Last updated on August 19th, 2025 at 02:47 pm

With a degree in civil engineering, Kennedy Kishumbua has experience in building things. After graduation, his career path took him through a different kind of construction—projects involving artificial intelligence, community engagement, and manufacturing.

These days, he’s working on initiatives that may be smaller in scale but are no less impactful: he’s a program manager for Soccer in the Streets, a nonprofit that uses the sport to teach life skills to youth. The path from engineer to soccer coach might seem like a detour, but given Kishumbua’s experiences, it’s more of a straight line.

“For me, success is a journey, not a destination,” said Kishumbua, who was one of the first Georgia Artificial Intelligence in Manufacturing (Georgia AIM) Fellows through the Partnership for Innovation (PIN). The program places recent college graduates in paid, six-month rotations that include academic research at a public university followed by a project with a private company.

“I was blessed with the opportunity to be a program manager for this nonprofit at two site locations, and I build programs for these kids using soccer as a vehicle,” he said.

From Engineering to Engagement

Kishumbua learned about the PIN Fellowship program from a friend who completed it the previous year. It was 2023, and as a recent graduate of Morehouse College, he was intrigued by the chance to work on a Georgia Tech project that applied AI and other emerging technologies.

During his first six-month rotation, he helped develop a project that used AI to improve public transportation access for residents of metro Atlanta and later, Chatham County. The work was part of a U.S. Department of Transportation grant to support “last-mile” connectivity and link residents to fixed transit routes. When Georgia AIM launched in 2022, it included funding for the PIN Fellowship to foster public-private innovation in AI and smart manufacturing.

The experience was eye-opening, Kishumbua said.

“Just seeing the holistic view of how public programs can help communities—and seeing that same institution leverage technology for the betterment of people—was awesome,” he said. “My goal was to bridge the gap to the community.”

During the second half of the fellowship, he worked with Freudenberg-NOK, an automotive parts manufacturer incorporating robotics and smart technology into its processes. There, Kishumbua supported specific projects by providing data analysis and technical insight.

“As a civil engineer, I’ve been exposed to building manufacturing plants—but not to floorplans and manufacturing cells, or to understanding the importance of efficiency,” he said. “This introduced me to manufacturing from a holistic view.”

He timed operations to develop work standards and analyzed robotic performance. At the time, a single robot going offline could affect multiple production lines. Kishumbua’s work helped the company better understand and reduce the impact of downtime.

After completing the fellowship, he accepted a role as a data solutions architect at a large Atlanta-based consulting firm. Though the technical work was rewarding, something was missing.

“I was building solutions for various technology companies, and it was great,” he said. “But coming out of talking to communities and really bridging that gap, I felt like I was just talking to stakeholders—it didn’t trickle down to the actual consumers. I was doing a great job, but I didn’t see impactful work.”

Building Leadership Skills

Throughout his career, one constant remained: soccer. When he was laid off from the consulting job, a new opportunity opened up—this time as a program manager with Soccer in the Streets, where he had already been coaching part time.

“That’s what I was going for—I wanted a leadership position that would challenge me on what it means to be a leader,” he said. “I build programs for these kids using soccer as a vehicle. College is awesome, but sometimes people find success outside of academia. I want to help them see what other tools they can carry in their backpack to succeed.”

For Kishumbua, that means helping kids build work-ready skills—like teamwork, resilience, and goal-setting—on and off the field. Whether in tech, on the manufacturing floor, or on the soccer pitch, he believes everyone has a purpose and a role to play.

The PIN Fellowship, he said, gave him a broader understanding of the workforce—and the importance of people in every system.

“I’ve seen the value of manufacturing firsthand and the value it places on its employees,” he said. “Even with AI and robotics, you still need people operating the machines. People are essential.”

Now, Kishumbua brings that message to the kids he mentors.

“I’m blessed to put my best foot forward and try to pour that out to the kids,” he said. “And I think we, as the older generation, don’t always want to have those conversations with the younger generation. We think they might not be interested. But I think it’s our duty to do that—to make an impact.”