Who we are ?
ACFAI (Africa Center for Artificial Intelligence) is a non-profit research center committed to leveraging AI to empower communities, promote sustainable development, and alleviate poverty across Africa.
We are a global network of over 20 AI researchers, practitioners, and changemakers, united by a shared commitment to harnessing the transformative potential of Artificial Intelligence for Africa. Our members represent a broad spectrum of academic and professional disciplines – including computer science, engineering, mathematics, law, management, economics, political science, sociology, biology, and more – reflecting the interdisciplinary nature of AI and its far-reaching impact.
Our mission
We are on a mission to empower Africa through positive Artificial Intelligence by developing impactful AI solutions, promoting responsible governance and risk management, and driving awareness, outreach, and inclusion across the continent.
Our values
We uphold the principle that artificial intelligence must be human-centered and contextually grounded. Accordingly, our commitment is to the advancement of positive AI — technologies that are not only at the forefront of innovation, but also guided by core values such as safety, security, transparency, and ethical integrity, while remaining attuned to Africa’s unique social, economic, and environmental contexts.
Our vision
We envision a vibrant pan-African ecosystem where researchers, policymakers, technologists, and citizens work together to ensure that AI becomes a positive catalyst for change across Africa. Through strong partnerships with universities, civil society, governments, and the private sector, ACFAI is helping shape a future in which AI development is rooted in African values, expertise, and priorities.
Our team
Leila AMGOUD
Scientific Advisor
I obtained a Ph.D and HdR in Artificial Intelligence from Paul Sabatier University respectively in July 1999 and June 2009. Before joining CNRS in 2001, I was a postdoctoral researcher at the university of Liverpool, UK.
My research interests lie within the broad area of knowledge representation and reasoning, in particular, Argumentation theory, Non-monotonic reasoning, Analogical reasoning, Practical reasoning, Decision making, Negotiation, Measuring inconsistency, Trust modelling, and Explainability.
Margarida Romero
Scientific Advisor
Margarida Romero is an associate professor at Universitat Internacional de Catalunya (Spain) and full professor at Université Côte d’Azur (France). After starting her career at the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, where she was awarded the best doctoral thesis in psychology, she continued her career in Canada and France. She is an international expert, collaborating with OECD, UNESCO, and European organisations. In France, she coordinates the #Scol_IA Working Group on the educational challenges of artificial intelligence in education and codirects the international MSc SmartEdTech program. Her research focuses on the study of transversal competencies, particularly in relation to computational thinking and creative problem-solving.
George Obaido
Scientific Advisor
George Obaido is a research leader designing and scaling data science, AI, and interdisciplinary research programs across academia and industry. His work centers on democratizing access to research and computing, fostering inclusive mentorship ecosystems, and leveraging AI/ML for the public good. He led the creation of Open South, a platform advancing open data and scientific collaboration in the Global South. He has contributed research on AI for health equity in multiple journals and has presented his work at several international conferences.
Emma Ruttkamp-Bloem
Scientific Advisor
Emma Ruttkamp-Bloem is a philosopher of science and technology, an AI ethics policy advisor, and a machine ethics researcher. Currently, she is the Head of the Department of Philosophy, University of Pretoria, and leads the AI ethics group at the South African Centre for AI Research (CAIR). She is the current Chairperson of the UNESCO World Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology (COMEST). Emma joined the WEF’s Global Future Council on Autonomous Systems in 2025. She is a member of the Global Academic Network, Centre for AI and Digital Policy, Washington DC and has worked on AI governance projects with the African Union Development Agency and the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights. Emma was a member of the UN Secretary General’s AI Advisory Body 2023-2024. Emma led the UNESCO Ad Hoc Expert Group that prepared the draft of the 2021 UNESCO Recommendation on the Ethics of AI and contributed to development of its implementation instruments. She continues working with UNESCO as a member of UNESCO’ AI Ethics without Borders and Women4EthicalAI initiatives. She is a member of various international AI ethics advisory boards ranging from academia (e.g., the Wallenberg AI, Autonomous Systems and Software Programme Human Sciences), the inter-governmental sector (e.g., as expert advisory board member for the Global Commission on Responsible Artificial Intelligence in the Military Domain), to the private sector (e.g., SAP SE). She is an associate editor for the Journal of Science and Engineering Ethics, and a member of the editorial board of the Journal of AI Law and Regulation and the Cambridge Forum on AI: Law and Governance.
