Four months away from the start of Deep Learning Indaba in Senegal, we are joined by one of the Indaba’s founders, Dr. Shakir Mohamed. As a board member of NeurIPS and recognised as one of Time Magazine's '100 Most Influential People in AI,' Dr Mohamed has made substantial contributions to the field of artificial intelligence and machine learning In this episode, Dr Mohamed reflects on the early years of Indaba and describes how the initiative strengthens opportunities and connections within the African ecosystem, making significant contributions to the global body of machine learning and artificial intelligence research.   Dr. Mohamed also shares his personal journey, inspired by Prof. Tshilidzi Marwala, the current rector of the United Nations University, to pursue postgraduate studies. He discusses how advancements in AI and machine learning are transforming industries and integrating academic disciplines.