Optics and photonics research in Africa has gradually grown in the past ten years with a very active optical community involved in state-of-the-art research. Despite relatively low resources, optics research in the continent is competitive with many international benchmarks and has had a significant impact within the African continent. In the past five years, a group of dynamic students have developed the student chapter network from Tunisia to South Africa. The first student chapters of the optical society of America (OSA) and the international society for optics and photonics (SPIE) were established in South Africa (in the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and in the University of Stellenbosch), followed by a chapter in Tunisia (Engineering school of communications of Tunis, Sup’Com). In this paper, we will present the major activities of the student chapters of Tunisia and South Africa, and how they are promoting optics and photonics in Africa.