Data Science Nigeria

Our Products

FinTech⇁

Finchat is an AI-powered financial chatbot that helps individuals and small business owners take control of their finances.

EdTech⇁

uLearn is an AI-powered augmented learning platform that delivers interactive and personalised learning to Primary and Secondary school students, helping them achieve improved academic performances.

RetailTech⇁

SpotOn uses Artificial Intelligence to discover, create and optimize opportunities for individuals, small, medium, and large businesses through highly localized on-ground truth and geographical nano-behaviours

EdTech⇁

Macrotutor is a tutors on-demand platform that allows schools and parents to request and engage qualified in-class tutors in STEM-based subjects and pay as convenient. Tutoring could be online or physical, depending on users’ preferences.

HealthTech⇁

PrescribeWrite is an OCR-powered health platform that recognizes hand-written prescriptions, thereby reducing error in interpretation by patients in low-resourced communities.

EdTech⇁

AI Adaptive learning engine built on basic feature phones and SMS to support real-time learning. Currently supporting 8 millions learners with funding support by the Mastercard Foundation

FinTech⇁

NaLie is a real-time validation system that properly verifies text messages while ensuring data privacy in order to filter text-based financial fraud and fake messages. The aim is to proactively detect and prevent these types of text-based financial fraud and fake messages from successfully soliciting information and funds from unsuspecting users.

CareerTech⇁

CV Ranker is used to rank the best CVs that match a given job description. A job description for a particular role is uploaded. Then, one or more CVs are also uploaded. The result is a ranking in descending order of how the various CVs match.

Our Projects, Products and Services

Eko360 – Lagos State Data Management and Analytics Platform

eko360 is a comprehensive Data Management and Analytics Platform designed to transform how Lagos State collects, manages, and utilizes data for governance and public service delivery. Built on the core pillars of data collection, data management, and data visualization, the platform enables end-to-end analytics capabilities that support real-time decision-making and long-term planning. It aggregates historical datasets from across Lagos State’s ministries, offering pattern recognition and forecasting through structured insights. With its dedicated mobile application, eko360 facilitates real-time data collection, enabling dynamic data updates and the generation of derived datasets that deepen contextual understanding.
The platform also integrates geospatial analytics powered by Lagos State’s spatial data infrastructure, delivering location-based insights through an intuitive and accessible interface. This allows users to explore, analyze, and apply data insights in a format that is simple and usable by both technical and non-technical stakeholders. By offering self- service access to AI-powered insights, eko360 empowers government officials, citizens, and researchers to interact with data in meaningful ways that enhance public accountability, transparency, and governance efficiency.
Currently in use across nine ministries in Lagos State, the platform has already trained over 100 government staff in data analytics and AI-based decision support. This has strengthened institutional capacity for evidence-driven policymaking and improved the responsiveness of public services. Funded by the Gates Foundation, eko360 stands as a flagship innovation in digital governance, showcasing how technology and data can be harnessed to build smarter, more inclusive, and citizen-responsive government systems.

Mastercard Foundation-
AI-enabled Adaptive Learning for Inclusive Education for 8 million learners

DSN EdTech AI-enabled Adaptive learning engine is an innovative educational technology solution designed to deliver personalised, accessible, and equitable learning experiences to over 8 million learners, especially those from low-income households without access to the internet or digital devices. This AI-driven adaptive learning platform utilises a combination of audio-based lessons and interactive SMS to bridge critical educational gaps, allowing students with only basic feature phones to participate in structured, high-quality learning. Through two-way interactive classes delivered via SMS, students receive concise summaries, definitions, quizzes, and revision prompts tailored to their progress and comprehension level.
The platform also integrates geospatial analytics powered by Lagos State’s spatial data infrastructure, delivering location-based insights through an intuitive and accessible interface. This allows users to explore, analyze, and apply data insights in a format that is simple and usable by both technical and non-technical stakeholders. By offering self- service access to AI-powered insights, eko360 empowers government officials, citizens, and researchers to interact with data in meaningful ways that enhance public accountability, transparency, and governance efficiency.
At the core of the platform is a sophisticated adaptive knowledge management engine that uses predictive analytics and AI-powered recommendation systems to personalize learning paths. This system continuously monitors each learner’s performance, analyzing patterns in quiz responses, revision engagement, and intervention needs to dynamically adjust content delivery. As a result, each learner follows a unique path to mastery—advancing at their own pace, receiving timely interventions, or moving to more advanced topics based on demonstrated proficiency.

This AI-enabled adaptive learning solution has proven particularly transformative during school closures, ensuring continuity of education for millions of underserved learners. The addition of a USSD-based learning and quiz platform has further extended its reach to rural areas with minimal connectivity, demonstrating the solution’s commitment to inclusion and scale.

Awards

This product has won the Global UNESCO IRCAI Top 100 Products in the world on AI

SpotOn – Realtime Geospatial Addressing Generation System

SpotOn is a geospatial AI-powered platform designed to revolutionize location identity, economic inclusion, and digital commerce for individuals, households, and small businesses, particularly in underserved or informally mapped communities. At its core, SpotOn converts any 11-digit phone number into a precise geographic coordinate—longitude and latitude—effectively transforming that number into a verifiable digital address. This novel approach solves the persistent challenge of poor or non-existent locational identification, which often excludes micro and small businesses from formal economic systems, service delivery, and digital opportunities.

Beyond addressing and identification, SpotOn extends its functionality into a robust economic empowerment platform. It links each phone-number-based address to a unique digital wallet and a micro-marketplace, enabling users to transact, showcase products and services, and gain visibility in the digital economy. This integration empowers informal vendors, rural entrepreneurs, and gig workers to participate in digital trade, access financial services, and connect with customers without needing physical infrastructure or formal registration.

SpotOn also serves as a powerful tool for collecting and managing geo-referenced datasets, supporting multimodal data capture that can inform planning, service delivery, and policy development. This feature makes it valuable not only for individual users but also for development organizations, local governments, and digital infrastructure initiatives looking to gather hyperlocal data in underrepresented communities.

By combining geospatial intelligence, digital identity, commerce, and financial inclusion in one scalable platform, SpotOn provides an innovative solution to systemic barriers that prevent millions from fully participating in the formal economy. It redefines how location, identity, and opportunity intersect—transforming something as simple as a phone number into a gateway for growth, visibility, and inclusion in the digital age.

The application has been applied to digitalize over 400 registered Patent Proprietary Medicine Vendors (PPMVs) across Katsina, Kaduna and Akwa Ibom states to support the easy identification of local health service providers with ease and speed.

Awards

This product was a finalist at the CISCO Global Problem Solver Challenge in 2022.

AI-powered Family Planning Chatbot

The Generative AI-Powered Family Planning Chatbot is an intelligent, conversational digital health tool designed to deliver accurate, empathetic, and personalized family planning information and counselling in three major Nigerian languages. Built with advanced generative AI technology, the chatbot aligns with globally recognized family planning counselling protocols while being deeply rooted in local cultural, linguistic, and social contexts. Its language capabilities are finely tuned to reflect the natural speech patterns, slang, and idioms of users—particularly youth and women in conservative Northern Nigerian communities—making the chatbot feel both relatable and trustworthy.

By providing a private and stigma-free space for engagement, the chatbot empowers users to explore sensitive topics such as contraception, sexual health, and reproductive choices without fear of judgment. It serves as a vital bridge to trusted information, helping to address long-standing myths and misconceptions while promoting informed, autonomous decision-making. The chatbot’s offline-first and low-bandwidth functionality further ensures accessibility for hard-to-reach and underserved populations who may lack consistent internet access or feel uncomfortable approaching traditional healthcare providers.

More than a technology solution, the chatbot is a culturally attuned companion that democratizes access to health information, strengthens public health communication, and extends the reach of family planning services to where they are most needed. Its deployment represents a bold step toward inclusive, human-centered digital health innovation that understands not only what users need but how they speak, live, and make decisions. This transformative intervention was supported by the Gates Foundation as part of ongoing efforts to advance equitable healthcare access through AI-driven solutions.

This intervention was funded by Gates Foundation

End-to-end AI-powered Analytics Platform for Universities

The End-to-End AI-Powered Analytics Platform for Universities is an intelligent data analysis and decision-support solution designed specifically for academic institutions to enhance planning, performance tracking, and data-driven governance. This comprehensive platform leverages artificial intelligence to automate the ingestion, processing, and visualization of multi-year institutional data, transforming static records into dynamic, actionable insights that support strategic academic management.

