2021 in Review: Big Wins, Bigger Opportunities on the Horizon…
Today, we are a team of 6, smaller than we were this time last year but making waves like never before!
We’re a team who works as equals, builds on top of each others’ strengths, and was able to achieve great outcomes over the past 12 months. We share some of our favorite achievements in numbers, below!
So, what changed from last year?
Our mission definitely did not. We are still pushing with all our might to lead on the awareness of Artificial Intelligence to achieve the democratization of this technology in our MENA region. Our awareness is now solely focused on EDUCATION — our key focus and strength.
On the education front, we carried out our set growth plan — creating more impactful content and programs. BUT we knew we wanted to do online education differently, and that’s why our programs focus on integrating live support and a pipeline for our learners to take their knowledge a step further after our programs. This leads us to carry out exciting new programs and activities, and we share some of our best highlights below!
The 16-week Machine Learning Certification
Without a doubt, our MLC program has been our greatest program addition with the biggest impact. With our first cohort running from June 2021 — September 2021, this program focuses on graduating market-ready ML engineers. In 16 weeks, not only do the learners build an understanding and know-how of data science, machine learning, deep learning, computer vision, natural language processing, time-series, ML in production & research, but they also get:
- Guided support through weekly office hours
- Real-life practice through capstone projects with one-on-one mentorship
- Non-technical sessions that help foster all-round skills needed when working in diverse teams, such as the case with Data Science/ML teams
- Career guidance to prepare their portfolio for recruiters
- Networking with Hiring Partners during a Career Fair
After only 3 months, 35% of our graduates have either landed a new job, got promoted at their existing job, or applied ML in their own work/startup.
Making Waves hand-in-hand with Microsoft
Last year, we had the pleasure of joining Microsoft’s Global Training Partner network. From there, we’ve worked closely to bring impact and skills to our higher education student community in MEA.
In February of 2021, we completed a cohort of 200 AI Ready learners and graduated 96 students with 3 globally-recognized, industry certifications offered by Microsoft. In June of 2021, we completed the SECOND cohort of AI Ready which enrolled 300 learners and successfully graduated 112 certified students.
We’ve reached more than 10 countries and 36 institutions across MEA through this rich partnership and program!
As this year is ending, we’ve been working with Microsoft to train and empower 110 university students from Qatar in preparing and submitting competing data and AI projects to Microsoft’s annual, global Imagine Cup competition. More so, we’ve launched another program to upskill 140 high-school students in UAE to discover AI Fundamentals on Azure and build their first AI projects, preparing them with today’s skills early on and allowing them to discover their passion for AI before enrolling in a higher degree at university.
Much more upskilling coming your way from Zaka and Microsoft in 2022… Stay tuned! :)
The Online Learning Platform — AI Brainery
As we have been building more in-depth and advanced curricula for our audience, we’ve been launching short courses on our AI Brainery that tackle different topics in the field of AI. These courses are open for anyone to take all year round with little time commitment.
Even though static online courses are not our focus at Zaka, we believe many may find them useful in tackling specific topics they are interested in over a short period of time. To give these courses a further edge, we always design them with a hands-on nature — as we do with all our content — such that the learner enrolling will be able to tackle full project implementations in the area of interest upon completing the course.
Expanded Community Reach
With our goal of constantly incorporating our passion for the community into Zaka’s mission, we have been powering the City AI global community through pushing local, regional, and global exposure of AI to our city chapters and members. We’ve had the pleasure of supporting several talks in partnership with IEEE SA as well as coordinating the MENA AI Festival last November 2021.
To continue on this front, we’ve been engaged in the coordination and organization of several events to boost the awareness of AI in our region in support of regional partners. One instance of this was our organization of the AI for Accessibility Hackathon (watch the final ceremony here) that was held in partnership with the IPark American University of Beirut and Microsoft, where we welcomed 71 semi-finalist teams from across 11 countries!
Finally, if you are connected with us on our socials, you might have also noticed that we’ve been pushing to provide access to free webinars that tackle general topics and issues that may be of interest to the community.
Ending on a strong, positive note!
With wrapping up 2021, we are proud to share the news that we recently received:
Zaka has made it to the 15th edition of the MIT Arab Competition’s Semifinalists under the Startup Track!! Wish us luck! :)
What’s next in store for you with Zaka?
We are definitely a group of dreamers. With our mission of democratizing AI in the MENA region, we are always looking for ways to expand our reach and impact.
For 2022, we are planning to move towards growing what makes Zaka special at its core — its COMMUNITY.
In essence, we want to offer our community a one-stop destination to upskill and advance in their AI career.
Can you guess what we have in store? Make sure to keep an eye out! :)
Don’t forget to support with a clap!
You can join our efforts at Zaka and help democratize AI in your city! Reach out and let us know.
To discover Zaka, visit www.zaka.ai
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