Beyond job loss: AI as Africa’s productivity co-pilot

On the first morning of January 2027, something quietly disappears from Ghana's streets. The white foam take-away pack, that squeaky, weightless box that has carried our waakye, jollof and banku for a generation, becomes contraband.

September was extraordinary for AI in Ghana. I stood on stages at the Pan African AI & Innovation Summit, moderating a session on drafting actionable AI governance and speaking on responsible AI in practice. I led #BeMe AI Frontier: Sustainable Futures, bringing together young people, educators, universities, and industry in the same room in Accra.

Last week, I started a series on using motivation as a risk management tool. Do you remember my theory of KNOW YOUR STAFF (KYT)? It really works for team bonding and service delivery.

Across thirteen of Nigeria's largest listed companies, not one holds a climate target validated by the Science Based Targets initiative. Independent assurance of the reported figures is confirmed at only four. That finding, from Mubarak Adebanjo's review of Nigerian corporate sustainability reporting, is the sharpest thing in either of the two studies now circulating among African practitioners.

Ghana has hundreds of traditional markets spread across its 16 administrative regions and 261 districts. These markets serve as important centres for accessing a wide range of goods and services, often at relatively lower prices.

Ghana’s digital economy has grown faster than its traditional VAT collection mechanisms. In 2022, only a few non-resident e-commerce entities were on the GRA’s radar. Today, about 167 non-resident e-commerce businesses are registered, mobilizing an average of GH¢43 million monthly and contributing an estimated GH¢515 million in VAT annually. Yet a significant VAT gap still remains.

Ghana is about to spend an enormous sum of public money to construct a new expressway. The government has ring-fenced US$1.7 billion at the Bank of Ghana for a new, roughly 199-kilometre, six-lane Accra-Kumasi Expressway with interchanges, meant to complement, not replace, the existing highway. This is the most consequential road safety decision Ghana will make in this decade.

Arrival at the energy transition junction The global transition toward a low-carbon economy has fundamentally altered the geopolitical and economic landscape of energy markets. As the world shifts from fossil fuel-intensive systems to renewable energy and electrified transport, global energy security is pivoting from hydrocarbons to critical minerals.