We need to develop scalable, locally relevant artificial intelligence applications that address pressing national challenges in sectors like healthcare, agriculture, education, safety, and public services.We should support startups building impactful solutions with open source large language models to unlock Africa’s next generation of AI innovation.
$25,000 for Generative AI Innovations for Africans
Llama Impact Accelerator Program is a regional program in Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, and Senegal.
Llama is a suite of large language models developed by Meta, designed to generate and understand human-like text with an open-sourced software design that is optimized for efficiency. Llama models require fewer computational resources for training and inference compared to many other LLMs. This makes them more accessible to a wider community of developers and researchers.
The Llama Impact Accelerator Program is for startups based in Nigeria, Kenya, Senegal, or South Africa that are building impactful Generative AI solutions using Llama that:
- Have a working prototype or MVP, including early-stage products that clearly demonstrate technical potential
- Are available to fully participate in the 6-week accelerator (including in-person sessions)
- Have a solution that is aligned with the country-specific focus areas (see country pages for details)
It offers equity-free funding of up to $25,000, access to workshops and hands-on technical training, and mentorship from industry experts and AI leaders for African innovators.
Apply Now! Deadline is June 27, 2025
More Funding Opportunities
Do you want to get startup investments for a technology business? Or learn how to win more contracts? Then please sign up now to get our email updates. We are constantly publishing new funding opportunities.
I am eager to utilize these funds to drive meaningful impact in the field of tech, and I believe that this investment will yield significant results
I have worked with several organization, to mitigate any challenges concerning the affected population in northern part of Nigeria.
I am graduate in agricultural field and I agree to work under pressure.
Looking forward to discuss with you soon.
Kind regards.
Another key reason poor farmers resist mobile phone-based agritech services is the lack of immediate, tangible value. These services often promise long-term gains, higher yields, better prices, but fail to address urgent needs like access to credit, seeds, or fertilizer. When survival is day-to-day, abstract information via SMS or app feels irrelevant. Farmers prioritize relationships that provide real-time solutions, like local traders who offer input on credit or buyers who pay cash at harvest. If digital tools cannot solve pressing problems today, they are easily dismissed tomorrow. To gain trust, agritech must deliver practical, visible benefits—not just data or distant promises.
Having went to one AI training program for Journalists I saw tje need and gap of knowledge for need to have such training for Lesotho Journalists. I would kindly ask Lesotho to be included in the grant
We strongly support and welcome the Llama Impact Accelerator initiative. Our project, “Bridging the AI Language Gap: Building Models for isiZulu, Sesotho, and Xhosa,” directly aligns with the program’s goal to empower African-led, impactful AI innovations using Llama.
We are on a mission to build a GPT-4-grade, instruction-tuned, open-source large language model trained natively in isiZulu, Sesotho, and Xhosa. Our aim is not only technological advancement, but cultural preservation and linguistic equity across Southern Africa. Today’s dominant AI systems largely ignore African languages—our goal is to change that.
This funding would help us begin the foundational phase: curating high-quality, human-translated training data with the help of skilled linguists and deploying lightweight inference systems that run efficiently—even without GPUs—across low-resource environments.
We believe Meta’s Llama models offer a powerful and accessible base to help us build these models locally, with full transparency and African ownership.
We are ready to contribute to an inclusive future for AI—one where Africa speaks for itself. With the right support, this vision can become a continental reality.