Who We Are

At AI 4 Afrika, we believe in the power of diversity. We understand that individuals with expertise in wide-ranging fields have unique perspectives to share in the artificial intelligence conversation. As such, we have organically constructed a team of professionals, ranging from the law, art, scientific research, economics, the environment and more.

S. Ama Wray, PhD.

Dr. S. Ama Wray is an associate professor of dance and the University of California, Irvine. She is a former U.K NESTA Fellow (National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts – similar to the MacArthur Awards)—an improviser, choreographer, director, teacher and scholar. She self-titles as a 'Performance Architect', receiving her Ph.D. from the University of Surrey where she developed her theory and practice of Embodiology®, a neo-African approach to contemporary dance improvisation. Her TED talk articulates its distinctions and philosophy.

In 2016 an essay on her neo-African approach to dance improvisation is in Black Dance British Routes, edited by Adair and Burt, 2017 published by Routledge. In 2014 two essays on jazz dance were published in the anthology Jazz dance: A History of its Roots and Branches, edited by Guarino and Oliver.

Alex Tsado

Alex Tsado operates at the intersection of disruptive technology, community economics, and historical regenerative philosophies, as they apply to the future of the global African and underrepresented.

Beyond leading go-to-market for Nvidia's fastest-growing business, cloud AI computing, he founded Alliance for Africa's Intelligence to ensure African innovations get the chance to change millions of lives, and its people across the world are never again left behind during industrial revolutions.

He spends his time wearing multiple hats to drive change in organizations as small as groups in the grassroots, to engaging with country leaders to drive national and continental transformation.

He has spoken at the UN, top business school programs, multiple podcasts and National AI workshops to inform and evangelize about a future that can ensue when disruptive technologies are used to expand access to improved living conditions in frontier markets.

Dr. Jackie Berry

Dr. Jackie Berry is a Cognitive Scientist specializing in visual perception, human-computer interaction, and expertise development. She holds degrees in Psychology, Human Factors Psychology, Business Administration, and a Doctorate in Cognitive Psychology. She was the first in Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Psychology department to collect online research data and the first African-American to earn a Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology from the State University of New York at Albany.

Her research includes modeling geometric feature detection in English letter recognition, studying task switching in older adults, and exploring whether attention in visual search is purely driven by visual differences. She also investigates how switching between technology interfaces impacts performance, using Tetris to study “TetLag”—the temporary performance dip caused by adapting to a new interface.

As a joint Teaching and Research scholar, Dr. Berry is passionate about mentoring future scientists. At the American University in Cairo, she taught Research Methods in Psychology using interactive, real-world applications. In her From Novice to Expertise senior seminar, students develop personal skills challenges, apply learning theories, and track their progress throughout the semester.

Currently, as a Fulbright U.S. Scholar, she is studying whether Arabic-English biliterates are better at switching between interfaces due to their daily experience alternating between different text orientations in reading, writing, and technology use.

Dr. José Cossa

José Cossa, Ph.D., is a Mozambican scholar, writer/author, researcher, poet, blogger, “twitterer”, podcaster, entrepreneur, and an Associate Professor in the College of Education at Pennsylvania State University. Most recently, Cossa served as a Visiting Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Education at the American University in Cairo and a Senior Lecturer at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College. Cossa holds a Ph.D. in Cultural and Educational Policy Studies with a depth area in Comparative and International Education from Loyola University Chicago. He is the author of the book Power, Politics, and Higher Education: International Regimes, Local Governments, and Educational Autonomy, the recipient of the 2012 Joyce Cain Award for Distinguished Research on People of African Descent, awarded by the Comparative and International Education Society (CIES), and a member of the MacArthur Foundation 100&Change Panel of Judges for two consecutive competitions (Inaugural Challenge and 2019/2020). Cossa’s research focus is on power dynamics in negotiation over educational policy; unveiling issues inherent in the promise of modernity and working towards de-colonializing, de-bordering, de-peripherizing, and de-centering the world; higher education policy and administration; system transfer; international development; and, global and social justice. In addition, Cossa is currently engaging in a new (exterior to modernity) theorizing, i.e., Cosmo-uBuntu, to offer alternative theoretical grounding to research, analysis, and practice.

Jasmine L. Blanks Jones, PhD.

