Hoyin
Hoyin has spent 16 years hiring and working with remote talent, has hired more than 400 people globally, and has founded four companies, most recently a software company sold in 2024. His focus has centered on helping talented professionals from emerging markets access opportunities in developed economies.
The Academy comes from a practical observation: the value of professional skills is changing because of AI. The opportunity isn't to use AI faster, it's to learn how to build with it. Palistra Academy exists to help African professionals make that transition.
What is the meaning of Palistra
"Palistra" is derived from the actual Greek word "Palaestra" (παλαίστρα), from palaiein, "to wrestle". The palaestra was the training ground where wrestlers and athletes went to practise: a place you showed up, got worked over by people better than you, and left sharper than when you walked in. It wasn't a classroom. It was where the actual work happened.
That's the model here. You're not sitting through videos and collecting a certificate at the end. Every week you're building something real, getting told exactly what's not working, and fixing it before you move on. Some weeks that's uncomfortable. That's on purpose.
If you want something easy, this isn't the course for you. If you want to come out the other side actually able to build with AI, not just talk about it, that's what this is built for.
Because talent is everywhere, opportunity isn't
Africa has no shortage of skilled professionals. What's scarce is access: to global employers, to global pay, and to training that keeps up with how work is changing. Most AI education launches in the US and Europe first, leaving African EAs, VAs, and operations professionals to catch up months or years later, if it reaches them at all.
Palistra Academy exists to close that gap from the start, not as an afterthought, so professionals across Africa get the same AI-building skills, the same tools, and the same shot at dollar-paying, globally competitive roles as anyone else.