Meta’s Llama Impact Grant supports organisations and individuals that leverage Llama to develop solutions tailored for Sub-Saharan Africa.
Two local start-ups − Vambo AI and PropelMapper − are among the five winners of the Llama Impact Grant for start-ups and researchers based in Sub-Saharan Africa.
In March, Facebook-parent company Meta, in partnership with Data Science Africa, invited proposals from organisations and individuals across the region that leverage Llama to develop solutions tailored to Sub-Saharan Africa’s needs.
The initiative’s aim, according to a statement, is to build on Meta’s broader commitment to strengthen Africa’s artificial intelligence (AI) and innovation ecosystems.
As part of the winnings, each team has been awarded $20 000 (R346 000) in funding, alongside technical mentorship, networking opportunities and engagement with policy and ecosystem stakeholders to accelerate growth and maximise societal impact, it states.
“We received an incredible number of applications this year, reflecting the vibrant and growing AI ecosystem across Africa,” says Sherry Dzinerova, director of AMET public policy, programmes, campaigns and product at Meta.
“These projects exemplify the spirit of innovation and impact that the Llama Impact Grant for start-ups 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.”
Llama is Meta’s open source large language model. Llama models are already being applied in projects ranging from localising educational material, to expanding access to medical information in low-resource communities.
The latest version, Llama 3.3, is open source, making it freely available for organisations to use, modify and build upon, says the statement.
The Llama Impact Grant launched in October 2023 as a global programme. Since its inception, it has attracted over 800 applications from 90+ countries, with past finalists including Farmer Chat and Jacaranda Health’s Prompts, delivering AI-enabled solutions for smallholder farmers and maternal health across Sub-Saharan Africa.
More on the winning start-ups:
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 uses 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 with WhatsApp-based AI tools that improve access to trusted health information and resources in underserved communities.
TeenApp (Uganda): 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 the 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.
