LocationsAfrican entrepreneurs are redefining how AI can drive sustainable development
February 11, 2025
Authors:
Alex Hradecky, Project Manager, AI Hub for Sustainable Development
Abdulhakeem Abdulkareem, Project Analyst, AI Hub for Sustainable Development
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the potential to transform societies for good. However, many developing countries are facing challenges in critical areas of AI development, particularly those on the African continent. From high computing costs to limited representative datasets, left unaddressed these challenges will only widen the AI equity gap. This is where the AI Hub for Sustainable Development is coming in as a collaboration catalyst to deliver impact that is grounded in the strengths of local ecosystems.
Strengthening innovation across the AI value chain
The AI Hub for Sustainable Development is an initiative co-designed by the Italian G7 Presidency and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to strengthen AI foundations and accelerate AI innovation in Africa. With a strong focus on partnerships that prioritize local contexts, the AI Hub is addressing challenges and scaling opportunities across Africa to ensure everyone can both participate in and benefit from AI’s development.
As part of a Startup Accelerator Pilot programme, in 2024 the AI Hub collaborated with African AI entrepreneurs to surface some of the innovative solutions contributing to the continent’s AI value chain. The collaboration highlighted the immense potential of AI to drive meaningful development outcomes on the continent, but also importantly -- critical challenges that exist in foundational areas of data, green computing infrastructure, talent development, and enabling environments.
From participating in co-creation workshops to international dialogues on AI, the entrepreneurs had the opportunity to share the success stories behind their local innovations, while advocating for stronger collaboration to cultivate and preserve an enabling environment. During the G7 conference on AI held in San Francisco, entrepreneurs from the pilot programme along with AI leaders in the African diaspora steered discussions on concrete action needed to unlock AI’s potential across different sectors.
Reflecting on the importance of public-private sector partnerships to boost the AI revolution in a safe and inclusive way that benefits everyone, the following points echoed prominently:
- Access to representative datasets that reflect African contexts and realities is paramount yet limited;
- High costs and limited availability of computing power needed to train and deploy models limit innovation progress;
- Attracting and retaining technical talent is a twin challenge; and
- Regulatory landscapes and AI Trust and Safety approaches are complex and often challenging to navigate.
Demonstrating the art of the possible
Despite these challenges that limit AI advancement on the African continent, the innovative solutions that have been emerging from different regions and communities across the continent provide clear signals of its fertile ground for success. Attending the conference in San Francisco, some of the startups from the pilot programme showcased how African AI innovation is transforming sectors, from agriculture and education to finance and environment. Their pitches to investors, innovators and development partners underlined technical excellence, market readiness, and the continent’s leadership in shaping AI for sustainable development in developing countries and beyond.
By bringing together AI innovators, public sector leaders and financial stakeholders from Africa and G7 nations, the conference served as a platform for driving action-oriented partnerships that focus on development impact for people and planet. Importantly, it also amplified the AI Hub’s vision of steering local, regional, and global private sector collective action across the African continent to ensure AI benefits all.
Bending the arc of AI towards equity
With the AI Action Summit underway this week in France, AI continues to make headlines as a promising technology that can drive human development and economic growth. To realize this outcome, AI’s design, adoption and use must be guided by principles of safety and inclusion. Bending the arc of AI towards equity means recognizing that the African continent isn’t just a market for AI technologies — it is vibrant force creating AI solutions that can be adopted and adapted to address critical global challenges.
Kickstarting this year, the implementation of the AI Hub will focus on four areas:
- Expanding data initiatives to ensure AI development reflects African realities
- Building sustainable, affordable computing infrastructure (read more on the forthcoming Green Compute Coalition)
- Scaling talent development and exchange programmes
- Strengthening enabling environments for responsible AI development
In line with these priorities, UNDP’s AI Trust and Safety Re-imagination Programme was recently launched, inviting innovators across sectors to collectively re-imagine AI Trust and Safety, through measures that both prioritize equitable and practical approaches and foster shared, public–private sector responsibility. At the AI Action Summit this week, the Every Language Matters event highlighted how local innovators are making AI more accessible by digitizing low-resource languages, driving important discussions about how the global community can support these efforts.
Keep watching this space for updates on the AI Hub for Sustainable Development: aihubfordevelopment.org.
The authors would like to thank Dwayne Carruthers (Digital Transformation Communications and Advocacy Manager) and Romilly Golding (Communications Expert) from UNDP’s Chief Digital Office for their editorial direction.
. . .
Join our newsletter for more stories and monthly updates on digital for development.