From AI ambition to AI adoption: Why Africa's leaders must close the execution gap

There is a conversation about governance in Africa that we do not have often enough. We talk about elections, manifestos, budgets, infrastructure, economic growth, digitisation, public-sector reform and institutional performance.

Africa’s climate-finance debate has too often been reduced to one question: where will the money come from? That is the wrong place to stop.

Corruption, weak internal controls and poor loss recovery continue to expose organisations across Sub-Saharan Africa to significant occupational fraud risk, according to regional findings from Occupational Fraud 2026: A Report to the Nations.

“The headache started months ago. At first, it was dismissed as stress from work. The painkillers brought temporary relief, so there seemed little reason to worry. The hustle for daily bread continues. Then came the vomiting, followed by blurred vision and seizures [convulsions]. Only after visiting several clinics in nearby towns, trying herbal remedies and seeking spiritual intervention did the patient finally reach a neurosurgical centre. An MRI scan revealed the true culprit, a brain tumour.” [Patient with brain tumor]

Prudent Artificial Intelligence (AI) implementation can lead to significant results. A million-dollar question on the minds of most decision makers is how to deploy AI successfully. Though this is a good question, its answers are quite complex.

“I will engage in business but I am going to look at how the campus environment is before I know the type of business to do.”

There is a tendency across the public sector in Africa to borrow the language of customer experience.

For many Ghanaians, the dream of owning a home begins long before they can afford one.