Remostart’s flagship innovation program, AI Preneur 2025, brought together Africa’s brightest minds in artificial intelligence, entrepreneurship, and digital innovation for an innovative gathering that blended startup pitches, immersive panel discussions, and visionary keynote sessions.
The conference, convened by Dr. Ayo and Ese Williams, began with an enthusiastic speech that positioned the event as a defining moment in Africa’s innovation journey. “Africa isn’t just catching up; it can lead,” Williams declares, capturing the spirit of a continent poised to shape the global AI story.
The highlight of the event was a panel session entitled “The fusion of human touch and AI power” featuring thought leaders David Lanre Messan, Usman Imana and Odemakinde Elisha. The panelists emphasized the importance of AI remaining a tool that expands human potential, rather than replacing it, and emphasized that technology must contribute to humanity’s creative and social purposes.
The session set the stage for two engaging keynote addresses by Nils Kakoseos and Rama Zomareso, exploring the themes “Consciousness in the Age of AI” and “AI Lab: A Panacea for Africa’s Intelligence Challenges.” They appealed to participants to see AI as an extension of human intent and called for the establishment of more AI labs as a foundation for Africa’s intellectual and technological independence.
The event focused on the official launch of Remostart AI Labs. Presented through this exciting AI Labs hackathon, the hackathon attracted over 81 applications, which were narrowed down to 10 teams and 5 finalists developing real-world AI-driven solutions. Finalists Wakamate, Meab, ImpactAI (GTM), AliveHomes, and DevAssist presented innovations that address challenges in business development, proptech, software development, and food safety.
Remostart AI Labs is envisioned as a hands-on hub that enables African startups to rapidly build, test, and scale AI-powered solutions. We provide access to resources, mentorship, and collaborative spaces that enable entrepreneurs to experiment boldly, fail fast, and grow stronger.
In a memorable spotlight session, Daniel Effiom, COO of Remostart, gave a talk titled “Fail Fast Learn Faster.” He urged entrepreneurs to consider failure as an important step in innovation and emphasized RemoteStart’s philosophy of helping startups fail fast, learn fast and grow fast. Effiom also highlighted the company’s extensive portfolio of support services designed to develop Africa’s next generation of AI entrepreneurs.
Ubio Obu, CEO of Remostart, also gave one of the most powerful sessions of the day, titled “The Age of Intelligence.” he said
“In this age of intelligence, the ability to connect the dots is more important than the dots themselves.”
He further noted, “If your AI tools give you the wrong answer, it’s because they learned from you. With each new era, you’re either taken advantage of, or you get an advantage.”
So many people now know what you know. Knowledge is no longer in short supply. Execution is the true moat.”
The session became a rallying point for African innovators to stop waiting and start leading, as it left participants with fresh insights, new relationships, and a renewed commitment to building Africa’s innovation economy.
AI Preneur 2025 would not have been possible without the vision and support of key stakeholders who are actively shaping Africa’s innovation economy and directly enabling the next generation of AI startups.
Proteus AI is a no-code infrastructure that enables entrepreneurs to build conversational AI agents on platforms like WhatsApp, Slack, and Telegram, while the company’s commitment to supporting startups in Africa provides tools to streamline HR processes, onboarding, and team integration to increase productivity and a sense of belonging.
Wale Ayandiran, co-founder of Proteus AI, highlighted the challenges founders face in accessing critical tools. “That’s why we’re excited to support initiatives like the AI Labs Hackathon and AI-Preneur event, and provide selected startups with platform credits to help them deploy AI solutions, manage their teams, and accelerate their go-to-market strategies.”
With AI Preneur 2025, Remostart has set a new benchmark for the African innovation ecosystem. This is an ecosystem where technology, creativity and human potential come together to define Africa’s digital future.
