Grace Ashiru
Cassava Technologies, a global technology leader of African heritage, and Gebeya, a provider of an ecosystem for Africa’s service economy, have announced a strategic partnership that will lead to the launch of Gebeya Dala, a new suite of AI-powered tools aimed at enabling Africans with ideas to become digital creators. The initiative is powered by Cassava’s AI-ready data centres and supporting infrastructure.
Gebeya Dala is positioned to lower technical barriers to participation in the digital economy. Rather than targeting expert developers or trained artists, the platform is designed for Africa’s large youth population and other aspiring creators who may lack formal technical skills. At launch, the platform will roll out two core modules: an AI-powered app builder that allows users with no coding background to create functional applications within minutes using simple, local-language instructions, and an AI comic book creator that enables individuals without artistic training to transform Africa’s oral traditions and original stories into comic and manga formats.
The partnership combines Cassava’s secure, scalable cloud capabilities and GPU-as-a-Service infrastructure with Gebeya’s focus on unlocking creativity at scale. According to the partners, this collaboration is intended to make artificial intelligence more accessible, culturally relevant, and technologically sovereign across the continent.
Commenting on the partnership, Ahmed El Beheiry, CEO of Cassava AI, said Africa’s digital future should be built on the continent and by Africans. He noted that the collaboration with Gebeya is aimed at making advanced AI tools accessible to young creators, entrepreneurs, and storytellers, while supporting sovereign innovation in which African ideas are developed and protected locally before being scaled globally. He added that the initiative is expected to help unlock local talent and contribute to a more inclusive digital economy.
A key focus of the partnership is the joint development of culturally relevant large language models and AI tools. All data processing and model training will take place within Africa using Cassava’s infrastructure, a move designed to ensure data sovereignty, reduce latency, and comply with local regulatory requirements.
Amadou Daffe, CEO and co-founder of Gebeya, described the initiative as part of the company’s broader mission to build an operating system for Africa’s digital economy. He explained that Gebeya Dala is intended to demonstrate that building applications or creating visual stories no longer requires specialised technical or artistic expertise. By providing accessible creation tools, he said, the platform aims to empower a wide range of users, from students and merchants to storytellers across cities such as Dakar, Nairobi, and Lagos, and to stimulate a continent-wide wave of innovation.
Beyond product development, the partnership also includes a joint go-to-market strategy to promote Gebeya Dala to students, entrepreneurs, and creatives across Africa.
