Full Breakdown
Expanding AI Access for African NGOs: Cassava Technologies and Rockefeller Foundation Partnership
11/19/2025, 4:02:00 PM
Overview of the Initiative
Cassava Technologies, in collaboration with The Rockefeller Foundation, has launched a significant initiative aimed at enhancing access to artificial intelligence (AI) computing for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) across Africa. This partnership seeks to empower local organizations in Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and Zimbabwe by providing them with the necessary computing resources to leverage AI for social good.
Key Objectives and Benefits
The initiative aims to harness AI's transformative potential to improve productivity and innovation among African NGOs. By establishing Africa's first AI factory powered by NVIDIA infrastructure, Cassava intends to facilitate the development of AI applications tailored to local needs. Hardy Pemhiwa, President and Group CEO of Cassava Technologies, emphasized that this collaboration will enable African innovators to create solutions addressing the continent's unique challenges.
The partnership will specifically benefit organizations such as Digital Green, Jacaranda Health, and Rising Academies. Digital Green utilizes AI to provide localized agricultural advice to smallholder farmers, significantly reducing costs and enhancing productivity. Jacaranda Health focuses on improving maternal and child healthcare in Kenya through AI-powered tools, while Rising Academies aims to enhance educational outcomes for over 250,000 students in West Africa.
Infrastructure Development
Cassava Technologies is committed to building a robust network of data centers across Africa, equipped with 12,000 NVIDIA graphics processing units (GPUs). This infrastructure will not only lower the costs associated with AI technology but also improve accessibility for startups and NGOs. Pemhiwa noted that the initiative is designed to create a credit system that rewards successful organizations with greater access to discounted AI resources.
Criticism and Opposition
While the initiative has garnered support, some critics express concerns about the sustainability of such projects in the long term. Questions have been raised regarding the extent to which these technologies will be adopted by local organizations and whether they will effectively address the pressing socio-economic challenges faced by communities.
Official Statements & Responses
Dr. Rajiv Shah, President of The Rockefeller Foundation, stated, “AI can be transformative in the right hands, contributing to healthier communities, more productive farmers, and better education for children.” He emphasized the importance of ensuring that advances in technology serve everyone, particularly in empowering African innovators.
Verbatim Quotes
- “Our collaboration with Cassava reflects The Rockefeller Foundation’s foundational belief that the latest advances in science and technology should serve everyone, not just the fortunate few, and that includes empowering African innovators with the tools they need to shape the continent’s future,” said Dr.” — Hardy Pemhiwa, President and Group CEO, Cassava Technologies.
- “With GPUs now available on the African continent, we can unlock breakthroughs in speech-to-text, local language translation, image recognition, and retrieval-augmented generation—dramatically reducing costs and expanding reach.” — Rikin Gandhi, CEO, Digital Green.
- “Access to advanced compute resources on the continent will accelerate our development of culturally-attuned, multilingual AI models while slashing costs—enabling us to reach millions of women with critical health information in their native languages.” — Cynthia Kahumbura, Co-Executive Director, Jacaranda Health.
What's Next
As Cassava Technologies continues to roll out its GPU-as-a-Service (GPUaaS) network, the focus will be on expanding its infrastructure across East, West, and North Africa. This initiative is expected to play a crucial role in establishing a sustainable AI ecosystem that empowers African organizations to become leaders in AI innovation.
