Meta, In partnership with Data Science Africa, has announced the Llama Impact Grant for startups and researchers based in sub-Saharan Africa.
As part of Meta’s global Llama Impact Grants, this initiative will support projects that harness the power of Llama, Meta’s open-source large language model, to develop solutions tailored to the region’s needs.
The company is seeking proposals from organisations and individuals across sub-Saharan Africa for economically and socially impactful projects, focusing on areas such as health, science, and agriculture.
The winning proposal will receive a grant of $20 000 to help develop these proposals and bring them to market.
Balkissa Ide Siddo, public policy director: sub-Saharan Africa at Meta, comments: “We’re still in the early days, but AI is likely to fundamentally change every aspect of our lives – spurring innovation, turbo-charging growth, and driving an explosion in learning and productivity. At the forefront of this transformation are open source AI models, like Meta’s Llama, which are available for free for organisations to use, modify and build on.
“Through this grant program, we’re hoping to support and scale AI-driven solutions across Africa that use our open source model Llama to address the continent’s unique social and economic challenges, empowering innovators to drive meaningful impact across the region.”
Proposals will be evaluated based on the following criteria:
- Clear description of an application with a compelling use case that makes use of Llama;
- Clear path to impact and large potential user base for the solution;
- Team composition and expertise;
- Ethical product development; and
- Realistic budget and timeline.
Interested applicants are encouraged to submit their proposals via the online application portal before the submission deadline on 18 April 2025.