The Talent Challenge
Africa has the world's youngest population. By 2050, one in four humans will be African. This represents an enormous opportunity—if we can provide the skills needed for the AI economy.
Currently, AI education in Africa faces barriers:
Our Education Initiatives
AI Bootcamps
We run intensive 12-week bootcamps in partnership with local universities:
What we cover:
The results:
University Partnerships
We work with universities across Africa to:
Curriculum development: Co-creating AI courses relevant to African challenges
Faculty training: Upskilling lecturers in modern AI techniques
Research collaboration: Joint papers and projects
Internship programs: Placing students at VE.KE and partners
Current partners: University of Nairobi, Makerere University, University of Lagos, AIMS network
Open Educational Resources
We've released free resources including:
Online courses: Self-paced courses covering AI fundamentals to advanced topics
Datasets: African datasets for practice and research
Tutorials: Step-by-step guides in English, Swahili, and French
Video content: YouTube lectures and workshop recordings
Over 50,000 learners have used these resources.
Women in AI Initiative
We're committed to gender diversity in AI:
Scholarships: 50% of bootcamp seats reserved for women
Mentorship: Pairing women learners with women professionals
Community: Monthly meetups and online forum
Leadership: Supporting women into AI leadership roles
Results: 45% of our bootcamp graduates are women, compared to 20% industry average.
Making It Sustainable
Train the Trainers
We train local instructors who can deliver AI education in their communities, multiplying our impact.
Local Language Content
We're translating key content into Swahili, Hausa, Amharic, and other major African languages.
Low-Bandwidth Solutions
Our content works on 2G connections. We also distribute offline materials via USB drives.
Affordable Compute
We've negotiated cloud credits for students and provide shared GPU access for training.
Impact Stories
Mary from Kenya: Joined our bootcamp with a background in biology. Now leads an AI team building crop disease detection models.
Chidi from Nigeria: Completed our online courses while working as a teacher. Built an AI tool for grading essays in Nigerian languages.
Amina from Ethiopia: Received our women in AI scholarship. Now pursuing a PhD in computer vision at a European university.
What's Next
We're expanding our education programs:
2025 Goals:
Longer term:
How You Can Help
Together, we can ensure Africa doesn't just consume AI—it creates it.