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Despite massive enthusiasm for artificial intelligence across the continent, African businesses are falling behind global competitors by treating AI as a cost-cutting tool rather than a catalyst for revenue growth.
According to a new AI performance study released today by PwC, a staggering 82% of African organisations are currently running AI pilots. However, very few have successfully scaled these initiatives enterprise-wide.
The report, based on global survey data from over 1,200 senior executives, paints a picture of a region rich in digital ambition but constrained by narrow execution and limited investment.
“The organisations that will win are not those running the most pilots, but those that scale the right AI to transform how they create value,” said Dion Shango, PwC Africa CEO.
Currently, African enterprises are allocating an average of just 2% of their revenue to AI initiatives, significantly lagging behind the 5% benchmark set by global market leaders.
Consequently, only 32% of regional leaders believe their current AI funding is sufficient.
A major divergence between Africa and the rest of the tech world lies in how the technology is deployed.
While global frontrunners are leveraging AI to launch new business models and completely redesign their value chains, early AI benefits in Africa are heavily concentrated on basic productivity gains and cost reduction.
Olufemi Osinubi, Consulting Leader for PwC West Market, warned that focusing solely on efficiency is a “narrowing strategy.” He emphasised that the real opportunity lies in utilising AI to unlock underserved markets.
The report highlights that African firms are missing out on cross-sector innovation failing to use AI to bridge gaps across industries like financial services, healthcare, and energy to solve systemic challenges.
While corporate strategy may be lagging, the African workforce is forging ahead. A significant bright spot in the PwC findings is employee readiness, with 64% of workers already utilising AI in their daily roles.
“The workforce is ahead of the organisation in many cases,” noted Laolu Akindele, Partner at PwC Kenya. This bottom-up adoption provides a massive competitive advantage, provided leadership can build the missing digital foundations such as trusted data architecture, cloud modernisation, and robust governance frameworks to support it.
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