Cyber4Africa Programme 2026 for African Startups – YOA

Deadline: June 8, 2026

Applications are open for the Cyber4Africa Programme 2026. The Cyber4Africa Programme brings collectively Cyber 4.0’s deep experience in cybersecurity capability constructing, Cisco Kenya’s technical infrastructure and regional attain, and the AI Hub’s ecosystem place on the intersection of AI growth, coverage, and institutional belief. Together, these companions are constructing one thing that doesn’t but exist at scale in Africa: a sensible, startup-oriented cyber resilience mannequin that’s embedded into the AI growth lifecycle from the start.

The programme is designed round a conviction that crucial interventions are upstream. Not auditing programs after vulnerabilities emerge, however equipping founders and technical groups to construct securely from day one. It seeks to embed safety-by-design into the innovation course of in order that belief is earned earlier than it’s examined. It additionally seeks to construct a neighborhood of observe amongst African AI founders who perceive that their collective safety posture shapes the credibility of your complete ecosystem.

This can be, explicitly, a jobs agenda. The identical communities most uncovered to AI threat are finest positioned to develop into its screens, auditors, and assurance professionals, if the pathway into that occupation is constructed intentionally. The Cyber4Africa Programme creates that pathway. It trains not simply for technical competence however for the skilled infrastructure of AI security. These are the talents the African AI ecosystem wants. They are additionally the talents the worldwide AI security market is starting to pay for.

Sectoral Focus

The programme targets African AI startups in 5 sectors the place cybersecurity publicity is most acute, and the results of failure are most extreme:

• Healthcare and Digital Health — affected person data, diagnostics, and well being infrastructure the place safety failures can compromise care and erode public belief.
• Fintech and Financial Services — essentially the most focused sector globally, the place cyber incidents undermine each monetary inclusion and client confidence.
• Govtech and Civic Technology — digital id and e-authorities platforms the place vulnerabilities immediately compromise institutional legitimacy.
• Energy and Climate Technology — AI-enabled infrastructure the place digital vulnerabilities carry bodily and nationwide penalties.
• AI Infrastructure and Data Platforms — the foundational layer the place safety failures cascade throughout whole networks of customers, builders, and dependent programs.

Benefits

Participants within the Cyber4Africa Programme will:

• Receive a structured cybersecurity evaluation and a prioritised motion plan tailor-made to their expertise stack and sector context
• ‍Build the technical and operational safety functionality wanted to guard their product, their customers’ knowledge, and their institutional partnerships
• Access professional-led coaching, remotely and in-individual, from Cyber 4.0’s specialist community and Cisco’s Nairobi Training Centre
• Strengthen their place with institutional companions, buyers, and regulators who more and more require proof of safety practices earlier than procurement or collaboration
• Join a neighborhood of African AI founders dedicated to constructing with safety and belief on the centre

Eligibility

The Cyber4Africa Programme is open to African AI startups that:

• Have an AI-enabled product, platform, or service at MVP stage or past
• Operate in environments with significant cybersecurity publicity
• Handle delicate private, monetary, or operational knowledge
• Are constructing in a number of of the programme’s 5 precedence sectors
• Are Africa-based or constructing options for African markets
• Have the capability to actively take part all through the six-month programme

Application

Applications shut on 8 June 2026 at 23:59 CET.

Click here to apply

For extra data, go to Cyber4Africa Programme.