On Saturday, February 11, 2023, at the Sèmè City premises in Cotonou, 150 young Beninese receiving training grants under the Africa TechUp Tour program returned to school.

During the Africa TechUp Tour program, young fellows interested in artificial intelligence will improve with the support of experts, trainers and mentors. Indeed, 1223 young Beninese applied for the 100 scholarships offered under this program and 150 were selected. Back to school is an opportunity for the initiators and organizers to recall the importance of this initiative, of which they are the first beneficiaries.

According to Yasmine Agbahoungbata, speaking on behalf of Sèmè City, technologies and artificial intelligence are now at the heart of the mission of this innovation and knowledge center, one of whose major objectives is to work on the development of a knowledge economy in Benin. According to him, “artificial intelligence has integrated our realities and our daily lives and each of us experiences it.”

Mahuna Akplogan, co-founder of Isheero, a melting pot of experts for promoting artificial intelligence in Benin and French-speaking Africa and one of the backbone of the program, says that “we cannot build a Benin around artificial intelligence without this type of collaboration. Benin is one of the few to have this type of initiatives associated with the implementation of the national strategy.”