Meta, the global technology leader, has partnered with Startupbootcamp to launch a new edition of the Llama Design Drive program aimed at accelerating agentic AI startups in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. This collaboration comes at a time when the enterprise agentic AI market in the MENA region generated $102.2 million in revenue in 2024 and is projected to reach $1.07 billion by 2030, with a compound annual growth rate of 48.6%.

The Llama Design Drive program is a three-month initiative that provides MENA-based startups with essential tools, mentorship, and compute credits to develop intelligent assistants and chatbots designed to solve real-world problems. The program emphasizes the use of Meta’s Llama models, which are the latest open-source, natively multimodal large language models. Startups participating in the program will tackle regional challenges in sectors such as mobility, aviation, healthcare, energy, retail, education, and public services.

Joulan Abdelkhalek, Policy Programs Manager at Meta, stated that the company believes in the transformative power of open-source AI. He emphasized that through Llama Design Drive, Meta aims to co-create AI solutions with promising founders from the region, focusing on building AI agents that address the unique priorities and challenges faced by the MENA region.

This year’s focus on agentic AI highlights the growing demand for digital transformation and scalable automation in MENA. Governments in the region are investing heavily in digital infrastructure and AI capabilities, creating a need for AI agents that can provide intelligent, self-directed support in various areas such as public services, online learning, digital healthcare, and green mobility. Hani Murad, CEO of Startupbootcamp, remarked that agentic AI is positioned to unlock regional potential, building on the impact of past cohort startups.

Selected startups in the program will receive a comprehensive support package, which includes up to $25,000 in AWS credits for their development needs, along with technical mentorship from Meta’s engineering teams and AI experts. Founders will participate in intensive workshops and capacity-building sessions designed to aid them in developing, deploying, and scaling their agentic AI products for the local market.

The program collaborates with industry leaders to create relevant challenges and real-world problem statements. Previous partners included RTA, Chalhoub Group, Dubai Holding, Emirates Airline, and MBC Group, which have benefitted from early access to innovative AI solutions that align with their digital strategies.

The Llama Design Drive builds on the success of its 2024 edition, which attracted over 200 startup applications from the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. Forty-three startups were selected, with winners from the UAE including Indigo Hive and Transcend Technologies, while KSA winners featured Labib Technologies and Mugafi.

The MENA region is becoming a hub for AI innovation, with the agent market expected to grow from $213.1 million in 2024 to $2.2 billion by 2030. As governments invest in skills development, 86% of professionals anticipate that AI will transform their roles by 2029, positioning the MENA region as a potential global leader in the AI landscape.

About Startupbootcamp: Startupbootcamp (SBC) is a global network of industry-focused accelerators that supports startups by providing access to a worldwide network of mentors, partners, and investors. Since 2010, it has run over 150 programs across 27 countries and is recognized as Europe’s leading startup accelerator.

About Meta: Meta builds technologies that help people connect, find communities, and grow businesses. Since the launch of Facebook in 2004, which transformed social connections, Meta has expanded its impact through apps like Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp, and is now focusing on immersive experiences such as augmented and virtual reality for the future of social technology.