CEO Japhlet Nwamu spotlights AI and cloud innovation as Halitta Labs deepens its partnership with the Africa Innovation Foundry
UMUAHIA, NIGERIA — July 2026 — The Africa Innovation Foundry (AIF) officially launched its South-East Regional Activation this week at the Abia State Secretariat Complex, Umuahia, bringing together government leaders, investors, and tech founders from across Nigeria’s South-East in a landmark push to train 150,000 tech talents and incubate 3,000 startups nationwide. Among the key voices driving the conversation was Japhlet Nwamu, CEO of Halitta Labs, a proud technical and ecosystem partner of AIF.
A Regional Ecosystem Coming Together
The activation drew commitments from across the public and private sector. Abia State’s Commissioner for Science, Technology and Innovation, Mr. David Kalu, detailed the state’s ₦2 billion Startup Support Fund and its newly domesticated Abia Startup Law — the first legal framework of its kind in the South-East. Enugu State, represented by Mrs. Chinyere Otuonye on behalf of Commissioner Dr. Lawrence Ezeh, called for a South-East Digital Economy Policy Roundtable to align regional policy. AIF’s Executive Director, Mr. Deji Garuba, laid out the program’s ambitious two-pillar mission: upskilling talent and incubating startups, backed by a ₦100 million fund secured in partnership with the Development Bank of Nigeria.
Against this backdrop, Halitta Labs stood out as a partner bridging Nigeria’s public-sector ambitions with world-class product and AI expertise.
Japhlet Nwamu brings a rare pedigree to Africa’s tech-building efforts. A former Microsoft professional and a recognized figure within the Microsoft ecosystem, Nwamu has built his career at the intersection of cloud technology and artificial intelligence, serving as a Cloud Advocate and AI specialist whose work has helped shape how organizations across Africa adopt modern, scalable technology.
At the activation, Nwamu addressed the practical role AI and cloud infrastructure can play in helping the region’s 3,000 incoming startups scale efficiently from day one, echoing the day’s broader call for South-East states to move beyond isolated efforts and build shared digital infrastructure. His remarks reinforced a theme that resonated throughout the event: that human capital, paired with the right tools, is the region’s most powerful asset for competing globally.
Halitta’s Growing Impact
Halitta Labs is the product-development arm of Halitta Group, a pan-African technology ecosystem built around four pillars: Halitta Labs (product development), Halitta Academy (free training and mentorship), Halitta Startups (incubation), and Halitta AI (practical AI solutions for African organizations). Its partnership with AIF reflects a shared mission, one already embodied in Halitta’s own audacious commitment to end-to-end enablement, from first line of code to global-standard product, for African founders and talent.
As AIF works to train 150,000 youth and launch 3,000 startups across Nigeria within 24 months, Halitta Labs’ involvement signals a growing convergence between Nigeria’s public innovation agenda and private-sector technical leadership, with Halitta positioned to help ensure that the products and startups emerging from this initiative are not just numerous, but genuinely world-class.
Learn more about Halitta Group’s ecosystem — Labs, Academy, Startups, and AI — at halitta.org.
About Halitta Group Halitta Group is a pan-African technology ecosystem building the tools, talent, and teams to power innovation from Africa to the world. Through its four divisions — Halitta Labs, Halitta Academy, Halitta Startups, and Halitta AI — Halitta supports founders and innovators from first idea to global-standard product. Learn more at halitta.org.