Africa IoT & AI Challenge launched in Egypt

By Hamed Mahmoud

The activities of the Africa Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence Challenge (Africa IoT & IT Challenge) were officially launched during the closing ceremony of the International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things (IEEE GCAIoT). The challenge is being held in cooperation with many regional and local partners throughout the MENA region; including in the foremost Academy of Scientific Research and Technology, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, and Benya Company, with the aim of preparing qualified cadres in the technical field and accelerating the process of digital transformation.

The challenge activities started in Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, Tunisia and Uganda on Tuesday May 25, followed by Nigeria, Rwanda and South Africa in the last quarter of this year.

Directed to the entire African continent via the Internet, the challenge mainly aims to build capacity in the fields of artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things and related fields for university students and young businessmen in various countries in Africa, and to help the best graduation projects and startups to be ready for investment, and to develop the environment for creativity and entrepreneurship as well as create a network to support the digital transformation movement in Africa. There is a possibility for young people to join the challenge activities from other countries.

Eng. Ahmed Mekki, Chairman and CEO of Benya, stressed the importance of the role the “Benya Ventures”, the investment arm of Benya, will play for investing in digital emerging companies with high potential in Africa, noting that the Africa Challenge will enable Benya Ventures to explore talents and scale up the current potential startups in the digital arena.

Andy Chen, President of the IEEE Technology and Engineering Management Society (TEMS), said: “We focus on people, and our collective motto is ‘Leaders make products / services for good’ where we need exceptional talent for innovation and entrepreneurship alongside technology”.

Eng. Ahmed Al-Beheiry, founder of WAKANDAI VENTURES, affirmed the company commitment to support the adoption of artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things in various industries and to provide solutions and applications to African societies that will witness the birth of a new era of prosperity and enlightenment.