September 24, 2024 – Today, Meta announced the recipients of the 2023 Llama Impact Grants and the Llama Impact Innovation Awards. Launched in October 2023, the programme is designed to support innovative use cases of Llama 2 and Llama 3 that address pressing social issues. With over 800 submissions from organisations in more than 90 countries, the program highlights innovative solutions leveraging Llama models to address major challenges in education and the environment, as well as technological innovation.

Llama Impact Grants

As one of the Llama Impact Grants winners, Digital Green, in partnership with One Acre Fund, will receive $500,000 USD. The runner-up, Jacaranda Health, will receive $300,000 USD to support their project. The projects include:

• Advising Farmers in Underserved Areas: Digital Green’s Farmer Chat project aims to develop a multilingual AI chatbot that provides customised, on-demand agricultural advisory services to small-scale farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa. Llama will be fine-tuned on a vast repository of agricultural data to adapt the model to the specific needs and contexts of different regions. Llama’s conversational capabilities will then be used to provide comprehensive and practical responses in a variety of languages including Hindi, Swahili, and Kikuyu.
• Runners Up and Impact Innovation Awardees: Jacaranda Health aims to expand its digital health tool, PROMPTS, which uses SMS behavioral nudges and an AI-enabled clinical helpdesk to empower new and expecting mothers across Kenya, Ghana, and Eswatini to seek and connect with the right care at the right time. The goal is to make PROMPTS the go-to resource for personalised maternal and newborn health support across Sub-Saharan Africa. 

Llama Impact Innovation Awards

In addition to the Llama Impact Grants, Meta also announced the recipients of the Llama Impact Innovation Awards. Award winners will receive up to $35,000 USD, including mentorship, partnership opportunities and ad credits, to further their innovative work with Llama. The award recipients include:

• HelpMum, which has developed an innovative chatbot service that delivers accurate and timely information on vaccination and immunisation. Leveraging Llama 3’s advanced language processing capabilities, HelpMum created Vax-Llamamodel—an AI-driven, open-source model designed to provide reliable vaccination information. This open-source model can be integrated into HelpMum’s chatbot service and adopted/used by healthcare organisations worldwide.
• Tanzania AI Community’s chatbot Twiga which provides teachers with a virtual assistant for generating exams, lesson notes and course materials tailored to the Tanzanian curriculum via WhatsApp. Twiga uses Llama 3 to generate contextualised educational content to address the shortage of quality resources and the high workload of teachers in Tanzania. It uses Llama 3 70B in its RAG pipeline to generate high-quality educational exercises and Llama 3 7B for smaller tasks like efficient query pre-processing and data extraction.
• Flow Informatics’ phosoAI project aims to address food insecurity in Malawi by enhancing a WhatsApp-based chatbot that provides people with real-time information on food prices, availability, and agricultural practices, particularly in rural and urban areas. The chatbot uses Llama 3 to provide real-time information to users in Chichewa. It also allows for voice commands to improve accessibility in low-literacy areas.

Meta is deeply committed to open-source AI and believes that expanding access will drive meaningful global progress. Applications for the Llama 3.1 Impact Grants are now open until November 22, 2024.

-ENDS-       

ABOUT THE COMPANY

Meta builds technologies that help people connect, find communities, and grow businesses. When Facebook launched in 2004, it changed the way people connect. Apps like Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp further empowered billions around the world. Now, Meta is moving beyond 2D screens toward immersive experiences like augmented and virtual reality to help build the next evolution in social technology.

The Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), has served 343 contravention notices on construction sites at various locations around the state in the last one year.

Commissioner for The Environment and Water Resources, Mr. Tokunbo Wahab, disclosed this at on-going ministerial press briefing to mark one year of the second term of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu Administration, in Alausa, Ikeja.

He said the notices were served on them for not complying with the construction waste regulation procedure supervised by LAWMA.

Wahab added that 354 new introductions notices were issued to construction firms within the same period while enforcement was carried out on 10 recalcitrant sites.

According to him, “LAWMA in the last one year has served no less than 343 contravention notices on construction firms at various locations in the state, for not complying with the rules and regulations governing construction waste management. It is the responsibility of the Construction Demolition and Disaster Waste Department of LAWMA, to work with construction firms, for smooth evacuation of waste generated by them. But some of them are not playing by the rules, hence the notices”.

Speaking further, he said the agency identified 103 black spots around the state, which LAWMA at various times mobilised its operations men to clear.

He said, “It is a sad commentary that despite persistent public awareness, warnings and actual enforcements, some residents still refuse to patronise assigned PSP operators, preferring to dump waste in canals, on road medians and other illegal points. This habit must stop”.

The commissioner also disclosed that LAWMA, through the Ministry of The Environment and Water Resources, had signed an MoU with the State Government and Jospong Group, on waste treatment solutions.

He noted that the MoU entailed identifying existing landfill sites, for proper re-engineering of solid waste management system, to generate employment.

