Nigerian & S. Africans head to Dubai AI Week; Nigeria launches national strategy
Africa AI News weekly digest...
Good morning, and welcome to this week’s issue of Africa AI News – Weekly News Digest.
A lot of excitement in the AI community in Africa, where many are visiting the Dubai AI Week, a collection of events happening in a few days time. There are country delegations from South Africa and Nigeria participating, so we’ll bring you a report-back when it’s done.
Other major news is a return to policymaking, but moving the focus to execution in Nigeria, as well as some sector-specific execution in a couple of countries with published strategies.
All this, while the technical types digest new models from OpenAI, a threat by the US to ban DeepSeek, and a host of potentially explosive moves where tech is starting to become caught in a proxy war between national interests. Never a dull moment.
On with this week’s issue!
/Roger
Conferences
SA and Nigerian AI boffs jet off to Dubai AI Week
#Nigeria #SouthAfrica #UAE #DubaiAIWeek — Dubai AI Week is a collection of semi-independent events; the main destination for the country delegations being the Dubai Assembly for AI, with interactive sessions, exhibitions, live demos and an Agentic AI hackathon from 21-25 April. Also happening is the AI Retreat (invite only), the Global Prompt Engineering Championship (cash prizes for clever prompting), Dubai AI Festival (ticketed expo), and the much-anticipated Machines Can See conference (invite only, public exhibition).
The Nigerian delegation is:
CDIAL.AI, Yinka I. (CEO) - multilingual customer engagement and education through Indigenius AI and Stakestack AI.
GrowthQ, Esther Iyamu (ENFP) (CEO) - workforce growth and talent readiness through AI-powered assessments and career acceleration.
Vencapital, Henry Ogbuagu (Founding Partner) - inclusive tech funding.
Caena, Kayode Odeleye (CEO) - capital intelligence platform.
AVA AI, Omi Iyamu (CEO) - deployment of intelligent agents.
Vault Hill, Folajimi Daodu (CEO) - business companion, hyper casual gaming platform and virtual world platform (leading the delegation).
The South Africa delegation is:
Melio AI, Merelda Wu (CEO), Harry Lee (CTO) - machine learning in the Cloud)
Augmented AI - visual tech, education and training
The delegations will be presenting keynotes and participating in roundtables at various sessions across the events during Dubai AI Week. (WAM and own reporting - See Middle East AI News for all the conferences taking place)
Egypt to host Africa’s first AI healthcare conference
#Egypt #healthcare — Egypt will host the continent’s first AI-focused healthcare conference at the Fourth Africa Health ExCon from 24–27 June 2025 in Cairo. The event is backed by the Egyptian Authority for Unified Procurement, Medical Supply, and Technology Management (UPA), Moharram & Partners, in collaboration with the African Union (AU), Africa CDC, AUDA-NEPAD, and ACCESS Health International.. (Daily News Egypt)
Ghana to host inaugural AI Summit and Awards Night
#Ghana #conference — Ghana is set to host its first Artificial Intelligence Summit and Awards Night on 15 July 2026. The event will explore AI’s role in sustainable development, addressing key sectors from economic growth to ethical considerations. (Innovate AI Ghana)
Policy
Nigeria launches national AI strategy
#Nigeria #AIstrategy — Nigeria has unveiled its National AI Strategy to boost economic growth and productivity across sectors, following the issue of a draft document in August last year. The strategy has four pillars: infrastructure development, building a world-class AI ecosystem, sector-wide AI adoption, responsible AI use and a robust governance framework. The plan includes the Nigerian AI Collective to guide ethical AI use and a Diaspora Connect platform to engage Nigerian experts abroad. (Nairametrics)
South Africa’s AI policy under pressure to deliver
#SouthAfrica #policy — The Department of Communications and Digital Technologies will open South Africa’s delayed National AI Policy for public input this April. Critics say the absence of a clear roadmap risks stalling innovation, driving away investment, and losing talent to more proactive nations. (TechCabal)
Western Cape reviews AI’s impact on skills and jobs
#SouthAfrica #skills #jobs — Western Cape province premier, Alan Winde, chaired the year’s first Premier’s Council on Skills, focusing on AI’s impact on the workplace. The council explored how AI will create roles in digital sectors but could also displace routine-based jobs, urging stronger partnerships in skills development. (Gov.za)
Kenya seeks reviewers for ‘AI in cultural heritage’ submissions
#Kenya #policy #review — The National Research Fund in Kenya invited reviewers for its recently-closed ‘Kenya Call on AI in Cultural Heritage’ call for submissions. The initiative backs projects that merge AI with cultural conservation while addressing ethics, sustainability and interdisciplinary collaboration. (NRF)
African Commission seeks input on AI and human rights
#Africa #policy #humanrights — The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights is inviting public comments on its Draft Study on Human and Peoples’ Rights and Artificial Intelligence (AI), Robotics, and Other New and Emerging Technologies in Africa. The study explores impacts on rights under the African Charter. (Centre for Human Rights)
Digital Transformation
Nokia and Morocco partner to drive Digital Morocco 2030
#Morocco #telecom — Nokia has signed an MoU with Morocco’s Ministry of Digital Transition to support the country’s Digital Morocco 2030 strategy. The deal includes boosting national 5G and fibre coverage, training young talent, and launching a National Digital Fabric using Nokia’s Network as Code platform. A new Nokia Innovation Center will support R&D and the Al Jazari innovation initiative. (Zawya)
Funding
Egypt allocates EGP13-b for Comms and IT sector in 2025/26
#Egypt #budget — Egypt’s FY 2025/26 development plan allocates EGP 13 billion ($250-m) in public investments for the communications and IT sector, including EGP 9 billion ($180-m) from the state budget. The plan targets infrastructure upgrades, cybersecurity, AI adoption, and localisation of IT industries. (Amwal Al Ghad)
Training
Egypt sets AI workforce target for next 5 years
#Egypt #workforce — Egypt’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology plans to equip over 25% of the national workforce with AI tools in five years. The initiative includes training 30,000 specialists and supporting 250 AI startups. (Published by Upper Setup)
Malawi launches TinyML workshop to boost AI adoption
#Malawi #AI — Malawi’s Ministry of Higher Education, in partnership with the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), a UNESCO organization, has launched a Tiny Machine Learning (TinyML) workshop to advance AI adoption. The government also plans to establish an AI Sustainable Lab to boost research and innovation. (Malawi News Agency)
CoEs
MTN to build second AI lab in Ghana
#Ghana #telecommunications — MTN will establish its second African AI lab in Ghana, following its first in South Africa. Announced by Minister Samuel George, the lab will act as a centre of excellence for AI, supporting research, machine learning, and digital transformation. (Citi Newsroom)
Google opens 2025 AI accelerator for African start-ups
#Africa #startups — Applications are open for the 2025 Google for Start-ups Accelerator Africa. The programme offers up to $350,000 in cloud credits, mentorship, and global investor access to AI-driven start-ups led by African founders. Apply here.(ITWeb)
Applications
Namibia hosts first AI-focused marketing indaba
#Namibia #communications — Mobile Telecommunications Limited (MTC) hosted Namibia’s largest-ever communications and marketing indaba in Windhoek, centred on artificial intelligence. The event attracted around 500 participants, including branding experts, students and industry leaders. (The Namibian)
Morocco enhances weather forecasting with AI
#Morocco #weather — Morocco’s General Directorate of Meteorology has implemented AI in weather forecasting to improve early warning accuracy for extreme weather. The system uses machine learning to predict phenomena like fog, thunderstorms, and sandstorms. (Morocco World News)
[ This newsletter was human conceived and AI expedited ]