Myriam Raymond
Scientific Advisor
Myriam Raymond is a researcher at LEMNA- Nantes , GRANEM- Angers, and DiPLab – Paris. Her work explores digital platform labor and the human supply chain behind smart technologies. She is heading the MEA chapter of INDL. Recently, her research also investigates generative AI’s impact on work, skills, and organizations, bridging research and practice across interdisciplinary projects and international collaborations.
Darryl Wright
Scientific Advisor
Darryl is an AI policy and law advisor at Successif. Before joining the team, he spent a year conducting independent research supported by the Long-term Future Fund, with the goal of transitioning from a career in healthcare applications of AI to AI safety. He previously worked for the Zooniverse citizen science platform exploring ways for AI and citizen scientists to cooperate in mutually beneficial ways to address data-intensive research questions. Darryl holds a Master’s in Physics and a PhD in Astrophysics from Queen’s University Belfast.
HOUNSINOU Johannès Dagbégnon Technical Advisor
Johannès Dagbégnon HOUNSINOU is an Industrial Process Control Engineer and a Ph.D. candidate in Artificial Intelligence at the Institute of Mathematics and Physical Sciences, Benin. He currently serves as the Head of the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at Bénin Excellence – Fondation Vallet. He is also a university lecturer, teaching Programming, Machine Learning, Electronics, and related subjects.
Emilija Markeviciute
Governance, Ethics and Safety Advisor
AI Governance, Ethics and Safety Advisor with a background in sociology, public administration (Artificial Intelligence & Governance), and technology law. Experienced through a Responsible AI internship and training in Transformative AI, with a focus on a socio-technical approach to developing AI. Skilled in regulatory compliance (EU AI Act, GDPR) and fostering trustworthy, human-centered AI systems.
Fitahiana Razafimahenina
Director
Fitahiana Razafimahenina is a multidisciplinary profile, currently in the final year of his PhD in Geopolitics at the University of Antananarivo. He holds a Master’s degree in Geography and another in Economics from the same university, and is also in the final year of a Master’s in Mathematics at Universitat Rovira i Virgili and a Master’s in Artificial Intelligence at Université Grenoble Alpes. With over six years of experience in AI and data, he has worked for SMEs, international companies, as well as in humanitarian and development sectors.
His research and projects focus on AI for Good, AI safety, and model interpretability. Convinced that AI can be a driver of positive change for Africa, he founded the Africa Center for Artificial Intelligence (ACFAI) in 2025.
KOUDAMA HOSE WISDOM
Country Coordinator - Togo
Wisdom Koudama is passionate about data, specializing in data engineering, machine learning, and spatial analysis. With a background in civil engineering and integrated water resources management, he is highly skilled in GIS, geospatial modeling, and the development of intelligent tools to analyze and visualize spatial data for decision-making and sustainable territorial development in Africa.
RAZAFINTSALAMA Tahinasoa Misandratra
Researcher & Country Coordinator - Madagascar
Misandratra RAZAFINTSALAMA is an IT Engineer who graduated in Computer Science from ENI Fianarantsoa. Since July 2024, she has been working as an AI Research Engineer at the Laboratoire d’Intelligence Artificielle de Madagascar (LIAM).
Passionate about using AI to drive positive change in Madagascar and across Africa, she focuses on developing impactful AI solutions for sustainable development. Beyond AI, she also has a strong interest in Robotics, and aims to combine both fields as powerful tools for Africa’s progress.
