Uploaded April 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
In Episode 7, Lual Mayen, a South Sudanese game developer, entrepreneur, and humanitarian whose journey from being born on the run from civil war to founding his own studio shows what happens when opportunity finally meets talent and persistence.
Lual talks about life growing up in a Ugandan refugee camp with scarce food, limited infrastructure, and no reliable electricity. He shares early memories of building a life from cleared land, finding joy in community and play, and developing a fascination with electronics. He recounts how his mother saved money for years so she could give him his own laptop, the responsibility that it represented, and how he became motivated to create games about peace and conflict resolution. Lual talks about discovering video games, teaching himself coding and design without mentors or internet, and about how he shared his early APK via Facebook, leading to global attention.
🎮 Guest Bio: Lual Mayen is a South Sudanese video game designer and entrepreneur, founder and CEO of Junub Games, and founder of the Lual Mayen Foundation. Born during his family’s escape from civil war and raised in a refugee camp in northern Uganda, he taught himself to code and created a peace-focused game Salaam, a mobile game that puts players in the role of a refugee fleeing conflict and seeking food, water, medicine, and safety. Today he leads peace-building game projects, runs a tech center for youth in the camp he once called home, and advocates globally for refugees’ rights, earning recognition such as CNN Champions for Change and the Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Award
Related Links:
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/lualmayen
Janub Games: junubgames.com
Play Salaam: junubgames.itch.io/salaam
Join our Substack - tinyurl.com/GGJPodcastSubstack
This episode is sponsored by the University of Miami School of Communications (https://com.miami.edu/department-of-interactive-media/) and the Knight Foundation (knightfoundation.org/)
In Episode 7, Lual Mayen, a South Sudanese game developer, entrepreneur, and humanitarian whose journey from being born on the run from civil war to founding his own studio shows what happens when opportunity finally meets talent and persistence.
Lual talks about life growing up in a Ugandan refugee camp with scarce food, limited infrastructure, and no reliable electricity. He shares early memories of building a life from cleared land, finding joy in community and play, and developing a fascination with electronics. He recounts how his mother saved money for years so she could give him his own laptop, the responsibility that it represented, and how he became motivated to create games about peace and conflict resolution. Lual talks about discovering video games, teaching himself coding and design without mentors or internet, and about how he shared his early APK via Facebook, leading to global attention.
🎮 Guest Bio: Lual Mayen is a South Sudanese video game designer and entrepreneur, founder and CEO of Junub Games, and founder of the Lual Mayen Foundation. Born during his family’s escape from civil war and raised in a refugee camp in northern Uganda, he taught himself to code and created a peace-focused game Salaam, a mobile game that puts players in the role of a refugee fleeing conflict and seeking food, water, medicine, and safety. Today he leads peace-building game projects, runs a tech center for youth in the camp he once called home, and advocates globally for refugees’ rights, earning recognition such as CNN Champions for Change and the Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Award
Related Links:
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/lualmayen
Janub Games: junubgames.com
Play Salaam: junubgames.itch.io/salaam
Join our Substack - tinyurl.com/GGJPodcastSubstack
This episode is sponsored by the University of Miami School of Communications (https://com.miami.edu/department-of-interactive-media/) and the Knight Foundation (knightfoundation.org/)
