Silicon Valley Girl Foundation

Where Africa's next generation learns to build with AI.

A fellowship. A mentorship network. An annual summit. One ecosystem — built to put African students at the center of the AI revolution.

🎓
Apply as a Fellow
Final & penultimate year students
→
🤝
Become a Mentor
Diaspora & global AI professionals
→
🌍
Partner With Us
Corporates, institutions & funders
→
African students collaborating around a laptop
$1T
Projected GDP addition for Africa by 2035 with AI adoption at scale
AfDB / UNDP · 2026
88%
of organizations use AI — only 6% achieve meaningful impact. The gap is human.
McKinsey · State of AI 2025
170M
New jobs created globally by 2030 — and 92 million displaced
WEF · Future of Jobs 2025
800+
Students already registered across 4+ Nigerian universities
SVG AI · April 2026
Mayowa Ijisesan speaking at Ilorin University
2026
First fellowship cohort launches
Who We Are

Built on a single conviction.

The SVG AI initiative was founded by Mayowa Ijisesan on the belief that Africa cannot afford to miss the AI Revolution — not as a consumer of technology built elsewhere, but as a creator of AI solutions built for Africa's own realities.

SVG AI is an initiative of the Silicon Valley Girl Foundation. It brings together final-year African university students, diaspora professionals working at the cutting edge of AI, and corporate partners who understand that Africa's talent pipeline begins now.

Who This Is For

Find your place in the ecosystem.

SVG AI serves three audiences — each with a distinct and meaningful role to play.

African student at window with laptop
🎓
For Students
African University Students

Final or penultimate year students from any field. Selected for purpose, not prior AI knowledge. Build a real AI solution to a real African problem — over 12 months, with a global mentor by your side.

Apply for the Fellowship →
Student on video call with mentor
🤝
For Professionals
Diaspora & Global AI Mentors

You're building the AI revolution from Silicon Valley, London, or Toronto. Now bring that expertise to a fellow who is building Africa's future. Not charity — authorship. Real impact, measurable outcomes.

Join as a Mentor →
African student coding at desk
🌍
For Partners
Corporates, Institutions & Funders

$850 puts one African fellow through a full year of AI fellowship. $55,000 funds the entire founding cohort. Name a cohort, sponsor a team, build your African talent pipeline while the talent is being formed.

Explore Partnership →
The SVG AI Ecosystem

Three pillars. One pipeline.

Every element of the ecosystem is designed to work together — from the moment a student applies to the moment they present their solution to the world.

Pillar 01
🏛️
NextGen Fellowship & Mentorship

The anchor. A 12-month cohort program pairing African students with global mentors to build AI solutions to real African problems.

↗
Pillar 02
🎤
SVG AI Summit

The platform. An annual virtual event where fellows graduate by presenting working AI solutions to a live global audience.

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Pillar 03
💡
SVG AI Fund

The engine. Corporate partners, grants, and diaspora giving — funding devices, internet access, and stipends for every fellow.

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"Africa cannot afford to miss the AI Revolution. Not as consumers of technology built elsewhere — but as creators of AI solutions built for Africa's own realities."

SVG AI · Mission Statement
Where We Are · April 2026

The program is already moving.

The mentorship program is live. The fellowship is designed and ready to launch. The community is building.

800+
Students registered across 4+ public universities in Nigeria
436
Students enrolled in the SVG AI Mentorship Program
13+
Industry mentors active — practitioners at the cutting edge of AI globally
50
Fellows in the founding cohort — growing to 500 cumulative by Year 5

Ready to be part of Africa's AI generation?

About SVG AI

Built on a long bet on Africa's readiness.

SVG AI is not a program. It is a refusal to wait — and a conviction that Africa's next generation is not a problem to be solved, but a solution waiting to be activated.

Mayowa Ijisesan at Ilorin University
Why SVG AI Exists

The conviction behind the work.

SVG AI was founded by Mayowa Ijisesan — founder of the Silicon Valley Girl Foundation, EVP of Strategy and Resident Pastor at KingsWord Chicago, and founder of Dywintel — on one conviction: Africa cannot afford to miss the AI Revolution.