For Misandratra, being a member of ACFAI is an honor and a meaningful way to contribute to innovation and societal impact. She sees this role as an opportunity to collaborate, learn, and contribute to groundbreaking projects. And through that, she aspires to advance AI Research that addresses both local and continental challenges.
Monsoï Consolas Névinas HODONOU Country Coordinator - Benin
Consolas HODONOU is a biostatistician, data scientist, and AI enthusiast, recognized for winning national technology hackathons and driving impactful digital innovations. She aims to inspire and empower young women to pursue STEM careers through her leadership, advocacy, and mentorship.
John-Freddy NGABIKOUMOU Country Coordinator - Gabon
John-Freddy has a degree in geospatial sciences, specializing in remote sensing and geographic information systems applied to precision agriculture, mining, and hydrocarbons. With extensive experience in drone applications coupled with artificial intelligence, I am revolutionizing ad hoc methods by automating them through the use of various scripts. As a leader of high value-added projects across developing countries, I offer acute expertise in remote sensing for the exploration of precious substances such as gold and diamonds. I am the co-founder of Spatial Analytic, a start-up created in 2023 that aims to redefine the agricultural sector in the sub-region by offering innovative tools such as agricultural drones to boost the productivity of agricultural products sold on the local market (bananas, corn, palm oil, etc.). This customized agriculture is based on the use of artificial intelligence with mapping applications. John-Freddy is a member of the African alumni network of the Summer School on Artificial Intelligence of the NGO Benin Excellence.
Abakar Mahamat Mallah
Country Coordinator - Chad
Passionate IT professional with expertise in cloud architecture, Data Science and AI technologies. With a background in Network and Telecommunications and Data Development, I adapt to challenges and solve problems effectively.
Thibaut Saah
Senior AI Research Engineer
Thibaut Saah is an AI Research Engineer and Data Scientist specializing in agentic AI, RAG systems, and advanced machine learning. He has led impactful analytics projects as Senior Data Scientist at Gozem and mentored aspiring professionals at OpenClassrooms.
Thibaut brings expertise in MLOps tools including MLflow, DagsHub, and Airflow, web frameworks like Django, and cloud platforms such as GCP, AWS, and DigitalOcean. He excels in deploying AI solutions with vector databases like MongoDB Atlas and implementing scalable workflows using Celery.
Passionate about leveraging AI to address Africa’s unique challenges, Thibaut combines technical innovation with practical, real-world impact.
ANDRI-NTSOA Tsilavina
Senior AI Research Engineer
Tsilavina is passionate about data and has experience working in diverse fields such as health insurance telesales and mobile money risk and compliance. He leverages data to develop valuable solutions that simplify business operations and help teams make better decisions.
RAMIANDRISOA Nirinkoavy Johanness
AI Research Engineer
My name is Johanness, and I am from Madagascar. I enjoy participating in national and international computer science and technology competitions. I was a member of the Malagasy team that competed in the Pan-African Robotics Competition in Senegal in July 2025, where my team won 3rd place. In 2024, my team and I also won the Inter-University Programming Hackathon. In addition to participating in hackathons, I was a beneficiary of the Summer School of AI (EEIA) in Benin in 2025. I value honesty and fairness, and I am eager to contribute my expertise to the advancement of Africa. Beyond my passion for competitions, I have been a member of the AI Laboratory of Madagascar (LIAM) since 2023.
DANIEL Ayeda François
AI Research Engineer
I am a graduate in Computer Networks and Telecommunications with a growing focus on artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and digital infrastructures. My academic path is enriched by ongoing studies in Sociology and Anthropology, enabling me to approach technology not only from a technical perspective but also through its ethical, human, and societal dimensions.
I am deeply motivated by the potential of AI to address Africa’s pressing challenges in development, education, and security. With an interdisciplinary background and a strong commitment to ethical and inclusive innovation, I aim to contribute to ACFAI’s mission by supporting the design of explainable, resilient, and socially grounded AI solutions tailored to African contexts.
