An Evening on AI in Africa: Film + Panel with Producer
Date and Time
Location
An Evening on AI in Africa: Film Screening + Conversation with Producer
Tuesday, March 3rd 2026
5pm Conversation | 6:15pm Screening | CAS Lounge
Join us for an evening exploring the future of AI in Africa with MAKEMATION, Africa’s first feature film on artificial intelligence. The program will open with a conversation featuring Dr. Toyosi Akerele-Ogunsiji, the film’s Creator & Executive Producer alongside Professor Ebehi Ihoya at Harvard Business School conducting research on AI in Africa, followed by a full screening of the film.
We will have finger food, movie snacks, and drinks. Please RSVP before seats fill up (FYI – please email us if you RSVP and can no longer attend)
Makemation is Africa’s first feature film that places artificial intelligence and frontier technologies at the heart of a coming-of-age story delivered with cinematic brilliance and broad emotional appeal. Produced by a globally recognized AI Leader, Policy Expert & Harvard Kennedy School Alumna, Dr. Toyosi Akerele-Ogunsiji, the movie is set in rural Lagos, Nigeria, the film follows the transformative journey of a brilliant but underprivileged young girl whose courage and creativity ignite change in her life and community. Through an inspiring and family-friendly narrative, Makemation balances humour, drama and heartfelt moments to captivate audiences of all ages. The film explores powerful and timely themes, including girl-child education, access to STEM education and digital skills, renewable energy, youth empowerment, inclusion and diversity, equitable healthcare access driven by local, home-grown innovation and the fast-rising role of young Africans, particularly girls, in leveraging technology to solve real-world problems. With an emphasis on storytelling, visual excellence and social impact, Makemation champions the boundless potential of youth-led innovation in Africa and beyond. Watch the official trailer here and cast reveal
Event Details
• 🗓️ Date: Tuesday, 3rd March 2026
• ⏰ Time: 5:00pm - 9:00pm
• 📍Location: CAS Lounge (left door from Tatte in Harvard Square)
• 🍿Dinner, movie snacks, and drinks will be served
• 🎥Watch: Official Trailer
• 🔗Registration: Please RSVP
About the speakers
Dr. Toyosi Akerele-Ogunsiji, Creator & Executive Producer; AI for Development, Governance and Policy Specialist & Film Maker; Founder, Rise Networks & Rise Interactive Studios
Dr. Toyosi Akerele-Ogunsiji is a Nigerian Artificial Intelligence for Development Professional (AI4Dev) whose passionate career focuses on AI Safety and Governance, Media, Public Policy Advisory and e-learning and has seen her evolve into a highly sought after, revered global thought leader and specialist within her fields of expertise.
She is the founder and CEO of Rise Networks, a Lagos-based data and AI for development social enterprise, and founder of Rise Interactive Studios, the production company behind Makemation, Africa's first feature film on Artificial Intelligence, screened at an exclusive side event of the 80th United Nations General Assembly and the Global Citizens Festival in New York.
The film has been positioned as a vehicle for sparking conversations on gender and inclusivity, the role of artificial intelligence and technology in the Global South, and approaches to addressing Africa’s most pressing development challenges.
Dr. Toyosi Akerele-Ogunsiji serves on international AI policy and convening platforms and has been recognised by organisations such as SwissCognitive and the Aspen Global Leadership Network for her work in AI, governance and youth development. She was named by Forbes as one of the 20 most Powerful Young Women in Africa.
Professor Ebehi Iyoha, Assistant Professor of Business Administration - Harvard Business School
Ebehi Iyoha is an Assistant Professor of Business Administration in the Entrepreneurial Management Unit at Harvard Business School, where she teaches the required MBA course The Entrepreneurial Manager, the elective Launching Global Ventures, and in Executive Education programs. She is also a Faculty Affiliate at Harvard’s Center for International Development. Her research sits at the intersection of industrial organization and international trade, examining how inter-firm networks shape productivity, innovation, and trade in both advanced and emerging economies. She combines structural and reduced-form empirical methods to study questions central to firm strategy and economic policy, including how trade policy, global value chains, and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence reshape firm performance and industry dynamics.
Professor Iyoha’s work has received multiple awards, including the 2025 UNCTAD-AIB Award for Best Research on Investment and Development, the 2025 Motsepe Presidential Research Accelerator Fund for Africa, and the 2021 Young Economists’ Essay Award from the European Association for Research in Industrial Economics (EARIE). Her research on tariffs and trade has been featured in major media outlets including Bloomberg, The Financial Times, The New York Times, Nikkei Asia, and Fortune.
Before joining HBS, Professor Iyoha was a research economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and a columnist for Stears Business in Lagos, Nigeria. She earned her Ph.D. in Economics from Vanderbilt University and graduated summa cum laude with a B.S. in Economics from Loyola Marymount University.