Its first implementation was at the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, where the platform consolidated and analyzed over a decade of historical academic data. Through AI-enabled dashboards and predictive analytics, the platform provides real-time insights into student performance, course outcomes, departmental trends, and other critical variables that influence learning outcomes and institutional effectiveness.

The solution automates the data preparation process, enabling seamless aggregation of legacy academic records and ensuring consistency and accuracy across datasets. With an intuitive dashboard interface, university administrators, department heads, and policy-makers can monitor progress, identify at-risk learners, plan targeted interventions, and manage resources more efficiently.

Designed to elevate institutional planning and quality assurance, the platform serves as a transformative tool for achieving excellence in academic delivery. It empowers universities with the tools needed to anticipate challenges, streamline operations, and foster a culture of continuous improvement. This AI-powered platform is setting a new standard in higher education analytics by bridging the gap between data and decision-making in Nigerian universities and beyond.

Real-time Call Centre Audio Analyzer for Actionable Decision-making

The Audio Analyzer is a cutting-edge AI-powered audio analytics solution developed to enhance service delivery within family planning call centers. It leverages a combination of speaker diarization, speech-to-text transcription, and large language model analysis to extract actionable insights from client-agent conversations. By distinguishing between the voices of clients and agents, the tool accurately transcribes each interaction and analyzes the content for emotional tone, sentiment, and thematic relevance.

This solution is designed to provide deep insights into the quality of client engagement, the responsiveness and empathy of call center agents, and emerging concerns or misconceptions voiced by callers. It further identifies culturally specific terms and idiolectal expressions related to sexual and reproductive health, helping to close communication gaps and enabling the development of more localized and effective AI-powered chatbots. Implemented on a year-long corpus of Family Planning call center audio recordings, the Audio Analyzer supports both service optimization and AI model improvement. The system provides valuable data to inform agent training, policy adjustments, and the design of targeted interventions. It serves as a scalable method to measure and improve client-centeredness in FP services, while also contributing to the development of contextually intelligent digital health tools tailored to underserved populations

This project was funded by Gates Foundation

DiCert – Students Certificate Generation and Verification Platform

DiCert is a secure, scalable, and AI-integrated digital credentialing platform built on Sunbird RC, a trusted open-source Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) framework. Designed to transform how governments, educational institutions, and organizations issue and manage credentials, DiCert offers an end-to-end solution for the creation, verification, and lifecycle management of digitally verifiable certificates. It ensures the authenticity, integrity, and accessibility of academic and professional records while significantly reducing the risks of fraud, forgery, and administrative inefficiencies.

With its modular architecture and interoperability features, DiCert enables seamless integration into existing educational and administrative systems. The platform not only eliminates manual certificate handling processes but also empowers institutions to automate large-scale credential issuance with full transparency and trust. Its design aligns with global standards for digital trust, privacy, and open infrastructure, making it future-ready for both local and cross-border credential validation.

Deployed at scale in Edo State, Nigeria, DiCert has already issued over 700,000 credentials as of early 2025, successfully clearing a multiyear backlog of examination certificates dating back to 2019. The platform is now being expanded to cover termly academic results across Basic and Senior Secondary Schools, enabling continuous and real-time credentialing throughout the academic lifecycle.

What sets DiCert apart is its integration with AI capabilities that allow for contextual insight generation at the learner level, turning static credentials into rich, interpretable learning data that can guide educational interventions and performance tracking. By combining digital public infrastructure with intelligent analytics, DiCert is not just a credentialing tool—it is a catalyst for systemic reform in education administration and digital trust infrastructure.

Finchat – Personalized Financial Advisory via chat interface

FinChat is an AI-powered financial advisory chatbot that leverages fine-tuned Large Language Models (LLMs) specifically adapted for the Yoruba language and the Nigerian financial ecosystem. Designed to promote financial inclusion and literacy among underserved populations—particularly informal traders, artisans, and local businesswomen—FinChat delivers personalized, culturally relevant financial guidance through intuitive text and audio responses in local dialects.

