Zanzalu Fund for Future Innovation

Seeking builders, artists, technologists, and student founders growing bold ideas out of the Zanzalu community in Zanzibar and East Africa.

Zanzalu is a pop-up city on the island of Zanzibar, now in its third year, where local students and creators work alongside founders, artists, researchers, and technologists from around the world. Painter and community organizer Michelle Made grew up on the island watching talented people go unseen for lack of opportunity; through Zanzalu she found her calling connecting them to the wider world, from raising funds to build a computer room for the Straight Center night school to running student weekends on blockchain and technology. This fund is the next step: capital for the projects that sprout from that community, whether a student startup like Zenji Taste that teaches visitors to cook local food, an educator expanding access for kids in underserved neighborhoods, or an artist pushing Swahili futurism onto the global stage. It champions creators with clear vision and deep local roots, and aims to grow into a self-sustaining engine where funded projects give back so the next generation can rise.

place:africa

Eligibility

This fund supports creators connected to the Zanzalu community and the wider Zanzibar and East African creative ecosystem.
To qualify for this fund, projects must meet the following eligibility requirements:
- Community connection: Projects must emerge from or be meaningfully connected to the Zanzalu community, with preference for creators rooted in Zanzibar and East Africa.
- Mission alignment: Projects must advance creativity, innovation, or community impact in areas like future cities, digital culture, creative technology, education, or sustainability.
- Public benefit: Projects must produce an open or community benefit, such as knowledge sharing, exhibitions, open-source work, educational resources, or public experiences.
- Committed leadership: Projects must be led by creators with a clear vision, a realistic budget and timeline, and a demonstrated commitment to finishing what they start.
- Ethical practice: Projects must uphold ethical practices and contribute positively to the Zanzalu ecosystem.

Projects (10)

7 submitted · 3 curated

Project	Status	Raised
Swahili Futurism Residency	curated	$25,974
Zanzalu	curated	$131,767
Mittlemann Live Players Fellowship	curated	$51,835
Akuya	submitted	$234
Blockwisely Blockchain News and Education	submitted	$30,967
Let Africa Build	submitted	$0
Youth's Evolution national NGO	submitted	$455
Multichain Builders	submitted	$0
Zanzalu Kazi Mpya Residency	submitted	$1,934
Bitcoin and web3 technology	submitted	$120