Programs
The Programs archive records each Academy cycle, its teams, products, locations, and partner institutions across Botswana and Lesotho.
A full-immersion AI-native development program. Ship real products alongside Technical Leads and TAs.
ACA's post-program product studio, where alumni and Technical Leads take selected work into pilots, paid delivery, and venture development.
Independent companies can grow from Academy teams or Foundry ventures, hire locally, and strengthen the regional software economy.
Cohorts
Each cohort is organized as a group of startup teams. This archive records the products they built and advanced together.
Academy cohorts present semester-long product work, graduate with their teams, and join the ACA alumni network.
Current cohort
Product teams form after Startup Week
Gaborone / Maseru
Jul-Nov 2026 · Regional university partners
The current cohort is completing onboarding, AI Tools Week, and Startup Week before moving into product sprints.
Projects
Project teams have not formed yet. This list will be updated after Startup Week.
Gaborone / Maseru
Jul-Nov 2025 · Universities in Botswana and Lesotho
Devs formed startup teams during Startup Week, then built and advanced products through the cohort's sprint cycles.
Projects
Gaborone / Maseru
Jul-Nov 2024 · Universities in Botswana and Lesotho
The 2024 cohort shipped two verified product projects, each with dedicated frontend and supporting repositories in the cohort organization.
Projects
Gaborone / Maseru
Aug-Dec 2023 · Universities in Botswana and Lesotho
Product teams worked across startup pilots, client delivery, and internal ventures during the second half of 2023.
Several projects continued into the Foundry: WhatBot reached its first live customer, while Ikgobokanyetso became a paid delivery engagement.
Projects
Gaborone / Maseru
Jul-Nov 2022 · Botho University and regional universities
The second 2022 cohort continued product work across ACA and Foundry delivery teams through Launch Week.
Devs joined from Gaborone and Maseru and worked in distributed product teams through Launch Week.
Projects
Southern Africa
Jan-May 2022 · Botho University and other leading universities
The first 2022 cohort expanded beyond the pilot and advanced products that moved into customer pilots, grant-backed development, and early revenue.
ACA continued to work with Botho University as well as other leading universities in the region.
The cohort included devs from Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, and Eswatini.
Projects
Gaborone / Maseru
Jul-Nov 2021 · Botho University
The pilot cohort gave Botho University devs remote experience inside a working software startup environment during pandemic restrictions.
The COVID-19 pandemic drastically reduced viable internship opportunities for university devs because of lockdowns and limited remote-work support at corporate partners.
ACA partnered with Botho to provide devs with experience working in a software startup environment where they could develop real-world software.
The first run targeted two groups of 25 devs at the Gaborone, Botswana and Maseru, Lesotho campuses, with internet connectivity support for fully remote participation.
Projects
Action
Applications for the 2026 Academy program are closed. The current cohort runs from July through November 2026; the next application window will be announced through ACA's official channels.