By integrating natural language processing (NLP), Optical Character Recognition (OCR), and Text-to-Speech (TTS) technologies, FinChat empowers users to understand complex financial documents, translate unfamiliar financial terminology, and receive real-time advisory support without requiring fluency in English or formal financial training. Its tailored loan advisory engine provides context-specific recommendations, enabling users to evaluate loan products, understand repayment terms, and make informed financial choices.

FinChat’s core features include the translation of financial terms and documents into Yoruba, voice-enabled interactions for low-literacy users, and personalized financial coaching—all within a private and user-friendly digital environment. These functionalities are particularly impactful in rural and low-income urban areas where access to traditional financial advisory services is limited.

The platform has demonstrated significant impact: 93% of users reported improved privacy and convenience when accessing financial information, 80% affirmed the accuracy and cultural relevance of the explanations provided, and 90% expressed increased willingness to adopt digital financial tools. By breaking down language and literacy barriers, FinChat is not only enhancing financial decision-making but also fostering greater trust in digital financial services. As a scalable solution rooted in linguistic and cultural intelligence, FinChat represents a new frontier in inclusive fintech innovation, advancing digital empowerment for populations traditionally excluded from formal financial ecosystems.

The solution was one of the 2023 Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) Grand Challenges award recipient

Data Fluency for Organizational Data Readiness Assessment

Data Fluency is a next-generation data readiness and literacy platform designed to help organizations build a culture of responsible, ethical, and informed data use across all levels of the enterprise. It serves as a strategic tool for assessing and enhancing an organization’s data maturity, empowering both individuals and institutions to better understand digital rights, data governance, and the practical application of responsible data practices.

Through its structured and adaptive assessment modules, Data Fluency evaluates how effectively data is communicated, interpreted, and integrated into everyday decision-making processes. It provides organizations with tailored diagnostics and feedback that reveal key gaps in data literacy, information flow, and cross-functional data utilization. The platform supports the development of concrete action plans that improve enterprise-wide data fluency—enabling leadership, operational teams, and frontline staff to engage with data more confidently and responsibly.

More than just a diagnostic tool, Data Fluency is a capacity-building engine that promotes digital accountability, enhances compliance with data ethics standards, and aligns organizational culture with the principles of transparency, privacy, and informed decision-making. It supports institutions in navigating the increasingly complex landscape of digital transformation by ensuring their workforce is not only data-aware but also equipped to use data as a strategic asset.

By embedding responsible data practices into the DNA of organizations, Data Fluency contributes to long-term institutional resilience, risk mitigation, and more equitable outcomes across sectors. It is a critical enabler for any organization seeking to operationalize data ethics and unlock the full value of its information assets in a rapidly evolving digital world.

Edo State Conversational Analytics Chatbot (EdoDiDA Chatbot)

EdoDiDA Chatbot is an AI-powered, Large Language Model-enabled conversational platform designed to democratize access to complex government data and transform it into simple, actionable insights. Built specifically for use across ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs), EdoDiDA empowers both technical and non-technical government officials to seamlessly interact with public data in real-time using natural, conversational queries.

Through its intelligent design and intuitive interface, the chatbot enables users—from executive policymakers to operational staff—to ask questions, explore datasets, and receive instant, easy-to-understand answers drawn directly from MDA data repositories. This allows decision-makers to bypass traditional data bottlenecks and instead engage directly with information critical to program monitoring, policy formulation, budget planning, and service delivery oversight.

Currently deployed across over 20 MDAs in Edo State, the EdoDiDA Chatbot serves as a centralized knowledge engine, promoting evidence-based governance, accelerating response times, and increasing public sector efficiency. By making complex datasets easily accessible through natural language conversations, the chatbot supports transparency, improves institutional agility, and fosters a culture of informed decision-making within government.

EdoDiDA is more than a chatbot—it is a strategic digital governance tool that strengthens public accountability and ensures that government data works for everyone, not just data analysts. It represents a significant leap toward inclusive, responsive, and intelligent public service delivery powered by AI.

AI-Powered Health Program Intelligent Microplanning Platform

The AI-Powered Health Program Intelligent Microplanning Platform is an interactive, AI-driven data chatbot developed to streamline access to critical microplanning and programmatic data for frontline health workers. Designed with a simple, user-friendly interface, the platform enables healthcare providers—particularly those operating in field settings—to retrieve real-time, actionable information essential for improving service delivery across the Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child, and Adolescent Health and Nutrition (RMNCA-HN) continuum of care.

