The Futurize Academy is your first step as an innovator, bold thinker, and budding entrepreneur. Futurize Academy transforms your ideas into action within 4 weeks. Equipping young people with the platform to solve Africa's most pressing challenges in healthcare and climate change.

AFRICA’S LARGEST ENTREPRENEURSHIP ACADEMY IN HEALTH & CLIMATE

What To Expect in 2025

12 COUNTRIES

30+ HOURS CONTENT

80+ MENTORS

28 UNIVERSITIES

PROGRAM OVERVIEW

Your Entrepreneurship Journey Starts With Futurize Academy

Over four weeks, you will have built an early-stage business concept ready to take to the next level. Successful teams and ideas have the opportunity to continue their startup journey with Futurize during our Incubator program, kicking off in September 2025.

Register for Fuel Africa and join with your friends or solo. On the virtual platform, you can network with hundreds of students across 12 countries to form your team. We recommend to have 2 universities represented on a team! Team size is 2-6 members.
Attend 20+ hours workshops, keynotes, and industry masterclasses about healthcare and climate change. Each team receives a mentor to help them develop their idea. Prepare a 3 minute pitch video for your chance to advance to the Fuel Africa Demo Day.
Day 1: Team Building & Networking: Find your co-founders
Days 2-24: Training, Workshops, & Mentorship: Learn from World-Class Experts on design thinking, ideation, pitching, business model canvas as well as receive exclusive insights in the topics of healthcare and climate change
Day 26: Pitch Day: Showcase Your Solution to the World
This is your chance to continue your entrepreneurship journey. The best teams have the opportunity to apply to our incubator program. More information can be found here.

THE CHALLENGE STATEMENTS

Your task is to develop a concept for one of the following challenge statements. Technical prototypes are not required but highly encouraged.

Challenge Statement 1:

How might we screen, early-detect or manage cancer, rare diseases and other NCDs to connect patients with relevant services using Artificial Intelligence or other technologies?

Challenge Statement 2:

How might we increase accessibility and affordability of healthcare through technology to decrease health inequalities across the continent?

Challenge Statement 3:

How might we better predict and respond to climate change-related health challenges using Artificial Intelligence or other technologies?

AFRICA’S LARGEST UNIVERSITY ENTREPRENEURSHIP PROGRAM ACROSS 12 COUNTRIES

Our Official University Partners for 2024. The program virtually brings together hundreds of students and recent alumni from universities across 12 countries. Don’t see your university here? Get in touch to become a Futurize University Ambassador.

Fuel Africa is where young minds explore building a startup. Get inspired by 2 teams from the 2023 cohort

WHAT IT TAKES

YOUR ENTREPRENEURIAL JOURNEY STARTS WITH FUTURIZE ACADEMY

These startups took their first step by participating in Fuel Africa as a newly formed team - continuing their journey from September to November in our flagship incubator program

VECTORGRAM

Vectorgram provides cutting-edge AI tools that ensure accurate and timely diagnosis of breast cancer to under-resourced diagnostic centers in Kenya.

TAWI HEALTH

Digitizing medical records and providing a way to share them securely in a decentralized manner across various health systems.

MARI TEST

Developing a blodless diagnostic device offering a non-invasive, automated tool for malaria detection using AI and advanced sensor technology.

READY FOR 2025?

FUEL AFRICA IS LAUNCHING ITS THIRD COHORT AND WILL GROW IN REACH TO TRAIN 50,000 ENTREPRENEURS BY 2030. GET IN TOUCH TO SPONSOR THE PROGRAM

CONTACT US

2024 PARTNERS

Official Healthcare Partner

Driven by innovative science and our entrepreneurial culture, we are focused on the delivery of life-changing medicines that are fuelling growth and contributing value to patients and society. At the same time, the world around us is changing and the burden of disease is increasing. We focus on innovative science and leadership in our three main therapy areas: Oncology; Cardiovascular, Renal and Metabolism; and Respiratory diseases. Backed by a global presence, with strength in Emerging Markets, we have a portfolio of specialty and primary care medicines.We are responding by increasing our focus on growth through innovation - being more patient-centric, doing more with technology, digital and data, and advancing more cutting-edge science.

Co-Funder

Bristol Myers Squibb is a leading global biopharma company focused on discovering, developing and delivering innovative medicines for patients with serious diseases in areas including oncology, haematology, immunology, cardiovascular, fibrosis and neuroscience. Our employees work every day to transform patients’ lives through science.

Strategic Partners: