Cassava Technologies and Gebeya Inc. have announced a strategic partnership to launch “Gebeya Dala,” which the companies describe as Africa’s first AI-powered creator platform. The collaboration was unveiled in Cape Town on December 17, 2025, positioning the product as a toolset aimed at expanding access to the digital economy for a broader base of users. The partners said the platform is designed to help Africans turn ideas into digital products and creative content without requiring advanced technical skills.
A Creator Platform Built for Mass Participation
According to the announcement, Gebeya Dala is intended for people who want to create digital outputs but face barriers such as limited training, scarce tooling, or lack of infrastructure. Rather than targeting professional developers or artists, the platform is framed as a mass-market entry point for Africa’s youth and underserved creators. The companies said this approach is meant to unlock new participation in entrepreneurship and content creation across the continent.
Cassava and Gebeya said the platform’s early modules focus on simplifying complex creation workflows into guided AI experiences. The goal, they added, is to reduce the time and expertise typically needed to produce applications or visual stories. In practice, the partnership is positioning AI as a productivity layer that lowers the threshold for experimentation and publishing.
Initial Modules: App Building and Visual Storytelling
At launch, the companies said Gebeya Dala will include an AI-powered app builder that allows users to generate functional applications through simple prompts. They emphasized that the tool is intended for people with no coding experience, and that it can interpret instructions provided in local languages. The partners framed this feature as a way to help entrepreneurs and students rapidly prototype and build basic software products.
The platform will also introduce an AI comic book creator aimed at users without formal art training. Cassava and Gebeya said the module is designed to translate ideas and narratives into comic and manga-style formats. They positioned the tool as a way to bring Africa’s oral traditions and original stories into visual media that can be produced and shared at scale.
Infrastructure, Sovereignty, and an Africa-Based AI Stack
The partnership combines Cassava’s cloud capabilities and GPU-as-a-Service infrastructure with Gebeya’s platform and distribution ambition. The companies said Cassava’s AI-ready data centers will underpin the compute requirements for these tools, enabling the platform to serve users without depending on external infrastructure. They also described the collaboration as part of a broader effort to ensure AI access is both scalable and secure.
A key objective outlined in the announcement is the co-development of culturally relevant large language models and related AI tools. Cassava and Gebeya said data processing and model training will occur within Africa using Cassava’s infrastructure, citing data sovereignty, low latency, and alignment with local regulatory needs. The companies framed this model as a way to keep African innovation developed and protected locally while still being scalable globally.
Executive Perspectives and Market Approach
Ahmed El Beheiry, CEO of Cassava AI, said the partnership is intended to make advanced AI accessible to young creators, entrepreneurs, and storytellers across the continent. He linked the initiative to the idea of sovereign innovation, where African ideas can be built on local infrastructure rather than exported for processing elsewhere. The companies said this approach supports inclusive participation in the digital economy while strengthening the region’s AI readiness.
Amadou Daffe, CEO and co-founder of Gebeya, described the launch as an effort to empower “the millions, not the few,” by reducing skill barriers that traditionally separate creators from builders. He said the intent is to put creation tools in the hands of everyday users across major African cities and communities. The partners also confirmed a joint go-to-market strategy aimed at promoting the tools to students, entrepreneurs, and creatives across the continent.
Cassava Technologies and Gebeya are positioning Gebeya Dala as a practical entry point for app creation and digital storytelling, supported by Africa-based compute infrastructure. By combining creator-focused AI modules with local data processing and model training, the partnership is framing itself around accessibility and sovereignty at the same time. If adoption follows the companies’ ambitions, Gebeya Dala could become a notable test case for how AI platforms built on African infrastructure can broaden participation in the continent’s digital economy.