Case study
Co-founding Applied Machine Learning Days Africa
From idea to stage: co-founding AMLD Africa to grow an applied ML community with talks, workshops, and lasting connections.
Problem
Applied machine learning talent and research across Africa were often fragmented — strong local work existed, but practitioners lacked a recurring, visible forum to share methods, meet collaborators, and connect with the global ML community on equal footing.
Approach
As a co-founder I helped shape the mission, program, and partnerships: curating applied talks and workshops, coordinating with speakers and sponsors, and designing an event that felt welcoming to students and industry alike. Community work is logistics and storytelling in equal measure — clear calls for participation, inclusive programming, and follow-up channels so the conference does not evaporate when the lights go down.
Result
AMLD Africa established itself as a gathering point for applied ML on the continent, surfacing work that deserved a wider audience and creating networks that outlast a single edition. For me personally it reinforced that technical impact is incomplete without the communities that teach, critique, and remix the work.
Co-founding Applied Machine Learning Days Africa grew out of a simple conviction: applied ML on the continent deserved a stage that matched the quality of the work already happening in labs, startups, and universities.
I care about the unglamorous parts — speaker outreach, schedule design, making first-time attendees feel they belong. Conferences are temporary; communities are not. AMLD Africa is my contribution to keeping those conversations going after the keynotes end.