Kigali becomes home to Africa’s AI Skills Foundation

The AI Skills and Compute Africa Foundation (AISCA Foundation), a pan-African initiative focused on expanding access to artificial intelligence infrastructure, skills, and research support, has officially launched in Kigali, Rwanda, with plans to accelerate AI innovation across the continent.

AISCA Foundation launched with seed funding support from technology partner Cassava Technologies, a pan-African technology company providing digital infrastructure and connectivity solutions. The foundation is addressing Africa’s growing “compute gap” by enabling local AI researchers, innovators, and developers to access the infrastructure and resources needed to build AI solutions within Africa.

Building Africa’s AI Infrastructure and talent pipeline

AISCA Foundation will focus on four strategic pillars designed to strengthen Africa’s AI ecosystem.

The first pillar, Sovereign Compute, will provide localized AI infrastructure in partnership with Cassava Technologies, ensuring that African data and processing capabilities remain within the continent’s borders. The second pillar focuses on Curated Data, with the foundation developing high-quality African datasets across sectors including agriculture, health, and climate.

Capacity Building forms the third pillar and will support AI skills development across the value chain, while the Community pillar will establish a pan-African network to identify, mentor, and support technical talent.

Isobel Acquah, CEO, AISCA Foundation, said: “Africa has the talent, ideas, and urgency to lead in applied AI. What has often been missing is access to compute, coordinated ecosystem support, contextualised data sets, and scalable pathways into dignified economic opportunities. AISCA Foundation is designed to help close those interconnected gaps.”

Foundation targets one million youth opportunities

AISCA Foundation has outlined ambitious continental targets aimed at accelerating inclusive growth through AI. The foundation plans to transition one million young people into economic opportunities across the AI value chain. It also aims to award compute grants to 25,000 AI-native innovators building AI-enabled solutions and support 10,000 AI researchers with compute access and technical assistance to advance African-led research.

The initiative will collaborate with universities, governments, development agencies, venture ecosystem players, and private-sector partners to ensure AI development aligns with African priorities and remains accessible to local innovators.

Hardy Pemhiwa, President and Group CEO of Cassava Technologies, said: “While Cassava has invested millions of dollars in setting up AI Infrastructure, supporting AISCA through enabling access to dedicated compute ensures that we are empowering African youth in utilizing the rails to create localized value for their communities in practical and impactful ways.”

The foundation’s launch in Kigali underscores Rwanda’s expanding position as a continental hub for digital transformation and emerging technologies. The launch adds momentum to Africa’s growing investment in AI infrastructure, local innovation ecosystems, and digital skills development as governments and technology stakeholders increasingly position the continent to participate more actively in the global AI economy.