about tembi labs
Image collage from the comp. Use real Tembi imagery, not template stock.
In short
Tembi symbolises hope. We believe a person's future should not depend on where they were born. So we share devices, discover builders through hackathons, and grow communities that stay with them. Together, they become digital equity, and hope, made real.
Tembi Labs exists to close the gap by partnering with universities across the Global South to run hands-on AI hackathons, provide access to cutting-edge technology, and create pathways for the next generation of AI innovators to learn, build, and thrive.
In short
We believe that talent is not the bottleneck, access is.
Somewhere in the Global South, a future founder, a future engineer, a future scientist is one laptop away from starting, and one laptop alone will not get them there. That is why we built a comprehensive approach: devices from Germany, AI hackathons to find them, and communities to keep them building.
This is not charity. It is an unlock. The world has not run out of talent, it has just been looking in the wrong places.
On the ground
Tembi Labs exists to make equal access to technology a human right, through AI hackathons, devices and communities across the Global South.
What we offer
A world in which equal access to technology is a human right. One where geography and income do not decide whether someone can build with technology, and where the Global South, like the Global North, creates, shapes and exports technology instead of only consuming it.
Tembi Labs exists to democratise access to technology. We aim to dismantle the barriers to cutting-edge software and hardware that prevent people in the Global South from participating in the global technology economy. Organising AI hackathons, distributing devices, enabling digital literacy and building computer and science labs is how we close the gap.
We work human-first and AI-second, and we listen before we design. We back equity over equality, allocating against the gap rather than per head. We choose dignity over charity, building infrastructure for excellence and capturing people's successes, never their misery. We champion technological sovereignty through open source and repairable hardware. We think in ecosystems, because hardware, education and network only work when built together. Talent exists everywhere, so the people we work with are authors, not beneficiaries. Other NGOs are partners, not enemies. And we hold to transparency, reporting our impact, budget and failures.
In numbers
25+
AI hackathons organised
100%
success rate
48
partners & supporters
4
countries operating in
300
students impacted
5
solutions built
How we work
We host AI hackathons together with the universities, igniting the spark and checking critical infrastructure for device donation.
From that first hackathon, we enter detailed talks with the university administration. They become our partners once vetted rigorously through our process.
Meanwhile, we partner in the Global North with companies that want to donate resources, funds and devices, and with AI companies and research labs willing to provide AI credits and education programmes to the students.
To keep the fire going, we empower students through the Chapter Lead & AI Champion programme. They organise hackathons and become on-the-ground experts other students can approach.
Once partnered with a university, we set the cornerstones for device distribution with the administration, develop a concept and facilitate the distribution and the building of computer labs.
Beyond the computer labs, we educate staff, teachers and community leaders, so the devices stay useful and impactful, spurring ideas and solutions for their communities' own challenges and igniting the entrepreneurial spirit.
Through this enablement and access to cutting-edge technology, the focus shifts to value generation. We support entrepreneurship and economic outcomes that benefit the whole community.
We stay in the loop so the previous steps continue without us, and we open our platform for talent placement and recruiting. The hackathons, devices and enablement give us a deep pool of ready-to-work talent that we share with companies in the Global North, as a business model.
“Our northstar”
In short
The idea began years earlier at a lunch table in the halls of Cambridge University. The conversation kept returning to one question: how the wellbeing of future economies is shaped by whether a country's young people can access and build with technology, not only consume it. Across many metrics and perspectives centred on the Global South, one thing stood out. This question, although decisive for the world, was barely being targeted or talked about by larger institutions. At least not yet.
Out of that vision and research from 2023, the journey began in 2026. A diaspora team that knows these contexts first-hand came together, people who had watched the AI gap widen faster than anyone was addressing it and refused to wait for permission. What binds the team is a single conviction: access to technology should be a human right, not a privilege of geography or income. That conviction gave birth to Tembi Labs and the mission-driven work the team is privileged to do today, helping people across the Global South get better and faster access to cutting-edge technology.
team grid
Tim Jamboula, Co-Founder
Filmona, Co-Founder
Hyewon, Co-Founder
Billy Nyeongesa, Co-Founder
Next step
Our mission and belief are unwavering. Geniuses and innovators exist everywhere. They just need to be empowered, and with your help they can be. You are their lifeline, and the future depends on them. Join us in making this mission a reality.
Book a call
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FAQ
We run AI hackathons at universities across the Global South, share refurbished devices, build computer rooms, and run the Chapter Lead and AI Champion programmes so the work continues on the ground.
No. We run talent-activation programmes, not charity. Participants are authors of their success, not recipients of alms, and we report our impact, budget and failures openly.
Tembi Labs is a team-led initiative run by its co-founders, a diaspora team. The idea started at Cambridge, research began in 2023, and you can meet the team on this page.
Across universities in the Global South, with partners in the Global North who donate devices, funds and AI credits.
Tembi means hope. We believe a person's future should not depend on where they were born.
Tembi Labs is currently a team-led initiative, not yet an incorporated company. Companies and supporters fund devices and programmes, and we report finances transparently.
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