Flapmax, Intel partner to advance Africa’s AI innovation

Flapmax and Intel, two US technology companies, are collaborating to promote AI innovation to drive economic development in Africa.

Flapmax, an AI business, announced the alliance details this week. It said the relationship will empower entrepreneurs in emerging regions – starting in Africa – with technological access, training, mentorship, and investment options.

According to the company, this will be conducted through its FAST Accelerator programme, which promotes and funds the next generation of enterprises and entrepreneurs across the African continent.

Flapmax opened applications for its second FAST Accelerator initiative for African start-ups last month.

Commenting on the Intel partnership, Dr Dave Ojika, founder and CEO of Flapmax, said: "Bridging the knowledge gap in technological advancement is critical to creating meaningful social impact.

“Flapmax will provide cutting-edge technology and advanced courses, such as generative AI, robotics, and deep tech, to entrepreneurs in Africa and other technologically challenged communities through this cooperation with Intel."

According to Michael Campbell, general manager of Intel Corporation's education client division, the partnership will ‘accelerate AI adoption for these communities, driving scalable business growth, optimised operations, and contributing to a more sustainable world’.

In a joint statement, the two say that programme participants will work closely with Intel through mentorship and coaching, spanning from co-innovation initiatives to sales and marketing support and go-to-market enablement, to broaden their reach to a wider audience.

Flapmax engineers will assist entrepreneurs in implementing new Intel-optimised AI hardware and software solutions, as well as scaling and fine-tuning their AI models on the Microsoft Azure cloud platform.

Participants will also have access to Microsoft 365 and Dynamics 365 developer sandboxes, as well as the Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub (up to $150,000 in cloud credits) and Azure OpenAI (containing ChatGPT, DALL-E 2, and other large language models).