By integrating AI and natural language capabilities, the platform allows health workers to engage with complex datasets through conversational queries, eliminating the need for technical expertise or manual data navigation. Whether seeking commodity allocation guidance, immunization schedules, or intervention planning data, users can receive accurate and context-specific insights instantly, empowering them to plan and deliver health services more efficiently and effectively.

The solution has been successfully piloted in two local government areas in Kaduna State, where it was used to validate commodity procurement formulas during the state’s annual microplanning process. This pilot demonstrated the platform’s potential to improve data accuracy, support timely planning, and reduce errors in health resource allocation.

By enhancing field-level access to critical data, the AI-Powered Microplanning Platform not only improves frontline decision-making but also contributes to stronger health system responsiveness and better health outcomes. It represents a significant step toward leveraging AI to close the information gap in community health systems and optimize RMNCA-HN program execution in low-resource settings.

CV Ranker – Intelligent Candidate Matching for Smarter Recruitment

CV Ranker is an AI-powered talent-matching solution designed to streamline and enhance the recruitment process by intelligently evaluating and ranking résumés based on their alignment with a specific job description. The system enables recruiters, hiring managers, and talent acquisition teams to make faster, more objective, and data-informed decisions when screening candidates for open roles.

To use CV Ranker, a job description for a particular role is uploaded into the system, followed by the submission of multiple CVs or résumés from interested candidates. The tool then analyzes each CV in relation to the job description using natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning algorithms that understand context, relevance, skill matching, and domain-specific keywords. It outputs a ranked list of candidates in descending order of compatibility, showing how well each CV aligns with the requirements and expectations of the role.

By automating the initial screening stage, CV Ranker reduces the manual workload, eliminates unconscious bias, and increases the accuracy and efficiency of the hiring process. It is especially beneficial for high-volume recruitment environments or roles that attract hundreds of applications. Additionally, the system can be fine-tuned for specific industries or job families, providing a tailored recruitment intelligence engine that improves both speed and quality of hire. CV Ranker empowers organizations to identify top talent faster and more confidently, turning recruitment into a more strategic and results-driven function.

Edo State Data for Governance Platform

The Edo State Data Governance Portal is a next-generation data intelligence platform powered by advanced analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), and large language models (LLMs). It is purpose-built to enable real-time data visualization, contextual insight generation, and inclusive decision-making across the governance ecosystem of Edo State. By integrating data from ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs), citizens, and relevant external sources, the platform facilitates a unified, evidence-based approach to public sector planning and service delivery.

At its core, the platform features a highly customized implementation of DHIS2, underpinned by a robust data architecture. This foundation is enhanced with advanced capabilities such as individual-level tracker programs to collect and manage citizen feedback, automated trigger functions that issue real-time alerts to stakeholders via SMS and email when predefined thresholds are met, and dynamic dashboards that allow MDAs to monitor, filter, and act on emerging issues at ward, local government, and state levels. The portal’s geospatial engine enables granular location tracking with high-resolution NDVI mapping, while an integrated scenario planning module supports forecasting, risk simulation, and predictive modeling.

In addition, the platform features chatbot integration, which demystifies and democratizes access to complex government datasets, empowering a broader range of users—from citizens to policymakers—to engage meaningfully with public data.

The Edo State Data Governance Portal plays a pivotal role in strengthening executive decision-making by providing timely, data-driven insights that inform inclusive policy development and strategic resource allocation. It promotes transparency through centralized data management and ensures that service delivery decisions are rooted in real needs, as identified through both citizen input and institutional data flows. By bridging the gap between government and grassroots realities, the platform enhances citizen participation and helps rebuild public trust in governance processes.

To further institutionalize a data-driven culture, the project has upskilled over 400 public service staff across Edo State in data visualization and analytics. These empowered professionals now lead insight generation within their MDAs, reinforcing the portal’s role as a catalyst for sustainable, responsive, and accountable governance.

