Name: Pelonomi Moiloa
Role:
Co-founder and CEO of Lelapa AI; Community Organizer; Data Scientist.
Net Worth:
As of March 2025, Pelonomi Moiloa’s net worth is estimated at $5 million.
Profile Overview:
Pelonomi Moiloa is a South African engineer, entrepreneur, and AI researcher recognized for her work in advancing language technology for African languages. As the co-founder and CEO of Lelapa AI, she leads a socially grounded research and product lab that develops resource-efficient AI solutions to expand the African digital economy. Moiloa is also a community organizer and mentor, actively involved in initiatives such as The Ungovernable NPC and the Ruth First Memorial Trust. Named one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in AI (2023), she is a TED speaker and advocate for ethical AI development.
Bio:
Born in 1992 in Johannesburg, South Africa, Pelonomi Moiloa grew up with a passion for science and community development. She completed her undergraduate studies at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), earning dual degrees in Biomedical Engineering (2013) and Electrical Engineering (2015). She later pursued a Master’s degree in Biomedical Engineering at Tohoku University in Japan, graduating in 2019. Her research focused on using recurrent convolutional neural networks for neural calcium fluorescence image segmentation.
Moiloa began her career with internships at Lodox Systems and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research before joining Nedbank as a Data Scientist and Team Lead. In this role, she worked on projects related to online fraud detection, adverse media monitoring, and social media analysis. In December 2022, she co-founded Lelapa AI to address the lack of technological tools tailored for African languages.
Beyond her professional work, Moiloa co-directs The Ungovernable NPC, a community-focused organization that operates initiatives like Code Kamoso, a coding academy for girls, and community gardening projects. She is also a trustee of the Ruth First Memorial Trust, which provides scholarships to young women in Johannesburg.
Pelonomi Moiloa’s Role in Artificial Intelligence:
Pelonomi Moiloa is at the forefront of developing AI technologies that address the unique linguistic challenges of Africa. At Lelapa AI, she oversees the creation of small language models optimized for low-resource African languages. These models aim to improve customer experiences and expand markets for businesses while preserving linguistic diversity.
Her work emphasizes sustainability and ethical AI practices, ensuring that technology serves communities equitably. She has contributed to academic research on dataset governance for low-resource languages and co-authored papers like “The Esethu Framework” (2025) and “InkubaLM” (2024). Through her leadership at Lelapa AI, Moiloa is driving innovation that bridges the gap between technology and underserved communities.
Nationality:
South African
Age:
33 years old (as of March 21, 2025).
Educational Qualification:
- Bachelor’s Degree: Biomedical Engineering from the University of the Witwatersrand (2013).
- Engineer’s Degree: Electrical Engineering from the University of the Witwatersrand (2015).
- Master’s Degree: Biomedical Engineering from Tohoku University (2019).
Sources of Wealth:
- Lelapa AI: Co-founder and CEO of an Africa-centric AI research lab.
- Nedbank: Former Data Scientist working on fraud detection and market research.
- Community Initiatives: Co-director of The Ungovernable NPC.
- Speaking Engagements & Recognition: TED speaker; named Bloomberg Catalyst (2023) and Mozilla Rise 25 Award recipient (2024).
- Academic Contributions: Research on sustainable dataset governance for low-resource languages.
Random Fact:
Pelonomi Moiloa was named one of Mail & Guardian’s Top 200 Young South Africans in 2019 for her contributions to technology and community development.
Pelonomi Moiloa’s career reflects her commitment to leveraging technology to empower communities while addressing Africa’s unique linguistic challenges. Her leadership at Lelapa AI continues to shape advancements in artificial intelligence tailored for underserved regions globally.
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