AI Saturdays Lagos turns 8! Happy Anniversary.

Happy 8 Years of Democratising AI knowledge in Africa!

Eight years ago–on the 6th of January–Femi and I organised our very first AI Saturdays cohort in Lagos, Nigeria. 

At the time, Lagos was beaming with tech meetups, but none that we were aware of, committed to continuous learning–week after week, over 16 weeks. That’s what we think set us apart - AI wasn't yet a hot topic :D. We had a curriculum. We met every week. We learned together, struggled together (remembered those days of watching 3blue1Brown videos to understanding linear algebra :D?), and grew together.

Sixteen weeks was a big commitment, for you and for us, but it was worth it. And honestly, we had so much fun, didn’t we?

I looked forward to every session: being surrounded by like-minded people, learning a technology that wasn’t taught in school, and using that knowledge to solve real, meaningful problems.

It felt like a dream, and in many ways, it still does.

We honestly didn’t know what to expect for the first class. We thought maybe 20 people would show up.

Over 60 of you did. Peculiar wrote a very nice post about our first meeting here and you can find short posts about cohort 1 organised on my Medium page - many written by you!.

What still feels surreal is this: eight years later, many of you are still part of our network–as builders, researchers, mentors, advocates, founders, and community leaders.

So today, this celebration is really about you.

Thank you for learning with us.

Thank you for growing with us.

Thank you for carrying this knowledge forward–by mentoring others, starting your own AI communities / companies, furthering your education, and applying what you’ve learned to real-world problems.

I hope that someday, many of us will meet again and laugh about those early days: our first class in a small classroom at Univelcity, Tomiwa Ijaware and Femi Azeez facilitating sessions in different rooms, and all of us just trying to figure things out, together.

Reflections from Femi, Co-founder AI Saturdays Lagos

For this 8-year anniversary, I asked Femi to share his reflections. Here’s what he wrote:

We’ve developed a strong blueprint for training small communities–and we’ve repeated it successfully over and over again. We’ve grown in many dimensions. It reminds me of learning how to swim: starting in the shallow end, building confidence, testing skills, and eventually–carefully–venturing into deeper waters.

This year, we’re taking that bold step again. We want to scale our blueprint, reach a larger community, collect data, learn, adapt, and grow–while holding on to the same joy that comes from seeing people learn something new and meaningful.

We are immensely grateful to each and every one of you, and endlessly thankful to our core-organising team: Kenechi Dukor, Lawrence Francis, Akintayo Jabar, George Igwegbe, Orevaoghene Ahia, Stanley Dukor, Olalekan Olapeju, Ibrahim Gana, Simon Ubi and Adetola Adetunji. Our community would never have been the same without you all. Thank you to our cohort organisers, instructors, tutors, mentors and supporters over the years. We feel extremely lucky to have such a great network of amazing humans. We hope that you will continue to support and be a part of our work.

Our Next Chapter

When we started AI Saturdays Lagos, our mission was simple but ambitious: to democratise access to AI knowledge in Nigeria - okay tbh, we just wanted to be a kickass in AI ;)

Since then, we’ve organised 9 cohorts, ranging from introductory machine learning to advanced topics like deep learning and computer vision. We’ve done this with limited resources, and since COVID, largely online.

Now, we’re entering a new phase.

In the coming years, we’re excited to introduce a hybrid learning model–combining online learning with in-person classes. We’re also launching new initiatives, and we would love for you to be part of them.

This next chapter begins under our registered NGO, Teaching Research and Innovation for Africa Ltd/Gte (TRI AI) co-founded by myself, Femi Azeez and Kenechi Dukor, with a broader mission:

To democratise artificial intelligence by creating African AI communities that enable learning, research, and the building of AI products for our immediate communities and beyond.

Through AI Saturdays learning communities across Africa, that you are championing, we believe we can scale this mission–and build AI solutions that is useful for our community & beyond.

Would you like to help shape this future with us?

Please fill out the short form to let us know if you’re based in Nigeria and/or interested in being part of what comes next.

AI Saturdays Lagos Community Growth (2025)

Here’s a snapshot of our growth in 2025:

• Twitter/X: 7,591 → 7,648
• LinkedIn: 854 → 1,203
• Instagram: 628 → 649
• YouTube: 777 → 983 subscribers
• Discord: 338 → 543 members
• Google Groups: 668 → 933 subscribers

This growth is a direct result of your support, liking, sharing, engaging, and inviting others into the community.

Thank you for being part of this journey.

Thank you for believing in the vision.

And thank you for helping us imagine what the next 8 years can look like–together.