Welcome to your course on Smart Devices in Africa!
This course is designed for policymakers, regulators, and public sector leaders who want to make smart devices work for everyone as smartphones, tablets, and connected systems reshape daily life across Africa. Most smart device strategies fail not because the devices are missing, but because policy treats a phone as a simple communication tool and stops there: missing the data it collects, the systems it controls, and the citizens it leaves behind. A pillar-based approach flips that around. It treats the device as part of an ecosystem, matches each intervention to a specific gap, and builds adoption that reaches rural communities, women, and older users, not just the already-connected.
The curriculum begins with what makes a device genuinely smart through its three defining features and the three roles every device plays as control interface, data collector, and communicator. It then works through the 15 pillars of smart device implementation, organised into four categories: Foundation, Value Chain, Critical Issues, and Implementation. Across these, you will see how affordability, e-waste, device standards, local assembly, and digital inclusion connect into one coherent national strategy rather than a set of isolated projects.
By mastering these concepts, you will be equipped to diagnose smart device adoption gaps using the 15 pillars, recommend proportionate policy responses for each, and design a concrete implementation plan grounded in your own local context.
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to:
- Explain what smart devices are, how they form ecosystems, and the three roles they play as control interfaces, data collectors, and communicators.
- Identify the challenges and opportunities for smart device adoption in Africa and analyse how they apply in a specific local context.
- Apply the 15 pillars of smart devices framework across its four categories: Foundation, Value Chain, Critical Issues, and Implementation.
- Design a concrete smart device implementation plan for your country, selecting the recommendations most relevant to your local adoption gaps.
Who is this course for?
This course is designed for policymakers, ministry officials, and regulators across Africa. It is highly beneficial for individuals who are:
- Working on ICT, digital economy, or device adoption strategy in national ministries and regulatory agencies.
- Senior staff in national ICT agencies, universal service funds, and sector coordination bodies.
- Development finance professionals and programme officers working on digital inclusion and smart device deployment.
Welcome to your course on Supporting Deep Tech Startups in Africa!
This course is designed for policymakers, ecosystem builders, and investors who want to turn Africa's scientific and engineering talent into jobs, health, and growth. Most deep tech startups fail not because their science is weak, but because the ecosystem around them treats funding as the only gap: the money on offer is short-cycle, while the missing mentorship, markets, skills, and patient capital are what actually stall them. A targeted-support approach flips that around. It reads the ecosystem as it really is, names the documented gaps beyond funding, and matches each one to a concrete intervention, grounded throughout in African evidence rather than imported assumptions.
Grounded in a continental study of more than 200 deep tech ventures by Intel, AfriLabs and Briter Bridges, four modules move from foundations to action. You will define deep tech and the African context, read the ecosystem and its investment landscape, name the seven documented gaps that hold startups back, and apply six recommendations for targeted support to your own country. The course closes with a readiness self-assessment and an ungraded project in which you analyse your own local ecosystem and propose the support it needs.
By mastering these concepts, you will be equipped to read the real state of your local deep tech ecosystem, diagnose which of the documented gaps are holding it back, and design targeted, evidence-based interventions that keep the value of African innovation on the continent.
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to:
- Explain what deep tech is and why it matters for African development, using the continental context and relevant policies.
- Analyse the state of the ecosystem, including its technology clusters, uneven funding flows, and investor behaviour.
- Identify the seven documented gaps that hold deep tech startups back beyond the funding shortfall.
- Apply the six recommendations for targeted support to your own country and context.
- Evaluate the readiness of your local ecosystem and recommend actionable, targeted interventions.
Who is this course for?
This course is designed for policymakers, ecosystem builders, and investors across Africa. It is highly beneficial for individuals who are:
- Policymakers and regulators shaping innovation, industry, or science policy.
- Ecosystem builders running tech hubs, incubators, accelerators, or university programmes.
