AI in Action: Promoting African Tech Innovation
Whoosh. Because anything is possible 💫💫💙
Hello Dear Innovator 😎
Happy last Saturday of May!! 💃🕺
Will you be resting today, or are there some things that’ll keep you up and at it? 🤔🤔
A little history note for you…
In the early 1900s, Henry Ford (a popular car manufacturer) instituted the two-day weekend in his factories and offices and he did this because he wanted to boost the productivity of his workers. He realized that workers were more likely to put in more efforts during the week if they could also get their dedicated leisure time.
So if resting on the weekend was good enough for some factory workers in 1926, it’s good enough for you too [yeah, the eyeballs are on you rn 👁️👄👁️ don’t look away]
😂😂
So here’s the plan: Sit back, relax, read through your newsletter, share it aaaand you’re good to go! Easy peasy, lemon squeezy 😉
Jumping right into it….
The numbers are clear: Africa is embracing AI like nobody's business! 💥
A report by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) predicts a booming $6.6 billion AI market by 2025 and this is happening because Africans are steadily opening up to the possibility of what can be done with AI and the tech space, from healthcare to agriculture and everything in between
More people are also now leaning towards AI engineering and data science as career options and with initiatives like the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS)1 and others that are nurturing this talent pool 🥳 it’s only a matter of time before the impossible becomes a reality
Truly, we’ve come a long way from the days of landlines and analog computers
In Kenya, Alfluence is doing the most with AI by accurately matching influencers with brands. This helps them to create, monitor and manage high impact brand campaigns in real-time across Africa. It’s a first of its kind 💃🕺
Down South, Cape Town’s Aerobotics is using AI to help farmers to improve their harvets, through aerial imagery and by identifying problems that are invisible to the naked eye. Although the company is Cape Town-based (a city in South Africa) and barely 9 years old, it is already operating in 18 countries, including the U.S.
In Nigeria, there’s Racktor, a proud member of the Consonance Community of Innovators. They use AI to make Forex trading easier, convenient and safer for their users 🤩 There’s also Jambarrow, a B2B that uses AI and blockchain-driven solutions to push for financial inclusion.
There are a bunch of others in different sectors, and this newsletter might not be enough to mention all of them but the common denominator is that despite the challenges, they all either saw a large and untapped market and decided to take a leap or they decided to spice things up in an already established sector by following the trend and bringing AI into the mix.
Whatever the reasons are, there’s still a lot of market share to claim. So, Dear Innovator, how can AI improve your solutions today? 🤔🤔
How much money will you be leaving on the table if you don’t make that transition?. Think about it.
In other news…
Has this been you all week?
Chin up. We get it. It gets better ✨✨
On Wednesday, we’ll be back with deets on how other tech solution providers, like you, are scaling through and thriving in an attention economy like ours, where time is probably the most valuable asset yet.
Do great work this week, as you help people’s lives become a LiTle bit easier with your products and solutions.
Toodles!
Notable reads this week (as seen in TechCabal):