Not as a consumer of technology built elsewhere. As a creator of AI solutions built for Africa's own realities, by Africans who understand those realities from the inside.

The ecosystem has three pillars — the NextGen Fellowship (the anchor), the SVG AI Summit (the platform), and the SVG AI Fund (the engine). Together they form a pipeline from student to builder to leader.

Our Values

How we work.

Build
Build quickly rather than wait. Move in parallel, not sequentially. The window is open now — not in five years.
Purpose
Select for purpose over polish. AI knowledge can be taught. Drive cannot. Fellows are chosen for why they want to build, not whether they already know how.
Access
Selection must be accessible to any student, from any field, at any public university. The fellowship is designed so no one is excluded by their background.
Vision
Plan in 5–10 year windows. AI's pace demands it. We are building for the next decade of African leadership, not this year's trend.
Bridge
The diaspora is a bridge, not a distant donor. Mentors contribute visible, measurable impact — not charity, but authorship over Africa's AI future.
The Roadmap

5-year and 10-year vision.

Y1–2
Founding Cohort + Summit Launch
50 fellows in Nigeria. Virtual summit. Anchor partnerships established. Problem repository seeded. Diaspora mentor network actively recruited.
Y3
Scale to 100 Fellows + Hybrid Summit
Fellowship doubles. Summit evolves to hybrid. Pan-African expansion begins. Alumni network forms. 5,000+ summit attendees targeted.
Y4–5
Pan-African Expansion
125–150 fellows. Multiple African nations. 500 cumulative fellows. Summit becomes a pan-African platform. Problem repository becomes a continental asset.
Y10
1,000+ Alumni. Real Impact.
A generation of AI-fluent African leaders across every sector. Solutions deployed at scale. A living proof that Africa builds — not just consumes.
SVG AI · Pillar 01

NextGen Fellowship.

A 12-month program that transforms purpose-driven African university students into AI builders — through real problems, real mentors, and real solutions.

Fellows team presenting their AI solution
How It Works

The four phases of the fellowship year.

01
Phase One
Learn

AI foundations, problem framing, tool literacy. Fellows don't just learn what AI is — they learn how to see problems through an AI lens.

02
Phase Two
Build

Interdisciplinary teams begin building. Mentors provide weekly guidance. The African problem repository becomes the curriculum.

03
Phase Three
Refine

Solutions are tested, validated, and hardened. Fellows present to mentors for feedback. The bar is not completion — it is impact.

04
Phase Four
Present

Fellows graduate by presenting a working AI solution at the SVG AI Summit — publicly, to a live global audience. The credential is the solution itself.

What Makes This Different

Three things no other fellowship does.

01
Problem First. Solution Second.

Fellows don't learn AI and then search for a problem. They begin with a real, validated African challenge — and learn AI as the tool to address it. The problem is the curriculum. The solution is the credential.

02
Every Field. One Team.

Not a fellowship for engineers. A fellowship for every African student — in medicine, economics, agriculture, law. Each team is deliberately interdisciplinary, because Africa's problems are not solved by one kind of mind.

03
The Standard Is a Working Solution.

Fellows do not graduate with a grade. They graduate by presenting a working AI solution to a live global audience. The bar is not completion. It is impact.

Who We Select

Purpose over polish.

Fellows are final or penultimate year African university students — from any field, preferably public institutions. Selection is based on purpose, not prior AI knowledge.

A four-component application process identifies students driven by a genuine desire to solve African problems. Teams of 4–5 fellows are formed across disciplines — the interdisciplinary requirement is not incidental, it is the point.

What Fellows Receive

Everything needed to build.

Device
A device to build on, funded through the SVG AI Fund's diaspora giving channel.
Access
Internet access stipend — ensuring no fellow is locked out by infrastructure.
Mentor
A practitioner mentor working at the cutting edge of AI — in Silicon Valley, London, Toronto, or beyond.
Network
Cohort community, alumni network, and career pathways created in partnership with the mentor network.
SVG AI · Active Program

Mentorship Program.

Live and growing. 436 students enrolled. 13+ industry mentors active. The bridge that makes the fellowship possible.

Student on video call with mentor
Where Mentors Come From

Not observers. Builders.

