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Is Tanzania Waking Up as a Tech Titan?
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Tanzania is stirring!☺ This East African nation is experiencing a surge in tech activity, fueled by passionate young minds and a growing community spirit. This week's spotlight dives into exciting initiatives that paint a promising picture for Tanzania's future in the tech industry.
Shaping the Future of Swahili AI: GenAI Hackathon
Swahili is the most spoken language in Africa, with over 200 million speakers. It is also the fastest-growing language in Africa. Swahili is widely spoken across East and Central Africa.
The 7th GenAI Meetup and Hackathon took a significant step towards building using swahili AI with model developed by Michael S. Mollel, PhD an alumnus of Nelson Mandela African Institute of Science and Technology and Research Engineer at University of Glasgow.
7th GenAI Meetup and Hackathon at Dlab
Over 50 participants collaborated on building solutions using a Swahili Large Language Model (LLM). This innovative project has the potential to revolutionize access to information and technology for millions of Swahili speakers.
Neurotech Africa an AI startup that assists businesses in transforming their customer experiences through conversational AI (chatbots), has been organizing GenAI community meetups for the past 7 months. Through this initiative they have been able to grow a community of about 150 people, and partnering with Binary lab, Ona Stories Group, Stanbic Biashara Incubator and Dlab Tanzania.
Discover individuals shaping Swahili LLM in the country
A post from Innocent Charles
Larven Hackathon: Equipping Developers for Success
The Larven Hackathon Community exemplifies the power of community-driven learning. Their "DevOps Dive" event provided practical skills to developers, empowering them to build and deploy software products effectively to consumers.
The hackathon kicked off with a session from Vicent Simon, a DevOps guru at the Binary labs. This initiative, proudly sponsored by Selcom, highlights the growing importance of collaboration between established corporations, startups and tech enthusiasts.
Larven is a tech startup which transform business processes and operations so that they can accomplish more in less time while increasing profitability.
Larven Hackathon at Binary Labs
Building a Tech Ecosystem: Credable Hackathon
Credable Group a fintech startup with a Digital Banking Platform that is driving the future of banking by embedding financial services in businesses across emerging markets hosted their inaugural hackathon, attracting 12 participants despite a challenging rainy day.
The event focused on problem-solving skills, with participants tackling specific challenges within a limited timeframe. Interestingly, feedback revealed that many participants weren't accustomed to this format, highlighting a potential gap in expectations between educators and industry needs.
Credable CEO, Nadeem Juma in his article he has emphasized a strong commitment to bridging this gap. He sees a responsibility to nurture local talent and actively invest in developing a skilled workforce.
Credable Hackathon
The complex problem of talent
According to a report by the African Development Bank, Africa faces a significant shortage of technology talent, with an estimated 4 million new technology jobs expected to be created by 2025 and only enough skilled professionals to fill 50% of these roles.
“The conversation should be less about shortage but more about extending opportunities to the emerging talent that will help bring balance in the labour market,”
“At Jumia, we have found that there is indeed a shortage of specific software engineering skills in the African talent pool, particularly in areas such as data science, machine learning, and software development,”
Beyond the Hackathon Hype
These events showcase Tanzania's immense tech potential. However, a sustainable ecosystem requires more than just hackathons. The key lies in bridging the gap between innovation and implementation.
How can Tanzania ensure these hackathon ideas have a lasting impact? What role can mentors, investors, big corporations and end-users play in creating a sustainable tech scene?
Launch of Think Young Coding School in Tanzania
Think young NGO together with Boeing have successfully launched a coding school in Tanzania at Buni Hub. The school aim to encourage the future generation of engineers, scientists, aviators, and IT leaders. The launch of this school will have impact on technology and startup ecosystem to bridge a gap of talents.
Launching of Think Young Coding School
Funding opportunities
This week's funding roundup features a diverse range of programs designed to empower African entrepreneurs.
NBA Africa's Triple Double Accelerator : NBA Africa’s Triple Double Accelerator program aims to support African startups and the African tech ecosystem and African tech entrepreneurs by promoting growth in the sports and creative industries.
Verdant Frontiers Fintech : Are you building a great company that accelerates financial inclusion? Are you raising a $200k-$2M round?
Africa-Oxford Health Innovation Program : The Africa Oxford (AfOx) Innovation Platform links African talent for innovation and entrepreneurship, based on the continent, with technical expertise from across the University of Oxford and with partners in industry.
BRAC Frugal Innovation Fellowship : Are you a social entrepreneur working in climate adaptation - test your idea and scale up ⬆️
Don't miss out! Apply today and take your innovative idea from concept to reality.
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