Microsoft has launched "Project Gecko," a new artificial intelligence initiative designed for the "global majority," starting with Kenya. This project aims to address equity gaps in AI by developing cost-effective, tailorable systems that incorporate local languages, culturally relevant knowledge, and multi-modal interactions for communities often under-represented online.

• The initiative's core is the MultiModal Critical Thinking Agent (MMCTAgent), an AI system now available on Azure AI Foundry Labs with open-source code on GitHub.
• Agriculture is the initial focus in countries like Kenya and India, where AI is being developed to assist millions of smallholder farmers using local languages such as Kiswahili, Kikuyu, and Kalenjin.
• Project Gecko leverages Digital Green's FarmerChat and has developed new tools for automatic speech recognition and text-to-speech for languages like Swahili, Kikuyu, Kalenjin, Dholuo, Maa, and Somali, using a dataset of 3,000 hours of crowd-sourced Kenyan speech.

Rural Kenya now accounts for 60 percent of all orders placed on Jumia's e-commerce platform, surpassing major cities as the primary driver of online shopping growth. This significant shift is attributed to improved connectivity, affordable smartphones, and expanded delivery networks.

• Jumia's report, E-commerce in Rural Kenya: Expanding Access, Driving Inclusion, Connecting Border to Border, highlights this change.
• The JForce program, with over 26,000 active agents, serves as a crucial human bridge for new customers.
• Jumia currently operates more than 300 pickup stations across all 47 counties, with delivery times reduced to between two and four days for rural shoppers.

Google and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat have launched the ‘AfCFTA Digital Inclusion & Entrepreneurship Programme,’ a new initiative to provide African SMEs with AI and digital trade skills, building on the success of the Google Hustle Academy.

• The program targets thousands of SMEs across 19 African countries, including Nigeria and Kenya.
• Training will cover cross-border digital trade, cloud tools for small businesses, and AI for productivity, delivered in English, French, Arabic, and Portuguese.
• The initiative aligns with AfCFTA's goal to empower MSMEs, women, and youth through digital trade, with training scheduled to begin in November 2025 and run through June 2026.