Magnus Imam is a Nigerian technology executive, artificial intelligence practitioner, and public policy advocate working at the intersection of technology, governance, and social impact. He serves as Chief Technology and Technical Officer (CTO) of Afrizonemart, a Lagos-based $2.5 million e-commerce platform powering Africa's marketplace for locally made products; is Policy and Partnership Officer at the Pan African Centre for Social Development and Accountability (PACSDA); and is the founder of the ZeroUp Initiative, a youth empowerment movement active in more than 20 Nigerian states. In 2023 he was named an Ashoka Young Changemaker for his work at the intersection of technology, advocacy, and social impact.

CAREER

As Chief Technology and Technical Officer of Afrizonemart, Magnus leads AI technology development, web infrastructure, and innovation systems for a $2.5 million e-commerce platform headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria. Afrizonemart is positioned as Africa's marketplace for locally made products, and Magnus's remit spans platform engineering, cloud operations, cybersecurity, and the design of operational playbooks for cross-functional technical teams.

Policy, Partnerships and Humanitarian Work

In his role as Policy and Partnership Officer at the Pan African Centre for Social Development and Accountability (PACSDA), Magnus contributes to African youth policy research, continental data infrastructure, and partnership development across the African Union. He works closely with youth-led organizations on strategy and action for sustainable change, and engages with governments and multilateral partners on the design of continental data products.

Magnus also contributes to humanitarian policy and strategy design in Nigeria. He is actively involved in the drafting of the Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) and intervention strategy for the BAY states Borno, Adamawa and Yobe where protracted conflict has produced some of the continent's most acute displacement and vulnerability challenges. His work here bridges technology and governance, translating on-the-ground realities in vulnerable communities into actionable policy and programme design.

Selected research outputs co-produced through PACSDA include:

• State of YPS (Youth, Peace and Security) Report 2025 — a 98-page report on Borno State, Nigeria, covering all 27 Local Government Areas across the five pillars of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2250, produced for a consortium including ActionAid Nigeria, Plan International, XPeace Associate, Khaleri Youth, and PACSDA.
• Promise Kept · Promise Broken: Nigeria Youth Empowerment Report Card 2025 an assessment of Nigeria's youth empowerment commitments, scored against the AYIMI (African Youth Impact Measurement Index) framework.
• African National Youth Policies Database: expanded to cover all 55 African Union member states, with regional grouping and indicators on youth financial access.
• AfriYouthStats AYIMS: contributions to a continental statistical database on African youth, structured around a seven-pillar framework with rigorous sourcing standards.

Youth Development and the ZeroUp Initiative

Magnus is the founder of the ZeroUp Initiative, a Nigerian youth education and empowerment organization delivering leadership, entrepreneurship, and technology programmes. ZeroUp is active in more than 20 Nigerian states, has reached over 5,000 young people, and has directly impacted more than 500 beneficiaries through structured cohort programmes and community interventions.

Through ZeroUp, Magnus has led projects including ZeroUp Reads, an AI-powered multilingual storybook platform designed to preserve and promote indigenous African languages, developed as part of an application to the Nigeria Youth Futures Fund (NYFF).

Across his cumulative youth-focused work combining ZeroUp, PACSDA engagements, and the Dreamers Community Magnus has contributed to projects reaching more than 10,000 young people across Africa.

Community Building

Magnus convenes the Dreamers Community, a youth-focused community associated with the Quincy Code ecosystem. He is leading the design of the Dreamers Community App, a Flutter-based mobile platform in which an internal token called Dream Coin serves as the connective tissue across features including Dream Cinema, Live Stage, a Goal Engine for personal development, and an Idea Launchpad for member-submitted ventures.

Education and Credentials

• Diploma in Artificial Intelligence - UniAthena (Oxford-affiliated programme)
• Certificate in Behavioral Science in Public Policy - World Bank Group

Awards and Recognition

• Ashoka Young Changemaker (2023)
• Featured in national and international media for his work at the intersection of technology, advocacy, and social impact, including coverage by The Guardian, Trace TV, and Silverbird TV.

Selected Projects

• BridgeAI — a student-first, template-based AI platform for African university students, using a pay-per-output credit wallet model. Magnus authored an IEEE conference paper on the project and presented at MarkHack 5.0.
• PACSDA Organizational Profile and Governance Documentation — corporate and governance documents for the Pan African Centre for Social Development and Accountability.
• Afrizonemart Infrastructure Overhaul — a multi-phase stabilization of Afrizonemart's server infrastructure, including auto-heal monitoring, bot-attack mitigation, DNS and email-deliverability migration, and edge-security hardening via Cloudflare.

Vision

Magnus is driven by a bold conviction: that the combination of technology, innovation, and public policy can produce scalable systems that empower communities, shape the future of African governance, and unlock opportunity for millions. His body of work as a CTO, AI practitioner, policy researcher, and founder reflects a sustained effort to build at that intersection.