Still on the activities of LAWMA in the last one year, he intimated that the agency had worked with United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and Food and Beverage Recycling Alliance (FBRA), to identify locations for the installation of plastic recycling facilities, adding that the move was aimed at mass removal of plastic items from the environment, and for job creation.

He stated further, that the Marine Unit of LAWMA, had additional 5 rafters within the last one year, to aid the collection of on-shore and off-shore waste.

On markets in the state, he noted that LAWMA had a year round stakeholders engagement, considerably improving hygiene practices, waste containerisation and evacuation among others.

Wahab reminded residents who indulge in defacing the environment, that LAWMA, within the time under review, apprehended and prosecuted about 1,100 defaulters, a majority of whom were sentenced to hours of community service or fined various sums of money.

He contended that to sustain the current momentum of achievements by the agency, stakeholders engagement, public enlightenment must continue on all media platforms, sending messages on efficient waste management best practices to all strata of society.

The commissioner commended LAWMA Academy for continuously expanding its reach of pupils for waste management education, which averaged 1,400 pupils in eight primary schools across the state.

Wahab lauded LAWMA for prioritising 24-hour response time to complaints, urging residents to shun reckless waste disposal at unauthorised locations, to avoid harsh environmental consequences as the rains approach.

Events in the cement sector in the last couple of weeks have been really worrisome.

Ever since BUA Group Chairman, Abdul Samad Rabiu disclosed that his products would be sold at 3,500 per bag, the other players in the industry have been jittery.
First, the media was and is still agog with rhetorics over whether the price reduction was possible and feasible.

Obviously, most of these did not come from outsiders in the industry but sponsored by industry leaders who feel threatened. Because these have not worked, stories of BUA Cement unavailability started circulating, also from the same sources.

Meanwhile, investigations revealed that BUA Distributors in EDO, Sokoto and some other parts have been picking their supplies at 3,500 per bag. Indeed one of them,

Mike Igwe, a distributor who spoke with us confirmed that ever since the price was reduced, he has been buying at that price and that those who claim that BUA is yet to effect the price change don’t know what they are saying.

According to him, ‘the other manufacturers have reasons to be afraid. They are definitely going to lose out in the market’. Who will abandon where he’s buying for 3,500 NAIRA per bag and go to Dangote where he will pay over 5,500 Naira? he further asked.
Speaking further the Benin-based cement dealer suggested that road transportation, especially the bad roads occasioned by the rains could have been the reason why other parts of the country did not immediately enjoy what he and many other distributors around had been enjoying. However with the rains already going, other parts of the country, must have started receiving their supplies at the new price. He also figured that BUA must have jerked up production to meet the increased demand as more buyers are switching over.

Other distributors we spoke with revealed that Dangote specifically has come under intense pressure since the price reduction by BUA and has been looking for ways to ensure that he does not lose customers. They confirmed that Dangote has been giving out one free truck for every seven trucks bought by distributors, all in a bid to ensure that he saves his face. But, according to builders we spoke with, this form of tokenism will not trickle to retailers and there is no way the consumers can feel it either. This is because if you give one truck to a distributor who bought seven trucks, he will prefer to sell rather than give away the cement.

There is no doubt that Dangote and Lafarge’s reaction to BUA’s decision to cut the price of cement really betrayed their position vis a vis the current situation in the country. Nigerians need succor from all fronts. They need business leaders who can rise above money making interests and feel for the people.

Both organizations have been jittery and have resorted to arm twisting BUA rather than taking concrete steps to try and maintain their share of the market.
It is also worthy of note that sponsored analysts are springing up to make wild claims that the price cut is neither practicable nor sustainable. This, industry players know is coming from those who feel threatened by the BUA move.

For Dangote, many distributors saw this opportunity as a major step towards moving away from the company’s high handed practices. Those who spoke with us pointed to the fact that they cannot pay cash to him but only credit.

According to them, Dangote will always hold on to their cash whenever price changes. He will hardly make refund if there’s increase in price unless you pay the extra money added on top.

This is unlike the practice with BUA where they supply you the goods with the old price even if there’s price increase. And given the volatility of the market presently, with BUA Cement promising to reduce the price further when they hit the 17million Tons per annum target, no one will like to be caught off guard.

Nigerians need to mount pressure on the other major cement manufacturers to join BUA in reducing the price of cement.

The pressure created by the BUA move could be seen in the number of times Dangote has come out to deny any form of price increase.

Meanwhile, rather than decreasing the price so that the masses can benefit, he has decided to gift distributors one truck each if and when they buy seven trucks.

His intransigence and unwillingness will further make the market volatile, unpredictable and consumers may continue with this till first quarter of 2024 when BUA hits the 17million tons per Annum target and force all of them to drop prices to the 3,000 NAIRA per bag which Abdul Samad Rabiu promised Nigerians.

The dilemma the other manufacturers face now is that prices are already coming down and this trend will continue as BUA cement gets supplied at the new price all over the country.

It’s only a matter of time.