Nigeria: SMAIR Foundation and Faithful Ajah's Legacy

Nigeria Robotics Education Initiative

In Lagos, there is a grassroots movement teaching robotics and artificial intelligence to children as young as eight.

SMAIR Foundation aims to make AI and robotics education accessible. It also fosters innovation and prepares young minds with hands-on experience.

Faithful Ajah helped bring the Foundation’s mission to life. He sees his own curiosity and the passion to build something reflected in the students at SMAIR Foundation.

“I was the kind of person who would not let most things slide,” recalls Ajah. Additionally, if you said, the sun sets at six pm, I would ask why it wasn’t six-thirty pm.

I was that kind of child.

Ajah’s inquisitive nature led him on a scientific journey. He tinkered with electronics as a child, built websites in secondary school, and graduated with a physics degree.

Additionally, he did research in particle physics and strengthened his quantum physics knowledge. He also took a computing class in data science to combine quantum computing and quantum information technology.

Turning passion into practical output

From Nigeria, Ajah pursued answers with a relentless drive. He completed the data science programme through ALX Africa, the pan-African organization that trains tech talent and founders.

ALX sharpened the stubbornness within him, says Ajah, and provided a clear structure for turning his passion into practical output. Soon after, he competed and won a pan-African AI hackathon hosted by Explore AI Academy.

This was a turning point. Finishing at the top of the hackathon was confirmation for me that the work I was doing was real. Ajah recalls, ‘the experience gave him clarity and impetus to accelerate that work into something meaningful and measurable’.

According to Ajah, what ALX seeded in him could not be contained, and this grew into helping establish a company called AIR, where he is currently Head of Innovations, and the SMAIR Foundation.

Moreover, AIR is a robotics-engineering partnership that offers training, consulting, robotics kits and school-lab setups, while SMAIR works specifically with youth and children through hands-on AI, robotics, coding and technology education.

Both organizations converge around one simple belief: every child deserves the opportunity to become an innovator. Additionally, AIR’s outreach fuels partnerships with schools and communities across the region. This growth supports students, teachers, and parents through ongoing, high-quality programs. Across many communities, impact grows.

From school partnerships and curriculum-aligned interventions, AIR and SMAIR Foundation support classrooms. Together they have enabled a growing community committed to Africa’s technological future. Moreover, these efforts inspire students to pursue STEM careers. Their collaboration strengthens Africa’s capacity to innovate.

The generation is thinking ahead.

Harnessing the opportunities for Africa’s tech future is a critical point of discussion for Ajah. “The common discourse is that my generation is filled with people who do not think five steps beyond their immediate future,” he says. However, this view may be limiting. “I believe that my generation wants to leave a legacy. We are aware of the potential that today’s technological tools have to materially change our communities right now.”

Growing AIR’s work in robotics

Aligning with Ajah’s continued pursuit for knowledge, AIR’s work continues to expand.

Earlier this year the team won the Lagos qualifier.

They placed third at the Nigeria finals of the Robotics for Good Youth Challenge.

The event is run by the UN’s ITU through AI for Good.

It features their autonomous agricultural robotic prototype to fight food insecurity.

This product is currently being taken to market, backed by VC funding.

In addition, AIR is building computer vision systems.

It is launching robotics solutions built specifically for African environments.

A major milestone for both Ajah and AIR was becoming the sole partner for Mechatron Robotics in Nigeria.

Moreover, Mechatron Robotics is a specialist, franchise-based, STEM education company that runs robotics, coding and AI classes for school-age students.

It has trained more than 50,000 students in nine countries.

“If you had told me where I’d be today, I might not have believed you.”

“Becoming the sole partner for Mechatron Robotics in Nigeria has been an incredible journey,” says Ajah. It has provided me with valuable lessons about leadership and people, as well as robotics.

For Ajah, this work is not only about building technology. It proves his generation can see beyond the obstacles ahead.

Moreover, he wants to help develop a visible proof point of Nigerian and African innovators actively building with current resources. They will do this without waiting for tools to be handed to them.

Through AIR and the SMAIR Foundation, Ajah hopes to leave behind more than a company. Rather, he seeks a generation of young Africans convinced they can build the future themselves.