The Executive Chairman, Global Africa Investment Summit and former President of African Development Bank, Mr Akinwumi Adesina, has proposed a 10 billion dollars Africa Artificial Intelligence (AI) Frontier Technology Fund.
He said this on Tuesday in Abuja at the Oxford Global Think Tank Leadership Conference organised by the Oxford Global Think Tank with the theme “Leadership for a Prosperous Future.”
Adesina said the fund would serve as a platform to mobilise 50 billion dollars over the next 10 years for Africa’s scientific, technological and industrial transformation.
He said present AI decisions would determine which countries developed the technologies of the future and which economies captured the greatest share of the wealth they created.
He warned that Africa risked becoming a market for technologies developed elsewhere if it failed to act strategically and deliberately.
He said Africa should approach the AI revolution as a continent determined not to follow or borrow but to lead.
Adesina mentioned five priorities for Africa’s AI leadership, covering investment in people, infrastructure, innovation, financing and political leadership.
He said the proposed fund would provide catalytic financing for research, critical infrastructure, frontier technologies and promising African technology enterprises.
He explained that the ambition would draw from four sources, including African governments, multilateral institutions, private investors and philanthropic partners.
“It will involve $10 billion in catalytic capital, mobilising $50 billion over 10 years to build Africa’s scientific, technological and industrial future
“This is not simply a proposal to raise money for AI projects. It is a proposal to build a continental financing platform capable of transforming Africa’s position in the global economy,” he said.
He proposed a Coalition for Financing AI for Africa, bringing together the World Bank, the African Development Bank, multilateral development banks, African governments and leading technology companies.
Adesina said Africa’s population of nearly 2.5 billion people by 2050 made it impossible for the continent to depend on technologies developed elsewhere to determine its economic destiny.
He urged Africa to invest in equipping young people with skills in AI, data sciences, robotics, machine learning and advanced engineering.
“There cannot be any AI when you are walking in the dark. Talent without infrastructure cannot compete
“Africa must not simply be a market for the AI revolution. We must be one of its architects,” he said
He also called on African governments to appoint dedicated ministers for AI, saying the technology cut across virtually every major sector of the economy.
The Director-General, Securities and Exchange Commission, Mr Emomotimi Agama, said electricity remained a critical barrier to AI development in Nigeria.
Agama said one data centre alone required almost 80 per cent of Nigeria’s total power transmission capacity, describing the situation as a major obstacle.
“If we do not get our electricity right, we are wasting our time
“Data is the new oil. The 10 leading post-capitalist companies in the world are all AI technology companies,” he said.
Also speaking, a general Partner at Resilience17, Mr Hassan Luongo, said Africa currently had only about 250 AI startups but believed the number could grow to 10,000 in the near future.
Luongo said young people across the continent needed to be encouraged to build AI companies, adding that advanced degrees were not always required to start.
He urged investors to take a long-term view, saying venture capital investment was a 10-year game and returns would come.
“It is super important that we increase AI investment across every stage, starting with early stage, and put that message out to 15-year-olds and 20-year-olds that they can build the future right now
“Investors can be patient on their returns and fundamentally believe they will come,” he said.