Jasmine L. Blanks Jones is a dynamic theatre nonprofit leader, award-winning educator, and holds a dual PhD in Education and Africana Studies from the University of Pennsylvania. Her research on theatrical performance as a civic engagement praxis illuminates global race-based inequities in education and health, lifting the potential of knowledge co-creation through the arts and digital cultural production. As founder of Burning Barriers Building Bridges Youth Theatre (B4YT), a cultural performance company dedicated to radical community empowerment through the arts, she has more than twenty years of experience in youth development in Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America. Having developed a track record of leadership in arts and advocacy in communities of color globally, in 2018 Jasmine extended the scope of B4YT to include a consulting practice, Creating Brave Stages, which provides support and guidance for advocacy organizations looking to integrate the arts into their movements and artists aspiring to create positive change through their performances. She holds a MPP from the University of Minnesota and BS in Music Education from Florida A&M University. She is a postdoctoral fellow with the Program in Racism, Immigration, and Citizenship at Johns Hopkins University this academic year.

Saidah Nash Carter

Saidah Nash Carter is a digital business leader passionate about value creation and leveraging technology for business and human impact. She began her career at Reuters NewMedia during a wave of digital transformation, launching some of the first online news services for Yahoo! and AOL. She excels at pushing corporate boundaries through emerging technology, co-creation, and sustainability, identifying opportunities that align innovation with core business values.

As SVP of Africa Innovation at Thomson Reuters, she launched the Cape Town Data Science and Innovation Lab, the only one in an emerging market, and spearheaded initiatives like Africa’s first Intrapreneurship Conference, the Africa Startup Challenge, and Bankable Farmer, a financial inclusion project for small-scale farmers. She also designed one of Thomson Reuters' first customer co-creation programs, transforming partnership and IP ownership strategies.

Now, she leads Bright Insights Global (BIG), a boutique consultancy and expert network dedicated to helping companies thrive in Africa through innovation and sustainability. She is also a champion of Africa’s intrapreneur ecosystem, working with corporate innovators to drive impact and inclusion. As League Catalyst for South Africa in the League of Intrapreneurs, she empowers change-makers within large organizations.

Some of her awards and recognition include Inspiring 50 Women in Tech (2017), United Nations Voices of African Mothers Innovation Award (2018) and League of Intrapreneurs Global Fellow (2019).

Sela Adjei, PhD.

Sela Adjei is an artist based in Ghana with more than 10 years of working experience. He has a background in Communication Design and African Art from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi. He received his PhD in African Studies at the Institute of African Studies in University of Ghana, Legon. He has worked as a designer and digital art consultant for various publishing companies and international organizations (including Johns Hopkins University, World Bank, Ghana Ministry of Health, Sub-Saharan Publishers, and African Centre for Economic Transformation, ACET). He is a Lecturer at the National Film and Television Institute (NAFTI) where he teaches Philosophy, Digital Imaging, Digital art and Computer Application Design. He is currently a Postdoc at the University of Ghana Business School working in collaboration with the Copenhagen Business School, Denmark and Loughborough University, UK to undertake the project “Advancing Creative Industries for Development in Ghana (ACIG)”.

Femi Omere

Femi, a Nigerian-UK citizen, is the Founder and Managing Director of Hosted in Africa Group Limited. A Barrister at Law, he was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 1999 and remains an Associate Member of Garden Court Chambers UK. Now based in Tanzania, he has over 20 years of expertise in public law and human rights, applying his knowledge to key legal areas such as privacy, data protection, consumer rights, environmental management, and community engagement. His work bridges international commercial practices with human rights best practices and Afrocentric legal perspectives.

An experienced legal trainer, Femi has worked with the International Senior Lawyers Project, the Uongozi Institute in Tanzania, and the Law School of Tanzania, delivering specialized training in human rights, contract negotiation, and legal capacity-building. He has also contributed to the African Legal Support Facility’s initiatives aimed at strengthening legal expertise across the continent.

After founding the Africa Legal Network Academy to provide high-level legal training, he launched Hosted in Africa, a consultancy focused on developing Afrocentric and Pan-African governance models. Hosted in Africa promotes African knowledge systems and justice frameworks as a foundation for sustainable growth and regeneration on the continent.

Reginold Royston, PhD.

Reginold Royston, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of New Media and Africana Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. His research examines technoculture in Ghana, West Africa, and the role of its digital diaspora in the African mediascape, in areas such as viral dance-music, podcasting, and tech entrepreneurship. He teaches courses on oral culture and digital media, Africa’s Internet, and the political economy of computing. He teaches in the Department of African Cultural Studies, and at the School of Computing, Information, and Data Sciences. With Faisal Abdu’allah, he co-curates the Black Arts + Data Futures collaborative. He is currently working on a manuscript about the impact of digital media on Ghanaian national identity.

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