ABOUT US
Welcome to Paltech Africa where we don’t just build AI. We embed intelligence into everyday life.
How do we make this vision a reality? We bring conversational AI out of the cloud and into classrooms, clinics, and public spaces making it universally accessible.
Low-Resource Ready EDGE AI: Solar-powered edge AI devices designed to be cultural fit.
Education & Healthcare: AI Classrooms provide on-demand teaching support. AI-enabled clinics guide patients with health education, symptom checks, and care navigation
Public Spaces: AI Benches & Gazebos offer Wi-Fi, digital services, and trusted community knowledge hubs.
Our mission is to fundamentally revolutionize how people interact with technology in public spaces. We create functional, accessible innovations that break down barriers and empower individuals. Paltech Africa is committed to building smarter, more connected, and sustainable societies, starting right here in Zimbabwe and reaching across the continent.
CASE STUDIES
‘hEY Cornelius’
Our First AI Powered Classroom embedded in a round hut gazebo at Cornelius Hope Academy.
-
Hey, Cornelius is the first AI-powered classroom driven by conversational AI, using edge hardware and sustainable energy. Located in Harare, Zimbabwe, at Cornelius Hope Academy a community school the model was built and trained on the local education curriculum for both primary and secondary students. It is designed to assist with critical thinking and serve as a study guide.
-
‘Hey Cornelius’ is embedded in a round hut gazebo—the school’s conversational space originally designed for students to gather and exchange ideas. The goal was to make the Cornelius AI model culturally relevant and contextual without disrupting the space. Built into a naturally woven basket, the edge AI blends seamlessly with the thatched gazebo.
-
‘Hey Cornelius’ is not static. The model can be continuously improved based on students’ experiences and evolves to meet their needs. For example, in its early installation, the Cornelius AI model was better suited to providing revision quizzes and examination tips, so we enhanced the model in that area.
OUR PURPOSE
To inspire intelligent spaces for a better Africa. OUR VISION
To be the leading smart city solutions provider in Africa. OUR MISSION
To democratize connectivity, AI, and sustainable energy through innovative, functional, accessible smart infrastructure that revolutionizes the way people interact with technology in society.OUR VALUES
Permanence, Innovation, Creativity, Execution, and Hunhu. Meet the Team
A focused duo looking at solving Africa’s technological gaps using personal and communal experiences. We blend systems thinking with fieldwork, combining edge AI, local languages, and thoughtful design to create intelligent spaces, from schools to clinics to city benches. Our strength is complementary: build fast, listen deeply, and scale what works. We’re here to make shared intelligence everyday reality across Africa.
-
Founder & Team LeadLeonard Muyambo is the founder and team lead at Paltech Africa, a venture pioneering Embeddable AI for intelligent spaces. His journey began seven years ago with a simple but powerful observation: young people clustering on street pavements to hotspot free Wi-Fi. From that moment, he envisioned converting city parks into connected, intelligent spaces an idea that has since evolved into embedding conversational AI into classrooms, clinics, and public spaces across Africa.
Leonard holds a Diploma in Sustainable Cities from Lund University (Sweden) and studied Biomedical Science before teaching critical thinking, debate, and argumentation at Cornell University’s Debate Summer Camp (USA). His interdisciplinary background spanning science, urban sustainability, and education fuels his mission to democratize access to intelligence by designing culturally relevant, accessible AI experiences.
-
Co-Founder & CTO
Takudzwanashe Nakwaenda is the CTO and co-founder of Paltech Africa, where he leads the development of conversational AI systems designed for rural classrooms and public spaces. With a BEng in Electronic Engineering from NUST (Zimbabwe), he specializes in AI/ML for resource-constrained environments, having previously developed an LSTM-based traffic decongestion system that analyzed real-time patterns to optimize urban mobility.
Beyond engineering, Takudzwanashe has a strong record in STEM capacity building, having led initiatives at the Eight2Five Innovation Hub, where he equipped high school students with future-tech skills and guided entrepreneurs from ideation to market. At Paltech, he is focused on building low-latency, embedded AI agents on edge devices such as Raspberry Pis making AI accessible, resilient, and impactful for African communities.
Strategic Partnerships
Paltech's growth is significantly propelled by strategic investments and partnerships. Notably, we are proud to have the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) Innovation Drive USF Fund our pre-seed round through a grant as a key investor in our embeddable AI for public spaces project, demonstrating their commitment to fostering innovation within the nation's technology sector. This, coupled with our collaborations with other vital business partners, provides us with the essential resources, expertise, and support needed to advance our mission. These alliances are fundamental in enabling us to develop and deploy smart furniture and intelligent spaces solutions that democratize AI, and sustainable energy across Africa.
