Overview

Africa’s Talking, in collaboration with Google, presents LaunchPad: Generative AI + APIs for Innovation - a groundbreaking developer program designed to upskill and inspire developers across Sub-Saharan Africa.

This immersive learning journey blends Google Cloud’s Generative AI expertise with the power of Africa’s Talking APIs, guiding participants through 10 comprehensive modules, assignments, and a capstone project. The program moves from foundational cloud and AI concepts into advanced frameworks, API integrations, and offline-ready solutions—helping developers build impactful, production-ready applications for real-world challenges.

By the end, participants will have worked on hands-on assignments, collaborated with peers, and built a portfolio-ready project that showcases their ability to combine Generative AI with APIs for innovation across industries. Find all modules and resources attached below.

Get ready for a program full of up-skilling and knowledge! 

Pre - requisite:

• Basic programming skills (Python, NodeJs and Java)

• Basic understanding of what an AI Agent is (Difference between LLM and AI Agents)

• Learner must be familiar with cloud computing concepts

• Create a developer profile to be able to claim badge

• Set up Google Cloud Console

• Create your Africa's Talking Developer Account to use AT Products

• Join the Slack channel: #at-google-ai-ml

• NB: Google cloud credits will be provided at the workshops

TO GET STARTED WITH THE PROGRAM, PLEASE REGISTER AT THE LINK HERE. 

Module 8b

• Useful links

  Deploy, Manage, and Observe ADK Agent on Cloud Run | Google Codelabs

Module Details: Deploy, Manage, and Observe ADK Agent on Cloud Run | Google Codelabs

What it is:

This session walks developers through the complete process of deploying AI agents built with the Agent Development Kit (ADK) onto Google Cloud Run, using Google Codelabs as a guided, hands-on framework. You’ll learn how to package your ADK agent into a containerized application, deploy it as a scalable service, and configure it for real-world accessibility. The session covers deployment best practices, environment configuration, load balancing, and integrating monitoring tools for observability. By the end, you’ll understand how to manage your agent lifecycle, from code to live production, on a fully managed, serverless platform.

Why it matters:

Deployment is where innovation meets impact. Knowing how to deploy and manage AI agents at scale allows developers to transform local prototypes into robust, production-ready systems accessible to millions of users. Google Cloud Run simplifies this by handling scaling, infrastructure, and network management, so developers can focus on building intelligent logic rather than managing servers. Adding observability and monitoring tools ensures that your ADK agents perform reliably, remain cost-efficient, and deliver consistent user experiences. This session empowers you to take your agentic applications from experiment to execution; securely, efficiently, and globally.

What you’ll build:

You’ll deploy an AI agent built with ADK to Google Cloud Run, enabling real-time scalability and accessibility via API endpoints. The Codelab will guide you through containerizing your agent, connecting environment variables, and setting up continuous deployment. You’ll also integrate Google Cloud’s Monitoring and Logging tools to track agent performance, latency, and resource usage, giving you deep insight into how your deployed agent behaves in production. By the end, you’ll have a fully deployed, monitored, and manageable ADK-powered agent running in the cloud.

Takeaways:

• How to containerize and deploy ADK agents using Google Cloud Run

• How to configure environment variables and scaling policies for efficient deployment

• How to integrate Google Cloud Monitoring and Logging for real-time observability

• Best practices for managing agent lifecycle and performance in production environments

Why Attend

• Over $5000 to be won: 3 winners every key city and 1 overall winner from any city

• Hands-On Innovation: Learn by building real-world AI and API-powered projects.

• Portfolio-Ready Work: Complete assignments and a capstone project to showcase your skills.

• Expert Guidance: Access Google Cloud trainers and Africa’s Talking engineers.

• Pan-African Collaboration: Connect with fellow developers from across Sub-Saharan Africa.

• Career Growth: Gain exposure to tools, frameworks, and communities that open new opportunities.

Target Attendees

• Developers across Sub-Saharan Africa passionate about AI and APIs

• Software engineers, backend/frontend developers, and data scientists

• University students and graduates in STEM fields

• Startup founders and entrepreneurs building tech solutions

• Professionals seeking to expand into Generative AI and API-driven innovation

Looking Ahead: Program Timeline: Recorded videos playlist available on respective past sessions. Here

• Kickoff –
  Introduction to program
  Module 1: Google Cloud & Generative AI Fundamentals
  Module 2: Foundations of APIs & Africa’s Talking Core Services

• Week 1 – Virtual Learning
  Module 3: Gemini for End-to-End SDLC + Build an App with Gemini API
  Module 4: Generative AI SDKs & API Integrations (start)

• Week 2 – Virtual Learning
  Module 4: API integrations (continuation)
  Module 5: Advanced Africa’s Talking APIs (start)

• Week 3 – Virtual Learning
  Module 5: Advanced Africa’s Talking APIs (continuation)
  Module 6: Building Generative AI Applications with Specific Frameworks + Assignment

Assignment: Creative Generative AI Applications

• Week 4 – Virtual Learning
  Module 7 (Part 1): Leveraging Google Cloud ML and AI APIs

• Week 5 – Virtual Learning
  Module 7 (Part 2): Leveraging Google Cloud ML and AI APIs (Continuation)

• Week 6 – Virtual + Physical Meetup
  Module 8: Developing & Deploying Agentic Systems (Lab 1, Lab 2, Lab 3, Lab 4, Lab 5) + Assignment
  Mid-program recap + assignment review
  Module 9 Intro: Africa’s Talking Integrated Applications

• Week 7 – Virtual Learning
  Module 9: Africa's Talking Integrated Applications (start)

• Week 8 – Virtual Learning
  Module 9: Africa's Talking Integrated Applications (continuation)

• Week 9 – Virtual Learning
  Module 10: Local and Offline AI Solutions (start)

• Week 10 – Virtual Learning
  Module 10: Local and Offline AI Solutions with labs (continuation)

Be part of a movement where Sub-Saharan Africa’s developers explore, build, and showcase the next generation of Google AI and Africa's Talking technology powered applications.

New to Africa's Talking? Get started here.

Publish on Africa's Talking Marketplace

• Marketplace : Get Call Back as a Service and Publish your plugin/app for our customer.

• Developer Documentation (We welcome feedback)

Gigs:

We would love to reach out to you so that you can build for our customers, please fill out this form with details to ensure we have your details:

GIG/HACK DEVELOPER PORTFOLIO FORM

Join community channels:

Slack:

• Join Africa's Talking slack community here

Please follow our Twitter handle too:

• @AfricasTalking

You can get our videos, recaps, and event interviews on our YouTube channel, subscribe to get updates:

• Africa's Talking YouTube Channel

Africa's Talking community allows developers to learn skills for the modern-day African Developer. We are language and framework agnostic. All developers are welcome. This is where Africa's Talking developers community meets to build, learn and exchange knowledge.

We are helping software developers and businesses to bring their ideas to life through easy-to-use APIs easily.

Would you like to partner with us? Kindly contact the Developer Experience Team.