Goalkeepers
Watch live on Africa.com on Thursday, 29 October, as African innovators and leaders explore how artificial intelligence can expand opportunity in healthcare, education and agriculture.
Can artificial intelligence help a healthcare worker reach more patients, a child learn in a familiar language, or a farmer make every drop of water count?
These questions will take centre stage when the Gates Foundation’s Goalkeepers initiative comes to Dakar, Senegal, on Thursday, 29 October 2026. Under the theme “Make This Matter: AI, Equity, and the Choice We Can’t Delay,” the event will examine how decisions about AI today could shape opportunity for generations.
Broadcast live by Africa.com from the Museum of Black Civilisations, the 90-minute programme will bring together African innovators, leaders and changemakers. Through conversations, personal stories, technology demonstrations and musical performances, it will explore one urgent question: Will AI narrow inequality gaps or widen them?
African solutions, shaped by local needs
Across Africa, innovators are developing technologies around the communities, languages and practical challenges they know best. Goalkeepers Dakar will introduce audiences to some of the people behind that work.
In healthcare, the focus will be on tools that support frontline professionals and make diagnosis more accessible. In education, the conversation will explore how technology can support learning across languages. In agriculture, innovators will demonstrate approaches to managing water and improving productivity.
The people using these technologies will be central to the discussion. For a clinician, teacher or farmer, AI’s value depends on whether it makes everyday work more effective and essential services more accessible.
Meet the voices guiding the conversation
Host Fatou Jupiter Toure, a United Nations ambassador and social impact advocate, will guide audiences through an evening connecting innovation, culture and human possibility.
Oulimata Sarr, Senegal’s former minister of economy, planning and cooperation, will deliver the opening keynote. She will examine the challenges that make equitable access to AI urgent, alongside the opportunities emerging from African-led innovation.
Education innovator Mamadou Ly, executive director of Associates in Research and Education for Development (ARED), will share perspectives on bilingual education and locally relevant learning. His contribution will highlight opportunities for children whose first language is not French.
Vyonne Njeri, a clinician with Kenya’s Penda Health, will bring a frontline healthcare perspective, exploring AI’s potential to support medical professionals and improve care delivery.
Together, these voices will connect the wider debate about technology with the experiences of the people it is intended to serve.
Who wants to change the world?
One of the programme’s highlights will be “Qui Veut Changer Le Monde?”, a Dragons’ Den-style showcase featuring young African innovators presenting technologies designed to address practical challenges.
The featured solutions include:
- Mosaan Health: AI-powered microscopy technology designed to support faster, more accessible disease diagnosis.
- Makeda: A Senegalese reading application that helps children learn French through their mother tongues, including Wolof, Sérère and Pular.
- MBOSS: A smart irrigation system designed to help farmers conserve water and improve agricultural yields.
Presenting to a panel of experienced African leaders, the innovators will showcase the creativity and problem-solving emerging from Senegal’s technology ecosystem.
What will it take to make AI work for everyone?
Promising ideas need the right conditions to reach the people who can benefit from them.
Goalkeepers Dakar will explore investment in African talent, digital infrastructure and local ownership. The programme will also address AI sovereignty, including African countries’ capacity to shape how these technologies are developed and used.
These choices matter for governments, businesses and communities alike. Who helps design a technology, which languages it supports and where investment flows can all influence who gains access to its benefits.
Senegalese music and artistic performances, including Orchestra Baobab, will bring another dimension to the evening, celebrating the cultural heritage and creativity of the host country.
Watch Goalkeepers Dakar live on Africa.com
Join Africa.com on Thursday, 29 October, for 90 minutes of African innovation, compelling stories and music from Dakar.
The future of AI will be shaped by the decisions people make now. Goalkeepers Dakar invites audiences to consider how those decisions can expand opportunity, strengthen essential services and put African communities at the heart of technological progress.
Watch Goalkeepers Dakar live on Africa.com
Make This Matter.