Calling all Ethiopian and African startups, innovators, and social enterprises leveraging AI for social impact! The GSMA Innovation Fund for Impactful AI is now accepting applications for projects that harness artificial intelligence to improve lives in low- and middle-income countries.
What is the GSMA Innovation Fund?
The GSMA Innovation Fund supports innovative projects that use mobile technology to achieve social, economic, and environmental impact in low- and middle-income countries. They are particularly interested in solutions that can be scaled for sustainable and lasting change.
What kind of support can you expect?
- Grant funding ranging from £100,000 to £250,000 for projects lasting 15 – 18 months
- Tailored venture building support to strengthen solutions and business models
- Facilitation of partnerships with mobile operators, public sector organizations, and other stakeholders
- Peer learning opportunities to exchange knowledge with other innovators
- Visibility and exposure through GSMA’s global events, publications and online platforms, helping grantees connect with potential investors and partners
Focus Areas
- Contextual data generated by emerging technologies to train and deploy AI-driven products and services
- Predictive and generative AI innovations with demonstrable potential to scale and deliver measurable socio-economic or climate-related impacts
- Digital solutions across two key dimensions:
- Last-mile innovations: AI-driven solutions targeting low-income and vulnerable populations to address challenges in sectors such as HealthTech, AgriTech, ClimateTech, FinTech, or EdTech
- Deep-tech ecosystem innovations: Solutions such as multimodal large language models (LLMs), edge computing, machine learning and automatic speech recognition, which empower local and regional ecosystems to deploy AI technologies at scale
Who Should Apply?
- Organizations (NGOs, social enterprises) and startups with a proven track record.
- Teams with strong expertise in both mobile technology and AI.
- Projects that demonstrate a clear potential for positive social and/or economic impact.
- Solutions that are scalable and financially sustainable.
- Projects focused on low- and middle-income countries.
For more information, please look at the terms and conditions of the GSMA Innovation Fund for Impactful AI.
