Justice Mukaro is leading the charge to make artificial intelligence work for Africa. The Zimbabwean entrepreneur is the founder of Strateji, a company building Afrocentric datasets to train AI systems that reflect the continent’s needs and values. This summer, he is participating in AAMU’s inaugural Leadership in Business Institute, part of the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders – a U.S. State Department program for rising African business leaders.

 “The world is fast adopting Artificial Intelligence across all industries,” says Mukaro. “Africa, on the other hand, is merely importing AI from other continents. Yet an AI is only as intelligent as the datasets upon which it was trained. At Strateji, our mission is to build African datasets and train AI that exists to serve our people and invent a better African future.”

For the past two years, Mukaro has led Strateji as its founder, overseeing innovation and mobilizing resources to bring the company’s vision to life. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from the Bindura University of Science Education in Zimbabwe, as well as certifications in Data Analytics and Business Intelligence from Google. Before launching Strateji, he worked as a data annotator at Talent Africa in Zimbabwe.

Mukaro’s decision to apply for the Mandela Washington Fellowship was grounded in his unique philosophy of entrepreneurship. “My approach to business is of being a diplomatic entrepreneur,” he explains. “This was the perfect program for that. More so, I was looking to gain access to the best startup ecosystem in the world, that is the USA. The fellowship enabled me to do so.”

Since arriving, Mukaro has achieved a major milestone: incorporating Strateji as a C-Corporation in Delaware, officially registering the company as a U.S. entity.

“This fellowship gave me access to the most vibrant startup ecosystem in the world,” Mukaro explains. “This experience has helped me build sustainable relationships – and make business progress at the same time.”

While in the U.S., Mukaro has been connecting with potential business partners, learning from faculty and peers, and exploring African American history in Birmingham, Montgomery, and Atlanta. He sees clear parallels between the African American experience and the African experience back home. Though the summer heat has been a challenge, his time at AAMU has left a lasting impression.

“The hospitality is otherworldly,” he says, noting that Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle even awarded him honorary citizenship. He also shared that while he misses his family and Zimbabwe’s cooler weather, the connections made here far exceed his expectations.

As the Fellowship draws to a close, Mukaro is already looking ahead. “I want to return home with new investors and new opportunities – not just for myself, but for other young Africans with bold ideas. I’m building Strateji into a unicorn – an African AI company with multibillion-dollar impact.”