PrescribeWrite -
AI-powered medical prescription management platform

PrescribeWrite is an AI-powered medical prescription management platform designed to enhance medication safety and accuracy, particularly in low-resource and underserved healthcare settings. Leveraging advanced Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology, PrescribeWrite accurately reads and interprets handwritten prescriptions—a common and often error-prone format in many parts of the world. By digitizing and decoding handwritten text with high precision, the platform significantly reduces the risk of medication errors during drug dispensing and administration.
Engineered with accessibility in mind, PrescribeWrite is optimized for use on low-cost smartphones, ensuring its relevance and effectiveness in remote and digitally underserved communities. Its simple, one-click functionality allows healthcare workers, pharmacists, and even trained community health aides to seamlessly capture prescription data and verify it in real-time, without requiring extensive training or infrastructure.
The platform is not only a powerful tool for improving patient safety, but also an enabler of smarter, more efficient health system workflows. By converting handwritten prescriptions into structured digital records, PrescribeWrite helps support data-driven health monitoring and reporting, making it easier for facilities to track medicine usage patterns, reduce stock-out risks, and align with essential drug protocols.

Awards

PrescribeWrite was selected as one of the UNESCO IRCAI Global Top 100 Innovative AI Products in 2023, affirming its value as a scalable solution addressing critical challenges in global health equity and digital transformation of frontline care delivery.

Google AI Powered program for Women in Northern Nigeria (#ArewaLadies4Tech)

Arewa Ladies4Tech is a pioneering, first-of-its-kind capacity development initiative designed to empower 5,000 women and girls in Northern Nigeria with world-class skills in Artificial Intelligence (AI), Data Science, and related emerging digital technologies. The program is purposefully crafted to bridge the gender gap in tech and position women from underserved regions as work-ready professionals, cutting-edge researchers, and AI-driven entrepreneurs capable of building scalable, data-powered solutions that generate jobs, drive innovation, and contribute to inclusive economic growth.

Through an intensive, hands-on curriculum and mentorship-driven learning experience, participants gain practical expertise in AI model development, data analytics, machine learning applications, and the ethical use of digital technologies. The program not only focuses on technical proficiency but also emphasizes entrepreneurial thinking, empowering participants to transform their skills into AI-enabled enterprises that respond to local and global challenges.

Hosted in Kaduna State and implemented across the Northern region, the program has successfully trained and empowered over 5,200 women and girls, surpassing its initial target. Participants have gone on to pursue careers in tech, lead AI research initiatives, and launch innovative startups—demonstrating the transformative impact of inclusive digital capacity building.

Arewa Ladies4Tech stands as a flagship model for gender-inclusive digital transformation, showing how targeted interventions can unlock the potential of women as key drivers of Africa’s AI and innovation ecosystem.

Microsoft AI Developer Program

The Microsoft AI Developers Program is a strategic capacity-building initiative designed to equip developers within government institutions with advanced, hands-on skills in Artificial Intelligence to drive intelligent, data-driven public service delivery. Through immersive training sessions, expert mentorship, and direct access to cutting-edge Microsoft tools such as Azure AI and Co-pilot, the program empowers public sector developers to design and deploy impactful, locally relevant AI solutions that address real-world governance and service challenges.

With a focus on practical application, the program goes beyond theoretical learning to foster a new generation of AI-skilled professionals within the public workforce. Participants learn how to harness AI to automate routine processes, enhance decision-making, and improve responsiveness in key sectors such as healthcare, education, infrastructure, and security. This not only improves operational efficiency but also strengthens citizen engagement and service transparency.

Targeted to train over 200 developers across various government agencies, the Microsoft AI Developers Program is a catalyst for public sector digital transformation, enabling institutions to transition from legacy systems to smarter, more adaptive and inclusive technologies. The program also reinforces responsible AI adoption by embedding principles of ethical use, data governance, and transparency in all aspects of solution development.

By nurturing in-house AI talent within government, the initiative builds long-term institutional capacity and ensures that digital innovation is sustainable, context-aware, and aligned with the evolving needs of the citizens it serves.

