AfriLabs, the continent’s largest network of innovation hubs, says it has directly supported more than 280,000 entrepreneurs and startups through its expanding footprint, now spanning 519 hubs across 53 African countries and over 220 cities. The numbers, detailed in its 2024 Impact Report, reflect a quiet but substantial scaling of Africa’s tech ecosystem at a time when global venture funding is shrinking and investor interest in emerging markets has cooled.
The organisation says it has helped create over 100,000 jobs through a mix of skilling initiatives, innovation support, and ecosystem-building in key markets like Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Egypt, and Cameroon. It has also empowered 444 women with business skills and funding access across five countries, and trained 173 young Africans through its Talent4Startups programme with digital skills to enhance career opportunities.
“We are deeply committed to ensuring that every African innovator has the resources, the network, and the platform to succeed,” said Anna Ekeledo, AfriLab’s Executive Director. “We’ve enabled startups to access critical resources, build networks, and refine their solutions to address Africa’s most pressing challenges.”
In 2024, it expanded its AfriLabs Connect, a pan-African digital platform that now links over 7,000 stakeholders across the continent’s innovation landscape, including startups, academia, governments, and media. Through the platform, founders can access training cohorts, pitch to partners, and collaborate with peers across borders. It also introduced Amari, an AI-powered tool that offers entrepreneurs curated learning content, grant alerts, and operational guidance.
One of the organisation’s impacts was the implementation of Llama 3.1, an AI Hackathon, which gathered over 100 tech talent from across Sub-Saharan Africa to co-create solutions addressing social challenges, including gender equity and language inclusion. Participants who were mentored were tasked to use open-source AI models to develop tools that promote inclusivity, reduce regional bias, and tackle real-world problems.
Funded by Meta and The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the hackathon saw 19 emerging solutions developed by 19 teams. The report mentioned that the top eight teams have advanced to the next phase of the program, where they will receive additional mentorship and potential funding, based on product maturity and market readiness.
“The project’s potential to contribute to development is substantial. By addressing gender bias in AI and ensuring linguistic inclusivity, it fosters a more equitable digital ecosystem,” the report said.
At the same time, AfriLabs expanded its Greenovations Africa initiative, which supports climate-focused startups tackling issues like clean energy access, sustainable agriculture, and environmental monitoring. The report includes case studies of startups building AI-powered disease detection tools, solar energy platforms for off-grid communities, and agritech platforms improving market access for smallholder farmers.
The report also highlights the organisation’s growing list of high-impact partnerships with global technology and development organisations to drive innovation in Africa. These include collaborations with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Intel Corporation, Digital Africa, Meta, Mastercard Foundation, UNDP, and Adaptation Fund.
“There is the urgency in securing Africa’s digital independence every day to ensure that our startups have access to capital, our policymakers are shaping favorable regulations, and our innovators have the infrastructure to build world-class solutions,” said Ajibola Odukoya, the organisation’s Chief Operating Officer.
Looking ahead, AfriLabs is aiming for scale. The network has set its sights on unlocking $1 trillion in digital economic value over the next decade through its Moonshot Initiative. The report outlines a roadmap for achieving this ambitious target, including deeper investment in data infrastructure, stronger support for local innovation hubs, expanded partnerships, and more inclusive digital participation.
“The next phase of Africa’s growth will be defined by the power of its entrepreneurs and the ecosystems we build around them,” Ekeledo said.
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