Hemingway’s Safaris Africa and the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) have hosted a five-day robotics bootcamp to equip young Africans with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and robotics skills.
The initiative aims to enable participants to solve real-world challenges in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The Head of Member Experience at Hemingway’s Safaris Africa, Ms Eucharia Egbuaba, said in a communique on Thursday in Lagos that the bootcamp targeted young Africans aged 12 to 15.
Egbuaba explained that the programme was designed to equip participants with AI and robotics skills to tackle real-world problems. She noted that the initiative represents a fundamental shift in how the company engages Africa’s luxury travel market by integrating education, innovation, and human capital development into family travel experiences.
She added that the bootcamp follows the club’s previous explorers’ mission to the NASA Teen Space Camp in Alabama and forms part of Hemingway’s 20-year vision of shaping a ‘global African’ identity.
Participants were tasked with developing practical solutions across four real-world problem areas aligned with the UN SDGs. These include building hospital delivery robots to ease medical staff workloads, designing smart health alert devices for elderly care, engineering route optimisation vehicles to reduce urban carbon emissions, and developing smart traffic bollards to improve pedestrian safety in busy city centres.
“For younger members, the journey begins with learning how to use tools like robotics to shift their thinking from building toys to building global solutions,” she said.
The LCCI President, Mr Leye Kupoluyi, noted that Nigeria’s AI market is projected to exceed $430 million in 2026, with approximately 88 per cent of Nigerian adults having interacted with AI tools.
However, he pointed out that enterprise-scale deployment remains limited, creating a productivity and innovation gap that businesses must urgently address. He described AI as no longer optional for Nigerian businesses but a strategic imperative for competitiveness, productivity, and economic growth.
Kupoluyi urged enterprises to move beyond experimentation and adopt structured AI solutions across operations, particularly in finance, logistics, retail, agriculture, manufacturing, and digital services.
He called on the Federal Government to position Nigeria as a regional AI hub through coordinated policies, digital infrastructure investment, and AI-ready workforce development. He also advocated for an enabling regulatory environment that supports innovation and responsible AI deployment.
“We further call for stronger collaboration among government, academia, startups, technology providers, and the organised private sector to accelerate practical AI implementation and strengthen Nigeria’s digital economy,” he said.
Mr David Alozie, Founder of Workhen AI, reinforced the club’s commitment to aligning technology with tangible societal benefits.
The communique also announced the unveiling of “Maestro”, Hemingway’s proprietary AI-powered travel technology platform, which is currently in its pilot phase. The platform is designed to guide members towards transformative travel experiences and foster deeper engagement with destinations beyond traditional tourism.