"The people guiding these students are not observers of the AI revolution. They are building it — every day, in Silicon Valley, London, Toronto, and beyond."

SVG AI mentors are industry professionals working at the cutting edge of AI in leading global markets. They work daily on the systems, products, and policies shaping the global AI landscape — and choose to bring that expertise to Africa's next generation.

Africa Silicon Valley London Toronto New York + Growing
SVG AI global mentor network
800+
Students registered across 4+ public universities
436
Enrolled in the SVG AI Mentorship Program
13+
Industry mentors — actively and continuously recruited
For the Diaspora

Impact beyond giving.

The SVG AI Mentorship Program offers diaspora professionals something most programs cannot: visible, measurable impact on the continent.

Not a donation — a mentorship relationship. Not charity — authorship. The student's growth is, in part, the mentor's contribution to Africa's future.

The Mentor's Role

What you actually do.

Guide
Weekly or bi-weekly mentorship sessions with assigned students or fellows.
Review
Feedback on project directions, tool choices, and problem framing.
Connect
Open doors for internship and career pathways within your professional network.
Summit
Attend the annual SVG AI Summit — where your fellows present their solutions to the world.
SVG AI · Pillar 02

SVG AI Summit.

The annual platform where Africa's AI builders graduate, stories are told, and the world sees what this generation is making.

SVG AI Summit
The Evolution

From virtual to continental.

2026
Year 1 · Virtual
Founding Summit

Fully virtual. First fellowship cohort presents. 5,000+ attendees targeted. Diaspora professionals, institutional partners, and global press invited.

Y2–3
Hybrid Transition
Virtual + In-Person

Summit evolves to hybrid — live anchored in Africa with global virtual component. Physical presence for graduating fellows, mentors, and partner delegates.

Y4–5
Pan-African Platform
The Continental Stage

A flagship pan-African AI event. Multiple cohorts present across disciplines. Governments, corporates, and media converge on Africa's builders.

Where We've Been · Last Physical Summit
804
Registered attendees
237
In-person · Ilorin, Nigeria
~$15K
Budget · Physical summit
SVG AI · Pillar 03

SVG AI Fund.

The engine that makes the fellowship possible. Three channels, one mission: put African students in the room where the AI future is being built.

African student coding late at night

$850 puts one fellow through a full year.

Device. Internet access. Stipend. Mentorship. $850 is the complete cost of one fellow's year in the SVG AI NextGen Fellowship. $55,000 funds the entire founding cohort of 50.

Three Funding Channels

How the fund works.

Channel 01
Corporate Partners

Named sponsorships tied to cohort or team. Access to Africa's most purpose-driven AI talent pipeline. Co-branded visibility at the Summit and across the ecosystem.

Channel 02
Grants

Institutional and foundation grants fund operations — ensuring the ecosystem's independence and long-term sustainability beyond any single corporate relationship.

Channel 03
Diaspora Giving

Targeted diaspora contributions fund the most tangible needs: devices, internet access, and direct stipends. Visible, measurable, personal impact.

Corporate Partnership Tiers

Sponsorship structure.

NextGen Fellowship · Apply

Apply as a Fellow.

Open to final or penultimate year African university students from any field. We select for purpose, not prior AI knowledge.

ℹ
This is an expression of interest form. Our team will follow up with full application details. For direct enquiries: nextgenfellowship@thesvgfoundation.org
SVG AI Mentors · Join

Join as a Mentor.

Actively and continuously recruiting mentors whose expertise matches what Africa needs to build. Rolling applications — the network grows with Africa's need.

ℹ
Mentor applications are reviewed on a rolling basis. For direct enquiries: partners@thesvgfoundation.org
Get In Touch

Contact SVG AI.

For partnerships, funding, institutional collaboration, media, or anything else — we are here.

Contact Details
Primary Contact
partners@thesvgfoundation.org
Partnerships, sponsorships, funding & institutional inquiries
Fellowship Applications
nextgenfellowship@thesvgfoundation.org
Prospective fellows and university contacts
Mentorship Program
mentorship.thesvgfoundation.org
Mentorship program portal and information
Founded By
Mayowa Ijisesan
Founder, Silicon Valley Girl Foundation
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