Discoverability is a pressing challenge facing many African languages and resources, leaving Africa severely underrepresented in AI. This is why we are excited to partner with Mila ,through the Mila Entrepreneurship Lab, to map the African AI ecosystem. This program is dedicated to supporting AI startups that drive measurable social and economic impact. Through this partnership, we gain access to resources, research, mentorship, and a vibrant community of innovators and researchers who share our vision of creating inclusive AI solutions.
Our relationship with Mila began in 2022 when our founder, Chris Emezue, joined as a research intern under Yoshua Bengio. During that time, he conducted research on low-resource languages and explored ways to leverage AI to empower underserved languages and communities. At this point, the Lanfrica team had already been working for two years, trying to figure out the most effective way to map the ecosystem of AI in Africa, with the goal of addressing the issue of discoverability for African languages. This mission aligned perfectly with Mila’s vision of “Inspiring AI for the benefit of all.”
With guidance from Yoshua Bengio, we built a strong research foundation and refined our approach to mapping the AI ecosystem. Now, 3 years later, as we look to expand and better serve underserved African communities, partnering with Mila provides the support we need.
Why Mila
Mila’s Entrepreneurship Lab has supported over 200 entrepreneurs, providing them with mentorship, resources, and a thriving community of over 1,200 members. Some of the key ways Mila supports AI startups include:
- Strategic Mentorship: Guidance from experienced researchers and entrepreneurs who understand both the technical challenges of language AI and the business realities of scaling impact-driven startups.
- Wide Research Access: Direct access to cutting-edge research, ensuring our solution incorporates the latest advances in low-resource language technologies.
- Thriving Global Community: Connection to over 1,200 members across Mila’s ecosystem, including potential collaborators, advisors, and partners who share our vision of inclusive AI.
- Business Development Support: Resources to turn research breakthroughs into sustainable products and services that can serve African communities at scale.
“Oftentimes, our research ends up in research papers, but there is great need to provide impact to people beyond that. I believe in providing tangible impact to people by identifying a specific area or problem where your research ideas can be a solution. Mila’s Entrepreneurship Lab empowers you to incubate your research and turn them into actual, impactful solutions.” – Chris Emezue.
The future of AI will only reach its full potential when it truly reflects the diversity of the world. By working with Mila, we are not only building for Africa but also contributing to global progress in AI. Mila’s support will help us strengthen our operations, grow to 200,000 linked records by 2026, reach more communities, and deliver insights that serve the African AI community.
About Lanfrica Labs
Lanfrica is the premier organization mapping the landscape and trajectory of AI on the African continent. Our mission is to improve Africa’s digital and technological representation and empower communities to shape the technologies that affect them.
Through the Lanfrica platform, we create visibility by organizing under-represented African resources (tools, datasets, models, and applications). This helps AI practitioners, researchers, students, and anyone find diverse African datasets, models, and more to uncover overlooked contributions and build more inclusive AI.
By combining evidence-based, data-driven analysis, we highlight patterns, trends, and risks across sectors such as agriculture, climate, healthcare, and language to move toward a world where technologies, including AI, understand and better serve African contexts.
About Mila
Mila – Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute is a community of scientists and interdisciplinary teams committed to advancing artificial intelligence (AI) for the benefit of all. It is recognised for its expertise and significant contributions in areas such as language modelling, machine translation, object recognition, and generative models. With a mission to be a global pole for scientific advances that inspire innovation and the progress of AI, they extend their expertise and leadership in AI to deliver advances that will benefit all of society. Mila focuses its efforts on core research areas such as health, environment and climate change, and AI ethics.
About the Mila Entrepreneurship Lab
The Mila Entrepreneurship Lab (eLab) supports AI startups by fostering innovation within Mila’s community. It offers tailored support, including training, expert office hours, and personalized assistance, nurturing the entrepreneurial spirit and helping create startups from within the community. Mila Startups, founded by community members, are selected for scientific excellence and commitment to responsible AI, receiving funding, talent access, workspace, and expert mentorship. Since its inception, Mila Startups have raised over $52 million. The eLab has hosted over 50 events and supported more than 200 entrepreneurs, collaborating with over 30 allied organizations for expertise.
