Jade Abbott is CTO at Lelapa.AI, building language technology for Africa. With over a decade of experience deploying Machine Learning systems into production across diverse sectors, including banking, non-governmental organisations, and startups, she is a recognised leader in the field. She co-founded Masakhane in 2017, a grassroots organisation advancing Natural Language Processing (NLP) research in African languages. Abbott holds an MSc from the University of Pretoria in South Africa. Her accolades include being named one of MIT Technology Review's 35 Innovators Under 35 (2024) and a recipient of Mail & Guardian's 200 Young South Africans Award.