- Investors and development finance staff weighing deep tech opportunities in African markets.
Welcome to your course on Technology Advancement for Deep Tech Data!
This course is designed for government officials, policymakers, and public sector leaders who want to understand the technology that powers deep tech and to build it where they are. Most strategies for deep tech stumble not because the ambition was wrong, but because they reach for the visible application while ignoring the data and hardware foundation it stands on. A foundation-first approach flips that around. It starts with the datasets, the data pipeline, and the compute that every deep tech advance depends on, grounds each decision in real African conditions, and turns scarce resources into durable capability rather than one-off projects.
The curriculum introduces the 11 deep tech categories and the hardware dependency they all share, then walks through the four-stage big data pipeline of storage, mining, analytics, and visualisation. You will examine hardware acceleration with GPUs, FPGAs, and ASICs and Africa's compute access gap, work through the six pillars that empower a deep tech ecosystem, and close with the four policy dimensions that shape the continent's deep tech future.
By mastering these concepts, you will be equipped to assess a deep tech opportunity against its data and hardware foundation, prioritise the ecosystem investments that unlock it, and design a national deep tech strategy grounded in your own local context.
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to:
- Explain the 11 deep tech categories and the hardware dependency that every deep tech advance shares.
- Analyse the four-stage big data pipeline of storage, mining, analytics, and visualisation, and identify where value and risk concentrate at each stage.
- Compare GPU, FPGA, and ASIC acceleration and assess Africa's compute access gap and the options for closing it.
- Design a national deep tech strategy for your country, drawing on the six ecosystem pillars and the four policy dimensions.
Who is this course for?
This course is designed for government officials, policymakers, and public sector leaders across Africa. It is highly beneficial for individuals who are:
- Responsible for digital transformation, science and technology policy, or deep tech and innovation strategy.
- Shaping research data infrastructure, compute investment, or skills programmes in the technology sector.
- Infrastructure investors and development finance professionals working in the digital and deep tech sectors.
Welcome to your course on The Deep Tech Revolution in Africa!
This course is designed for policymakers and ecosystem builders who want to grow a thriving deep tech startup ecosystem across Africa. Most deep tech ambitions stall not because the continent lacks talent or ideas, but because the support around the founders is missing: funding is short and impatient, advanced skills are scarce, R&D facilities are out of reach, and the rules and markets keep small ventures locked out. A clear-eyed approach to the ecosystem flips that around. It maps who the stakeholders are and how they depend on one another, targets the specific gaps that hold ventures back, and matches support to local strengths and real needs rather than to global hype, grounded in the Intel, AfriLabs and Briter Bridges study of African deep tech.
The curriculum opens with the deep tech ecosystem and its stakeholders, what deep tech means in Africa and why entrepreneurs, support organisations and investors depend on one another, then sets out the benefits and seven documented challenges of deep tech across agriculture, health, energy, finance, education and jobs. You will then work through the six focus areas of support that local ventures need, from skills and R&D to funding, collaboration, government support and market access, before examining the criteria investors apply before they commit capital and how to help founders prepare for them.
By mastering these concepts, you will be equipped to read your local deep tech ecosystem with a critical eye, target the support that would unlock the most for founders, and design a credible plan to strengthen one focus area in your own region.
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to:
- Explain what deep tech means in Africa, its three core stakeholder groups, and why they depend on one another.
- Assess the benefits of deep tech across six sectors and the seven documented challenges that hold African ventures back.
- Connect the six focus areas of support to the challenges they address, from skills and R&D to funding and market access.
- Apply the criteria investors use to advise local founders and design targeted support for one focus area in your own ecosystem.
Who is this course for?
This course is designed for policymakers, ecosystem builders, and innovation managers across Africa. It is highly beneficial for individuals who are:
- Responsible for innovation, science and technology, or startup and entrepreneurship policy.
- Running an incubator, hub, or support organisation for local deep tech ventures.
