In the quiet village of Lisana, Ethiopia, where electric light was a rare luxury and internet access a futuristic dream in early 2000s, a young boy was assembling toy cars and tinkering with rudimentary electrical circuits. That boy, now 24-year-old Yisak Birhanu Bule, would grow up to become one of Africa’s rising stars in data science – using artificial intelligence to tackle some of the continent’s most pressing challenges, from disease outbreaks to credit access.

“I had a high ambition in technology,” Yisak says. “I was dreaming to do something which is special and everyone cannot dream in our area.” Speaking with the clarity and calm of someone who has spent years teaching himself complex concepts, Yisak recounts how his journey into AI and data science began not in a well-funded lab or elite university-but on a second-hand Tecno phone and later, a basic PC.

“For the first time, I had a Tecno phone, a small one. Later, I bought a PC.” Internet and electricity were major challenges in his hometown. “Even now, electricity is still a problem in some areas.”

Growing up in Lisana, Yisak was always curious. “In the  third grade, I tried to build some cars and electric lights in my house because there was no light in our area,” he recalls with a soft chuckle. His fascination with machines and problem-solving only deepened as he advanced through school, even though access to quality math and science education remained limited. “After fifth grade, there was a shortage of math teachers. It’s a common problem in Ethiopia.”

Despite these limitations, Yisak’s ambitions never waned. “I had dreams and ambitions. I believed I could do something with future technology.” He found an unexpected ally in the internet. “I was exposed to the internet in seventh grade. I started teaching myself from YouTube. You can’t find all those things in formal education.”

His educational journey speaks volumes about the power of self-belief. Despite the lack of formal AI training in local institutions, Yisak has forged his own path-powered by determination and a relentless curiosity. “In primary school, I was good at math. In high school, I struggled because of poor teaching. But I kept learning online.”

Yisak’s path took an unexpected turn during the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time, he was a first-year biology student at Wachemo University. But he was unfulfilled. “In our country, the university determines your field to learn-we can’t choose it ourselves,” he says. But Yisak began reading widely, searching for clues about the world’s future.

That’s when he stumbled upon artificial intelligence. “I saw that AI will make more progress in the future. I decided to learn more about it,” he explains. As he dug deeper, he found references to data science competitions-and with a few Google searches, discovered Zindi, a pan-African data science platform. “I found Zindi three years ago. My first competition was about predicting user activity, and I finished first.”

That initial win sparked a fire in Yisak. Since then, he has participated in dozens of Zindi challenges-solving real-world problems using data, algorithms, and machine learning. But the journey hasn’t always been smooth.

“The toughest challenges are time series problems,” he says. “The data fluctuates a lot. You need to understand and preprocess it deeply. Also, avoiding data leakage is hard.” But Yisak treats every challenge as a learning opportunity. “I tell myself: this is part of my journey. It helps me grow and improve my limitations.”

Indeed, Zindi has become a central pillar of Yisak’s growth as a data scientist. “These are real-world problems, from different industries. You work with different kinds of data and clients,” he says. “It has also given me friends from across Africa and the world.”

His proudest moment came when he won rewards in two high-stakes competitions: Africa Credit Scoring, which tackled credit scoring models, and Tanzania Disease Outbreak Prediction, aimed at forecasting epidemics. The victories earned him $2,500 and $6,000 respectively.

But beyond the monetary rewards, Yisak is driven by a deeper mission: applying AI to improve healthcare in Africa. “I’m learning biology, so I plan to combine biology and AI,” he explains. “I’m currently working on a Kenyan clinical dataset to build models that can serve as clinicians in rural areas. That’s my plan-health applications, especially for disease diagnosis.”

It’s a vision shaped not only by his academic interests, but by his lived experience. Access to quality healthcare remains limited in many parts of Ethiopia, and Yisak believes AI can help fill the gap. “I hope to build applications that are accessible in the most challenging areas.”

Still, he’s realistic about the road ahead. “We need more data, better infrastructure, and trust from people. Data availability is a big problem. Training models requires high-quality data and computing resources-which are expensive.”

But Yisak is undeterred. In the next ten years, he sees himself building practical AI solutions for Ethiopia and beyond. “I can’t say everything surely. It needs a budget and network. But I will focus on technical areas I can control.”

His message to young Africans dreaming of a future in data science? “The most challenging thing is our mind,” he says. “We need to convince ourselves why we are doing this. Self-belief is everything. Learn from problems. Love the challenges. When we try something new, it feels difficult and hopeless-but don’t give up. Just give it time.”

In a world increasingly defined by algorithms and data, stories like Yisak’s show that talent can emerge from anywhere. All it needs is a spark-and the courage to chase a dream others think is impossible.

“I was dreaming of doing something that no one in my area dared to dream,” he says. Now, that dream is shaping the future of AI in Africa.

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