InnoPower Africa, a talent and enterprise development organisation, and Luma Learn Artificial Intelligence (AI), an AI-powered education platform, have launched a Nigeria-led initiative to expand AI education across the continent.
The collaboration is designed to close Africa’s growing digital skills gap by delivering AI learning through low-cost, widely used channels such as WhatsApp.
The programme focuses on underserved communities—including students, teachers, families, and small business owners—who have traditionally been excluded from formal edtech systems due to cost and access barriers.
The platform has already supported more than 160,000 students and delivered over 4.8 million learning sessions in 11 languages, said Chris Folayan, Luma Learn AI co-founder and board chairman.
He noted that the mobile-first design allows learners to access AI education, making it particularly suited for low-resource environments.
Luma was built for the learner overlooked by every other system, Folayan added.
The initiative comes as Africa’s AI market is projected to reach between $16 billion and $18 billion by 2030, even as nearly 40% of the continent still lacks reliable internet access.
To address this, the programme adopts a "train-the-trainer" model to equip professionals who then mentor others in their communities.
Africa is not waiting for technology to arrive; Africans are already the most active AI users in the world, said Emil Ekiyor, founder and CEO of InnoPower Africa.
What is missing is structured access, training, and infrastructure—and that is exactly what this partnership builds, Ekiyor stated.
Key partnerships to drive this scale include: ECOWAS Small Business Coalition: Training 250 lead trainers to support 12,500 small businesses across West Africa.
Lagos State Employment Trust Fund: Preparing 100 trainers to reach 5, 000 entrepreneurs in the Lagos gig economy.
To scale implementation, the partners are seeking an initial $250 000 in funding to expand training resources, recruit regional experts, and strengthen AI literacy programmes.
The group warns that without inclusive access to AI education, economic inequality could widen and the continent's global competitiveness could decline.
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