This article reports on new programs that focus on training skilled scientists and mathematicians who will help solve Africa's myriad problems. The African Institute for Mathematical Sciences, in Cape Town, South Africa, offers one of the first working examples of a growing effort to develop a cadre of highly trained, practically minded scientists and mathematicians who can solve problems in health care, agriculture, and in general mitigate the dearth of homegrown scientific research that plagues much of the continent. Educators, policy makers, and donors across Africa who are developing these programs hope they will also stem a continuing brain drain. A second major project, the African University of Science and Technology, is scheduled to open this year in Abuja, Nigeria. The continent desperately needs advanced scientists and mathematicians to spur its development. But most of Africa's universities have proved ill equipped to produce such expertise. Historically geared toward training civil servants rather than the researchers, entrepreneurs, and thinkers who are crucial to building a modern economy, African universities have long faced a crisis of relevance. Now they are striving to transform themselves, but the task has proved difficult. Universities have been neglected and underfinanced for decades, beset by problems as varied as low Internet connectivity, dilapidated campuses, and poorly qualified instructors.