looted villages, and recruited children into their ranks. This violence affected Atem in the sense that his father, Jacob Aguer Atem, was a serving military officer in the SPLA assigned to ensure peace in Wau, Bahr al Ghazal.
Self-trained developer
His mother, Elizabeth Achol Makuach, tells Atem’s love for technology, saying that as a teenager, her son would grab any gadget around and begin working on it. She had to hide her mobile phone at times because her son ought to allocate some good time for books.
‘Atem investigated all electronic and electrical appliances in the house,’ the mother says. ‘He would question everything that is man-made, and this relieved the family of petty repairs on the household.’
During his O-Level, Atem formed a WhatsApp group baptised ‘FAST’ (Finalist Alliance of ‘Scientists’) meant to facilitate discussions for science subjects. He would build on that to start thinking of software development therein, adopting five software design languages.
Still, during his O-Level, he attempted to build what he called an ‘ultralight plane’, some sort of a drone. His mother recalls that the small indoor ‘helicopter’ almost flew. Its rotors could propel, and the lighting worked, but the idea died down due to a lack of design materials.
His idea of the ‘frog chopper’ was inspired by an online challenge from some company, and the fact that he wanted to win the hearts and souls of some people to support his secondary education.
Luckily, he was able to obtain school fees and completed his A-Level, and he dared to apply to a couple of colleges.
‘I applied to a couple of schools in the United States before I was admitted to Stanford, in California. I did my undergraduate, then my Master’s then I started my start-up that I’m building,’ Atem says.
Unlike Uganda, where there are concentrated efforts by the State to support talented young people in Information Technology, California is famous for start-ups due to a combination of factors, including its historical role in technological innovation, strong access to venture capital, a culture of risk-taking, and supportive legal and academic environments.
These elements have created a dense ecosystem, particularly in Silicon Valley, where leading universities, a large pool of talented professionals, and a history of successful companies foster new ventures.
‘I have always had an interest in applications. The year before joining Stanford, I was a firming engineer. So, when I got to Stanford, I was excited because there is no other place in the world where you can easily start start-ups,’ he says.
He explains how he started his company. ‘I was involved in starting start-ups in Uganda, but it was difficult to get funding. One of the advantages of going to Stanford is getting access to all these opportunities and raising venture capital funding. In general, in the US, the opportunity of setting up a company is higher and easier as well,’ he says.
Atem says he still harbours the same ambition that he had when he was a teenager.
‘From the time I was 15 or 16, I always wanted to have a big tech company. I’m fortunate to have graduated at the dawn of a new era of technology. In the world of start-ups, these are the best times to build something new. I could have gone and got a job at one of those big technology companies, but I thought it’s time to start something of my own,’ he says.
About Atem’s company:
Bfloat is a vibe coding platform for mobile apps. It enables people without programming experience to build mobile apps through natural language.
‘I founded the company a little over a year ago in August of 2024. And I’m the sole founder and CEO. I lead everything product and engineering. The company is based in Palo Alto, California. My vision with Bfloat is to build and democratise tools that empower individuals to create through software,’ he says.