NVIDIA/ Deep Learning Institute (DLI) Program

The DSN and NVIDIA Deep Learning Institute (DLI) Program is a self-paced, high-impact learning initiative designed to democratize access to world-class deep learning education and empower a new wave of AI talent across Africa. Focused on equipping developers, data scientists, and researchers with the core competencies needed to harness deep learning technologies, the program serves as a foundational gateway for building, deploying, and scaling intelligent AI-driven solutions in both industry and research.
Through strategic collaboration with NVIDIA, the program provided participants with access to the globally recognized NVIDIA DLI learning platform, offering hands-on, certification-based courses tailored to real-world deep learning applications. To foster community engagement and inclusive participation, the initiative successfully mobilized over 1,500 learners nationwide during the 2024 GPU Technology Conference (GTC) Watch Party, a flagship activation that brought cutting-edge AI innovation to grassroots participants.
In addition, more than 250 community members were enrolled in the NVIDIA DLI platform to undertake certified deep learning training. Beyond individual learning, the program strategically established a sustainable training pipeline by grooming community members to become NVIDIA DLI Ambassadors and Instructors—creating a peer-led, scalable model for continuous AI capacity building.
The DSN–NVIDIA DLI Program is a platform for long-term ecosystem development, designed to foster technical excellence, knowledge exchange, and AI leadership within Africa’s growing innovation landscape. It exemplifies how strategic partnerships and open access to global tools can empower local talent and accelerate the continent’s position in the global AI economy.

Google 3MTT /DeepTech_Ready Upskilling Programme

The DeepTech_Ready Upskilling Program is a national talent development initiative designed to equip young Nigerians with foundational technical skills and job-ready competencies in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (AI). Delivered through a highly localized, project-based curriculum, the program blends technical learning with real-world application, cohort-based collaboration, expert mentorship, and dedicated job-matching support. It aims to build a pipeline of skilled professionals ready to thrive in Nigeria’s fast-growing digital economy.
Implemented under the 3 Million Technical Talent (3MTT) initiative of the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy and supported by Google.org, DeepTech_Ready reflects a strategic investment in workforce readiness and inclusive tech advancement. The curriculum spans five specialized AI tracks, comprising nine comprehensive courses and over 54 practical topics, all taught through 54 step-by-step hands-on walkthrough videos developed by a panel of nine seasoned industry experts with a combined 92 years of experience.
Currently supporting over 905 learners in its first cohort across all 37 states in Nigeria, the program provides both virtual and physical learning access through a network of 50 partner AI learning centers, ensuring that infrastructural limitations do not impede participation. These centers offer learners access to essential tools, resources, and a structured environment for immersive, high-impact learning.
DeepTech_Ready is a transformative platform for future-proofing Nigeria’s youth, promoting digital inclusion, and preparing a new generation of data and AI professionals who will drive innovation, productivity, and economic opportunity in Nigeria and beyond.

AI for Humanitarian in Partnership with University College London

The ‘AI Solutions for Humanitarian Challenges’ initiative is designed to support the uptake of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in the humanitarian sector. The project explored the potential of AI in shaping future humanitarian AI interventions. The project supported 10 humanitarian organization grantees across Africa and Europe to articulate and apply Artificial Intelligence in their contexts.
The grantees were guided through a bespoke curriculum to build their knowledge from scratch in the field of AI using relevant use cases and examples in the humanitarian field. The curriculum included foundational AI knowledge, ethical considerations, data visualization techniques, AI risks, including capabilities required in running and deploying AI solutions. The participants will participate in group discussions and hands-on exercises using AI tools. There were expert sessions from the field to provide real-world insights into best and following practices and receive one-on-one support from mentors.

The project strengthened the capacity of humanitarian organizations in AI adoption through tailored training programs and support. A series of AI-related scenarios was developed to address specific humanitarian challenges identified during the foundational research phase. 

The initiative was sponsored by the UK Humanitarian Innovation Hub and Elrha’s Humanitarian Innovation Fund (HIF) in partnership with the University College London.

Meta Geospatial and Mobility Data for Health Solutions in Africa

Data Science Nigeria, in partnership with Meta, launched a high impact multi-country capacity-building initiative focused on the application of geospatial and mobility data for public health innovation in Africa. Using Facebook’s Data for Good dataset, the program trained over 1,400 participants across Nigeria, Kenya, Senegal, and South Africa, with more than 6,000 additional views on YouTube post-training. The training equipped students, researchers, and practitioners with practical skills to derive actionable insights from mobility patterns and geospatial data. We continue to engage universities and organizations to embed this knowledge into their systems for long-term impact.
Following the training, participants transitioned into real-world applications through a continent-wide hackathon. Multidisciplinary teams collaborated to build local, data-driven solutions tackling health challenges unique to their regions. A total of 26 solution prototypes were submitted, addressing areas like disease modeling, healthcare access, and emergency response optimization. These innovations are now being reviewed for potential funding and further development.
The project also received strong industry support. ESRI, the global leader in geospatial technology, provided free access to its ArcGIS platform for all participants, enabling them to design and test their ideas using world-class tools. This partnership amplified the program’s reach and effectiveness, demonstrating the power of cross-sector collaboration in driving scalable impact through data science and innovation.

