Adesina urges Africa develop own AI technologies to compete globally

…Receives BPI award

Akinwumi Adesina, former president of the African Development Bank (AfDB), has urged African countries to move beyond exporting raw materials and adopting foreign technologies to building globally competitive industries, developing home-grown technologies and creating more value from the continent’s resources.

Adesina said Africa’s next phase of economic transformation would depend on how effectively its leaders invest in human capital, integrate national markets, expand industrial capacity and develop technologies capable of competing in the global economy.

Speaking recently at the BPI Iconic Awards in Johannesburg, South Africa, he said the continent must position itself not merely as a consumer of emerging technologies, particularly artificial intelligence, but as a creator and shaper of them.

At the event, Adesina received the Iconic Leadership and Excellence Award from the BPI Foundation in recognition of leadership and excellence.

In his keynote address titled “Africa’s Next Leap: Visionary and Ethical Leadership for an Integrated and Prosperous Africa in the Global Economy,” the former AfDB president said the continent had the people, natural resources and markets needed to become a major force in the global economy, but must build the capacity to turn those advantages into economic power.

“Our greatest strength is not simply what we possess. It is what we can create from what we possess,” he said.

Adesina identified Africa’s young population as one of its biggest economic advantages, noting that about 60 percent of its population is under 25 and that one in four people globally would be African by 2050.

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He said governments must equip young people with the skills, technology and opportunities to build companies, develop new products and solve problems, rather than prepare them only for existing jobs.

“Education must achieve more than employability,” he said, arguing that universities and vocational institutions should work more closely with industry, while apprenticeships and lifelong learning should become integral to workforce development.

He called for African engineers to build industries, scientists to develop discoveries and software developers to create products for global markets.

For Adesina, the continent’s demographic advantage would translate into economic strength only when supported by an integrated market that allows businesses to grow beyond national borders.

He described the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) as an opportunity to create one of the world’s largest integrated markets, urging African leaders to see the agreement as more than a framework for trade.

“The AfCFTA should become an industrial platform for Africa,” he said.

He argued that linking countries’ resources, energy, processing capacity and manufacturing capabilities would help businesses expand across the continent, attract investment and compete more effectively in global markets.

Adesina said integration should ultimately be measured by the goods Africa produces, the companies it creates, the value it captures and the competitiveness it achieves internationally.

He pointed to Nigeria’s $20 billion Dangote Refinery as an example of the scale of industrial investment African entrepreneurs could deliver, saying its significance extended beyond the refinery itself.

“Its significance goes beyond one refinery. It demonstrates that African capital and African entrepreneurship can build industrial assets capable of competing at global scale,” he said.

He urged the continent to develop more industrial champions across sectors such as automobiles, electric vehicles, batteries, steel, machinery, pharmaceuticals, food processing, software and artificial intelligence.

Africa must also move further up the value chains of its natural resources, he said, by investing in processing, refining, manufacturing, research and intellectual property instead of relying predominantly on the export of raw commodities.

“Mining can be the beginning. Processing creates skills. Refining creates technological capabilities. Manufacturing creates industrial ecosystems. Research creates intellectual property,” Adesina said.

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He warned that the global race in artificial intelligence, advanced computing, semiconductors and robotics was already under way, with major economies investing heavily in these technologies.

Africa, he said, should not limit its ambitions to adopting foreign innovations or training people to use AI tools.

“Our ambition must go beyond teaching people how to use AI. We must prepare people to build it,” he said.

He called for investment in universities, laboratories, computing infrastructure and industrial ecosystems to develop African expertise in AI, data science, cybersecurity, semiconductors and robotics.

He said the continent’s critical minerals could supply expanding technology industries, but African countries should also seek to participate in the higher-value industries and technologies built around those resources.

“Africa must not simply adopt the technologies of the future; we must help build them,” he said.

Beyond industrial and technological development, Adesina stressed that Africa’s economic transformation would require visionary and ethical leadership capable of prioritising long-term national interests over personal or short-term gains.

He said public resources must be managed in the interests of citizens and future generations, with transparency, accountability, due process and strong institutions providing the foundation for sustainable development.

“Power is for serving the public,” he said.

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According to him, leaders making decisions on mining agreements, infrastructure projects, public finances and strategic partnerships should consider whether those decisions serve national interests, expand opportunities and create lasting value.

He argued that the quality of leadership should be judged by the opportunities it creates for future generations and the strength of the institutions it leaves behind.

Adesina said Africa’s next leap would depend on bringing together its demographic strength, integrated markets, industrial capacity, technological innovation and ethical leadership.