The AIMS Next Einstein Initiative (AIMS-NEI) is a proposal seeking to create 15 AIMS Centres across Africa over the coming decade. AIMS-NEI was launched at AIMS in May 2008, and considered and endorsed by the AMI-Net collaboration and the AIMS Council in January 2009. AIMS serves as the Secretariat of AIMS-NEI, which is also strongly supported by the new Global Outreach programme of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Canada.