Tony Blair Institute AI Policy Project

The AI policy project titled “From Toolkit to Embedded Practice: Accelerating AI Adoption in Africa through Embedded Institutional Capacity Building and Minimum Viable Skillset Development for the Public Sector”, in partnership with Tony Blair Institute for Change, is an initiative with a focus on accelerating Artificial Intelligence adoption in Africa through policy implementation. The project featured the development of an AI policy institutional capacity building framework around seven pillars: Capacity assessment, reskilling, and upskilling; Capacity co-production and co-ownership; Capacity maintenance; Capacity recognition and reward system; Capacity development partnerships; Capacity community of practice &Talent attraction management and development.

The project also developed an AI institutional capacity building curriculum built around the TBI four levels of AI Readiness Index toolkit: AI-Aware, AI-Starter, AI-Ready, and AI-Mature, with seven implementation indices: vision, ethics and regulations, human capital, digital/data infrastructure, computing resources, data governance, and technology sector. The curriculum serves as a guide for democratizing AI knowledge in the public sector to promote adoption.

Data Science Open Source Platforms

DSN AfriFashion40000

AfriFashion is a pioneering, openly accessible image dataset curated to support the development of computer vision and artificial intelligence applications tailored to African cultural contexts. Specifically focused on the domain of contemporary African fashion, the dataset contains 40,000 high-quality images that have been meticulously categorized into eight distinct classes, each representing a popular and culturally significant African fashion style.
Designed to serve as a foundational resource for researchers, developers, and AI innovators, AfriFashion40000 addresses the critical gap in African-representative datasets, particularly within the global fashion and visual recognition space. The dataset showcases a rich diversity of fabrics, silhouettes, and cultural expressions that are often underrepresented in mainstream AI training corpora. From vibrant traditional prints to modern Afrocentric designs, each class reflects the unique aesthetic and cultural identity embedded in African fashion narratives.
AfriFashion40000 enables a wide range of use cases, including training machine learning models for fashion classification, recommendation systems, visual search tools, and culturally aware virtual stylists. It also supports academic research in computer vision, AI fairness, and the localization of AI technologies for African markets.
By making this dataset openly available, AfriFashion40000 contributes to the decolonization of AI datasets, fosters innovation in creative industries, and empowers African developers and researchers to build inclusive, culturally grounded AI solutions that resonate with local contexts while contributing to the global digital economy

AfriRazer

AfriRazer is an innovative deep learning model specifically developed for background and skin segmentation in African fashion images, addressing a critical gap in culturally contextualized computer vision applications. Designed with the unique visual characteristics of African fashion photography in mind—such as richly patterned textiles, varied skin tones, and diverse backdrops—AfriRazer enables high-precision image preprocessing for fashion-focused AI systems.
This model is trained on a curated dataset featuring African fashion imagery, allowing it to accurately detect, isolate, and remove image backgrounds while preserving garment features and ensuring the respectful and accurate rendering of skin tones. AfriRazer’s output enhances downstream tasks such as fashion classification, virtual try-ons, image-based recommendations, e-commerce product listing, and digital catalog creation, where clean, focused images are essential.
What sets AfriRazer apart is its cultural specificity and adaptability. Unlike generic segmentation tools, it is optimized for the texture-rich, color-dense nature of African fashion designs, ensuring minimal distortion of visual integrity during background removal. It also supports workflows that prioritize ethical AI design, including fairness in skin tone representation and bias-aware model training.
AfriRazer plays a foundational role in enabling AI innovation within Africa’s fashion and creative industries, offering a critical preprocessing tool for developers, researchers, and startups building localized, AI-driven fashion applications. By centering African aesthetic contexts, it contributes to the broader mission of decolonizing visual AI and fostering inclusive, culturally responsive machine learning tools.