Artificial intelligence (AI) is dominating conversations across boardrooms, policy forums, venture capital funds, and startup firms alike. From entrepreneurs to government officials, AI is widely hailed as the next transformative force shaping our world. Its potential is vast: smarter healthcare, more efficient agriculture, and enhanced financial services are all lucrative prizes that, thanks to AI, are in sight.
The Excitement in Africa
In Africa, the buzz around AI is particularly strong. The continent’s youthful population, dynamic entrepreneurs, and largely untapped markets make it an attractive arena for AI innovation. African startups are increasingly developing AI-driven solutions to address local challenges, from improving access to health services to boosting productivity in agriculture.
Already, promising examples are emerging. AI-assisted medical diagnostics are helping clinicians in rural clinics detect diseases more accurately and quickly, plugging the gap for doctors in a continent which often struggles to fund sufficient levels of healthcare.
Climate-smart tools powered by AI are helping farmers to optimize irrigation, predict pest outbreaks, and adapt to fluctuating weather patterns: a major boost for a continent that is the most exposed to a changing climate. Fintech innovations are using AI to assess creditworthiness, detect fraud, and deliver tailored financial services to previously underserved communities.
Yet beneath this enthusiasm lies a sobering reality: Africa cannot fully embrace an AI-driven future without first doing the foundational, often overlooked work. Without robust infrastructure and institutional support, even the most advanced AI solutions will struggle to scale or achieve meaningful impact.
The Foundations of Innovation
The groundwork required to make AI viable may not be glamorous, but it is essential. Reliable electricity, robust broadband networks, functional transport systems, clear regulatory frameworks, skilled technicians, and long-term investment are all prerequisites for AI to function at scale.
Without these foundations, AI risks being little more than a headline-grabbing distraction. Consider the case of a bank leveraging AI to detect fraud, evaluate creditworthiness for customers with limited financial histories, or deliver personalized financial products.
The potential to drive financial inclusion and stimulate economic activity among previously unbanked populations is enormous—but this potential will not be realized if power outages interrupt operations or if servers cannot be maintained.
The same principle applies across other sectors. Advanced AI tools for agriculture, for example, cannot deliver value if farmers lack dependable electricity for irrigation or cannot transport goods due to poor roads.
Even cutting-edge technology cannot compensate for basic infrastructure gaps. AI can optimize production schedules or predict market demand, but if crops cannot reach consumers or markets efficiently, the technology’s benefits remain theoretical.
The Case for “Boring” Work
These foundational investments may not capture media attention or generate viral headlines, but they are where Africa’s immediate needs lie. Addressing logistics inefficiencies, for instance, may seem mundane, but improving roads, ports, and customs processes can unlock growth across e-commerce, agricultural exports, and manufacturing. Similarly, building digital infrastructure, such as reliable broadband and widespread Internet access, is crucial to enable AI adoption across multiple sectors.
Transport optimization tools, predictive analytics for supply chains, and smart urban planning algorithms are all only useful if trucks can move freely on roads and shipments clear ports efficiently. Without reliable basics, sophisticated AI algorithms cannot deliver meaningful results. AI solutions are amplifiers—they require a solid foundation to create real impact.
Opportunity in Fundamentals
While the current market buzz is understandably focused on AI, from an investor’s perspective, these so-called “boring” sectors are far from unprofitable. Expanding energy access, modernizing logistics networks, and strengthening data infrastructure can generate multi-billion-dollar returns while underpinning broader, AI-driven economic growth.
Investments in these foundational areas build lasting value across multiple industries, including technology, manufacturing, and agriculture, and provide the groundwork for more advanced systems to drive even greater value.
Channeling capital into these foundational areas is both practical and strategic. Africa’s leap into high-tech innovation will be sustainable only if it is grounded in real-world capacity building. Balancing ambition with realism is crucial in ensuring the continent can achieve its long-term development and economic goals.
Hard Realities
The conversation around AI in Africa cannot ignore the hard realities on the ground. Infrastructure gaps, unreliable power supply, fragmented logistics, and limited digital infrastructure remain significant barriers.
Africa can aspire to lead in AI, but ambition alone is insufficient. Success depends on the continent’s ability to invest in the fundamentals—creating an ecosystem where AI technologies can thrive rather than falter. AI is not a magic bullet: it cannot substitute for years of capacity building, regulatory reform, or infrastructural development.
Moreover, these foundational investments are critical not just for AI, but for economic resilience as a whole. A country with strong infrastructure and institutions is better positioned to attract investment, foster entrepreneurship, and scale innovation. Conversely, neglecting the basics risks creating a landscape of exciting but unsustainable pilot projects that, despite the hype, fail to generate long-term value.
Balancing Ambition and Pragmatism
Africa can—and should—dream boldly about AI. The continent has the talent, creativity, and market potential to develop solutions that address local needs and compete globally. But these ambitions must be paired with a commitment to the steady, often tedious work of building the underlying systems that make AI adoption possible: power grids, roads, ports, data networks, broadband networks, and human capital development.
The world is watching Africa’s growth story with keen interest. To translate interest into tangible outcomes, Africa must demonstrate seriousness about the “boring” work that underpins the exciting possibilities. AI will only deliver transformative change when it is supported by reliable infrastructure, skilled professionals, and institutions capable of sustaining innovation.
In the end, the future of AI in Africa will not be defined solely by technological breakthroughs or startups raising headlines. It will be defined by the continent’s ability to build resilient, functional, and scalable foundations that enable these breakthroughs to flourish. Ambition must be matched by pragmatism, and vision by patience. Because in Africa, as anywhere else, it is the careful attention to fundamentals that turns potential into progress.
