Amazon.com, Inc. company (NASDAQ: AMZN) has announced the selection of 9 organisations from Africa for its fourth AWS Social Entrepreneur Accelerator cohort, making it the largest representation of any continent. The list of African countries with selected organisations includes Nigeria, Kenya , Ghana, South Africa, Cameroon and Tanzania while other selected organisations are from the USA, Australia, India, the UK and others.
In collaboration with Deloitte, the Accelerator provides technical training, strategic business planning, and ongoing AWS and Deloitte support to help mission-driven organisations scale.
Since 2023, the programme has supported more than 100 social entrepreneurs across 34 countries, bringing together a global community of social entrepreneurs who are working to address some of the world’s most urgent challenges across education, health and climate resilience.
Jyoti Ball, General Manager for Sub-Saharan Africa at AWS, expressing delight over Africa’s representation, stated that “Africa’s representation in this cohort reflects what we’re seeing across the continent, a generation of founders who don’t wait for conditions to be perfect. They build anyway. Our role is to ensure they have access to the same world-class cloud and AI technology as any startup in Silicon Valley and the support to scale impact across borders.”
These founders are using cloud and AI technology to solve skills shortages, youth unemployment and food security. Building from the ground up, they are creating African solutions for African challenges.
Nigeria leads the selection with three organisations, Sabi Scholar, Kayode Alabi Leadership and Wetech Inc. According to the CEO Sabi Scholar, Divine Iloh, he is creating an “operating system” for African higher education, enabling any university to launch online degrees in 30 days, a potential gamechanger for the continent’s 200M+ youth population. For Kayode Alabi Leadership, the founder, Hammed Kayode Alabi is reducing inequalities by empowering underserved young people to lead and innovate through transformative education, and technology-driven solutions to solve local challenges and thrive as community changemakers. The last is Wetech Inc., whose founder, Gabriella Uwadiegwu, is building Africa’s largest pipeline of women in technology, from training to mentorship to direct employment pathways.
Kenya follows with two organisations, KuzeKuze and STEM Centre Africa. According to CTO of KuzeKuze, Enock Sangaka Mong’are, the organisation is building “education passports,” as digital records that follow learners throughout their lives, making personalised education measurable and scalable. While STEM Center Africa, a nonprofit launched in 2017 by two brothers Dancun the CTO and Denish Akoum, CEO, to promote hands-on STEM education, including coding, robotics and 3D design, reaching over 18,000 + students since inception, with 90% gaining proficiency in Python, Scratch and electronics. Operating two centers in Homa Bay County with 10 organisational partners, SCA aims to reach 100,000 learners by 2030.
The remaining four spots are shared by Ghana, South Africa, Cameroon and Tanzania. In Ghana BASICS International founded by CEO Patricia Wilkins is breaking cycles of poverty by providing education, certified digital skills training and holistic support to underserved children and youth, equipping them to thrive academically, economically and socially. For South Africa, FunHouse Digital founded by Ayabulela Yokwana is turning gaming lounges into self-sustaining education hubs in rural communities – profits from gaming directly fund free coding and digital literacy programs. While in Cameroon, EduCloud founded by Rosius Ndimofor Ateh delivers hands-on Cloud and AI workshops across Africa, bridging the gap between academic theory and industry-ready skills. Last is Tanzania where Fiqra Academy founded by CEO Gerald Revocatus is creating a direct pipeline from digital skills training to employment for East African youth, with certifications that lead to real careers through their digital learning platform.
The organisations joined a global cohort of 42 organisations from 16 countries. At the end of the programme, the cohort will be equipped to build and scale their solutions with AWS cloud and AI technology and Deloitte consulting expertise.