- Designing funding, skills, or market-access programmes to strengthen a local deep tech ecosystem.
Welcome to your course on Deep Tech Reports and Findings!
This course is designed for government officials and policymakers who must read the deep tech evidence and turn it into strategic support for local startups. Most deep tech strategies fail not because the underlying science was weak, but because the reports guiding them were read uncritically: a glossy deck was mistaken for proof, a single pilot was scaled too fast, and confident conclusions were taken at face value. A disciplined approach to deep tech reporting flips that around. It treats every report as evidence to be weighed, matches the intervention to local strengths and real needs, and translates technical findings into the clear options decision-makers can actually act on, grounded in African examples such as the Senegal and Tunisia Startup Acts.
The curriculum opens with tech-driven entrepreneurship, what deep tech is and why building a venture on it is a distinct undertaking, then maps the African startup ecosystem and six strategic interventions you can lead to close the gaps that hold startups back. You will then unpack the Startup Act, its goal and six policy areas, compared across the Senegal and Tunisia cases, before working through four guidelines for implementing an Act as a localised, working instrument in your own context.
By mastering these concepts, you will be equipped to weigh deep tech evidence with a critical eye, choose interventions that fit your local landscape, and design a credible plan to support deep tech startups and a stronger Startup Act, in your own region.
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to:
- Explain what deep tech is, the technologies that power it, and why tech-driven entrepreneurship is a distinct kind of venture in Africa.
- Identify the gaps that hold African deep tech startups back and the six strategic interventions a government can lead to address them.
- Analyse the goal and six policy areas of a Startup Act, comparing how the Senegal and Tunisia cases approach each one.
- Apply four practical guidelines to turn a Startup Act into a localised, working instrument for your own ecosystem.
Who is this course for?
This course is designed for government officials, policymakers, and public sector managers across Africa. It is highly beneficial for individuals who are:
- Responsible for innovation, science and technology, or startup and entrepreneurship policy.
- Commissioning, reading, or acting on deep tech reports and research findings to guide public investment.
- Drafting, refining, or implementing a Startup Act or related support for local deep tech ventures.
Welcome to your course on Blockchain in Africa!
This course is designed for policymakers, regulators, and public sector leaders who want to judge where blockchain genuinely belongs as it reshapes payments, land records, supply chains, and public services across Africa. Most blockchain projects fail not because the technology was weak, but because it was reached for where a simple database would have served better, or built without the privacy, capacity, and rules that adoption depends on. This course flips that around. It teaches you to match the technology to the need, weigh real characteristics against real limitations, and ground every recommendation in the African context.
The curriculum introduces what a blockchain actually is and the four stages by which a transaction becomes an immutable block, then weighs the technology's five defining characteristics against its four real limitations. You will see where blockchain is already being applied across five spheres in Africa, work through the seven key recommendations for blockchain policy development, and confront the adoption barriers, regulation, and regional interoperability questions that decide whether the technology delivers.
By mastering these concepts, you will be equipped to judge when blockchain fits a problem and when it does not, recommend proportionate policy responses, and reason a localised, policy-aware blockchain recommendation grounded in your own context.
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to:
- Explain what a blockchain is and the four stages by which a transaction becomes an immutable block.
- Evaluate blockchain's five defining characteristics against its four real limitations to judge where it genuinely fits a problem.
- Identify the spheres where blockchain is being applied across Africa and the characteristic that makes it suitable for each.
- Apply the seven key recommendations for blockchain policy to reason a localised, policy-aware recommendation for your own context.
Who is this course for?
This course is designed for policymakers, regulators, and public sector leaders across Africa. It is highly beneficial for individuals who are:
- Responsible for digital transformation, ICT regulation, or blockchain policy, strategy, and legislation.
- Reviewing proposals to use blockchain in their sector or making procurement decisions about distributed-ledger systems.
- Working on regional integration, interoperability, or digital public infrastructure in the public and development sectors.
