Meta, DSN announce winners of the Llama Impact Grant for Sub-Saharan Africa

Meta, in partnership with Data Science Africa, today announced the winners of the Llama Impact Grant for Startups and Researchers at the UN General Assembly’s Unstoppable Africa 2025 event.

Each winner will receive $20,000 in funding alongside technical mentorship, networking opportunities, and engagement with policy and ecosystem stakeholders to accelerate growth and maximise societal impact.

Launched in March 2025, the 8-month program is designed to support early-stage startups leveraging open-source Llama models to address key national and regional challenges across four high-priority areas.

These include agriculture, security & safety, healthcare, and a wild card category encouraging bold, original applications of AI in any other sector with high impact potential.

With a strong focus on open innovation, the program includes a six-week incubation phase, where selected teams will receive technical training and mentorship from AI experts and industry leaders, followed by six months of extended support, including access to additional technical resources and opportunities.

Meet the Winners:

• Vambo AI (South Africa) – Co-founder and CEO Chido Dzinotyiwei is building Africa’s multilingual AI infrastructure through Vambo AI, which develops both proprietary and open-source models powering translation, transcription, generation, and search across 60+ African languages. The platform treats language as critical infrastructure, accelerating digital inclusion and innovation at scale.
• PropelMapper (South Africa) – Created by Reghardt Adriaan Pretorius and Mark Donne, PropelMapper equips agriculture advisors with AI tools that generate tailored farmer podcasts, transform debriefs into professional reports, and use satellite imagery with Llama models to provide intervention alerts, boosting farmer productivity and food security.

• Radease (Nigeria) – Taiwo Oyewole, Co-founder and CEO, leads Radease in simplifying access to safe medicines by empowering Patent and Proprietary Medicine Vendors (PPMVs) with WhatsApp-based AI tools that improve access to trusted health information and resources in underserved communities.
• TeenApp (Uganda) – Developed at Makerere University’s AI and Data Science Centre, Rahman Sanya, Lecturer and Researcher, leads TeenApp, a digital health solution that delivers accurate, youth-friendly sexual and reproductive health education and services, guided by principles of Responsible AI.
• Easy Read Africa (Rwanda) – Led by Isaac Manzi, AI and Data Innovation Advisor at GIZ and Community Manager at MbazaNLP, Easy Read Africa transforms complex documents into simplified text, visuals, and natural voice narration, making information accessible for people with cognitive and learning challenges.

“We received an incredible number of applications this year, reflecting the vibrant and growing AI ecosystem across Africa. These projects exemplify the spirit of innovation and impact that the ‘Llama Impact Grant for Startups and Researchers’ stands for. We are excited to support their journeys and look forward to seeing the positive change they will bring to their communities and beyond,” said Sherry Dzinerova, Director of AMET Public Policy, Programs, Campaigns and Product, Meta, during the announcement at GABI.

Meta’s family of Llama AI models has been downloaded more than one billion times globally. The latest version, Llama 3.3, is open source, meaning it is freely available for organisations to use, modify, and build upon.

Llama models are already being applied in projects ranging from localising educational material to expanding access to medical information in low-resource communities.

The Llama Impact Grant, launched in October 2023 as a global programme, seeks to source and scale innovative use cases of Llama that address critical challenges in education, health, agriculture, and digital inclusion.

Since its inception, the programme has attracted over 800 applications from 90+ countries, with past finalists including Digital Green’s Farmer Chat and Jacaranda Health’s PROMPTS, both delivering AI-enabled solutions for smallholder farmers and maternal health across Sub-Saharan Africa.