THE recently concluded Victoria Falls Artificial Intelligence (AI) Summit, under the theme “AI-powered Transformation: Unlocking New Frontiers for Sustainable Socio-economic Growth”, became a focal point for Africa’s vision to assert global leadership in digital innovation.
At the summit, Information Communication Technology, Postal and Courier Services minister Tatenda Mavetera, policymakers, academics, and technology leaders emphasised the need for sovereign control over AI technologies to protect the continent’s economic interests, culture, and heritage, while avoiding pitfalls such as data bias, digital imperialism, and exclusion from global datasets.
Zimbabwe, for example, announced its National Artificial Intelligence Strategy to be launched in October, informed and strengthened by summit recommendations.
The policy aims for alignment with national development goals and contributes to a broader continental framework for unified AI standards and deployment — demonstrating Africa’s determination to become an upper-middle-income digital society by 2030.
The summit encouraged collaboration in research, capacity building, and strategic partnerships, with a focus on using AI to address local challenges across agriculture, healthcare, mining, education, and finance.
Calls for Africa-led AI ecosystems
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Speakers such as Professor Arthur Mutambara highlighted both the promise and risks of AI for Africa.
He advocated for “decolonising” AI system development to ensure they reflect African values, priorities, and diversity, and not just the perspectives of Western programmers.
Training Africa’s youth to innovate, not just consume, AI, and integrating culture, heritage, and indigenous languages into AI models, were identified as strategic imperatives at the summit.
The gathering facilitated broad knowledge exchange and policy dialogue, positioning Africa to drive sustainable, inclusive growth, and chart its own technological future, moving from importers to creators of transformative digital tools.
Synergy with Nvidia, Cassava Techs
The summit’s energy dovetailed with the ongoing Nvidia–Cassava Technologies infrastructure projects, famously described by Strive Masiyiwa as Africa’s leap toward self-reliance in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
These investments — such as the continent’s first “AI factories”, dedicated data centres, and AI-as-a-Service platforms — directly address concerns raised at the summit by enabling local startups, governments, and researchers access to world-class, African-owned computational power and datasets.
With policies and infrastructures now advancing in tandem, the summit and new business investments are together equipping Africa to emerge as a global AI and digital innovation powerhouse — one that protects its agency, scales talent, and shapes the tech future in its image.
Bangure is a filmmaker with a media degree and substantial experience in media production and management at Zimpapers. He previously served as the chairperson of the National Employment Council for the Printing, Packaging, and Newspaper Industry. A dedicated enthusiast and scholar of artificial intelligence, Bangure combines his creative and technical skills to delve into innovative advancements. — info@ hub-edutech.com.