Course Introduction: SANIA Platform Onboarding
Welcome to the official onboarding course for the Smart Africa Youth Chapter. This course is designed to transition you into the SANIA (Smart Africa Network for Innovation and Accelerators) ecosystem — a pan-African digital hub connecting startups, ecosystem enablers, investors, and innovators.
Course Overview
The primary goal of this training is to empower young innovators (ages 15 to 35) by providing the tools and networks necessary to drive economic growth and sustainable development across Africa. Through this module, you will participate in our core onboarding event: the Youth Innovation Webinar.
Key Learning Objectives
- Master the SANIA Platform: Learn to create a profile, join communities, and find ecosystem opportunities.
- Product Thinking: Participate in the "Fall In Love With The Problem" session led by Product Sensei Chidi Afulezi to learn how to test risky assumptions and understand customer pain points.
- Community Ownership: Discover how to create and manage youth-led communities — such as Country Youth Chapters or Startup Builder groups.
- Collaboration: Foster cross-country collaboration between participants from Sierra Leone, Congo Brazzaville, The Gambia, Gabon, South Africa, Chad, Nigeria, Malawi, and beyond.
What to Expect
This course follows a structured timeline for March and April 2025, ensuring you move from initial setup to active ecosystem participation.
- Live Onboarding: A live demo and walkthrough where you will create your account and take your first actions on the platform.
- Continuous Engagement: Access to monthly challenges, including pitch competitions and AI use case contests.
- Recognition: Opportunities for top performers to be featured as the "Youth Innovator of the Month" or highlighted in the SANIA newsletter.
Transforming Africa through Technology and Innovation.
Introducción al Curso: Incorporación a la Plataforma SANIA
Bienvenido al curso oficial de incorporación para el Capítulo Juvenil de Smart Africa. Este curso está diseñado para facilitar su transición al ecosistema SANIA (Red de Smart Africa para la Innovación y Aceleradoras) — un centro digital panafricano que conecta a empresas emergentes, facilitadores del ecosistema, inversores e innovadores.
Resumen del Curso
El objetivo principal de esta capacitación es empoderar a los jóvenes innovadores (de 15 a 35 años) brindándoles las herramientas y redes necesarias para impulsar el crecimiento económico y el desarrollo sostenible en toda África. A través de este módulo, participará en nuestro evento central de incorporación: el Seminario Web sobre Innovación Juvenil.
Objetivos Clave de Aprendizaje
- Dominar la Plataforma SANIA: Aprenda a crear un perfil, unirse a comunidades y encontrar oportunidades en el ecosistema.
- Pensamiento de Producto: Participe en la sesión "Enamórate del Problema" dirigida por el Product Sensei Chidi Afulezi para aprender a probar suposiciones arriesgadas y entender los puntos de dolor del cliente.
- Sentido de Pertenencia Comunitario: Descubra cómo crear y gestionar comunidades lideradas por jóvenes — como los Capítulos Juveniles por País o grupos de Constructores de Startups.
- Colaboración: Fomentar la colaboración transfronteriza entre participantes de Sierra Leona, Congo Brazzaville, Gambia, Gabón, Sudáfrica, Chad, Nigeria, Malaui y otros países.
Qué Esperar
Este curso sigue un cronograma estructurado para marzo y abril de 2025, asegurando que pase de la configuración inicial a la participación activa en el ecosistema.
- Incorporación en Vivo: Una demostración en vivo y un recorrido donde creará su cuenta y realizará sus primeras acciones en la plataforma.
- Compromiso Continuo: Acceso a desafíos mensuales, que incluyen concursos de presentaciones (pitches) y de casos de uso de IA.
- Reconocimiento: Oportunidades para que los miembros más destacados sean nombrados "Innovador Juvenil del Mes" o aparezcan en el boletín de SANIA.
Transformando África a través de la Tecnología y la Innovación.