SATURDAY, 01 AUGUST 2026, 19:20
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has directed the country’s competition regulator to investigate major technology companies over alleged anti-competitive practices and unauthorized use of news content, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission said late Monday. The FCCPC said the inquiry would examine complaints by Nigerian media groups against companies including Meta,...
HyperDev – a new AI tech company with operations in Europe and South Africa – has raised more than $1 million (USD) in pre-seed funding from a network of venture capital investors from Europe and the UK, as the generative AI software development platform approaches 100,000 users. “We backed HyperDev because they combine genuine AI […]
Artificial intelligence (AI) is often framed in binary terms: either as an existential threat that will replace workers, or as a tool that will usher in the next wave of growth or productivity. The reality is likely to be more nuanced. The potential impact in South Africa will likely differ from what we are seeing […]
Zimbabwe has opened applications for the AI for Impact Challenge, a national innovation program offering selected teams up to $80,000 to develop and scale AI solutions addressing public, industry or regulatory needs. Applications close July 14. Run through AI41 under Zimbabwe’s National Artificial Intelligence Strategy 2026-2030, the challenge is an extension of the telecommunications...
El Sewedy Electric has cut process times by an average of 84% across 30 completed AI projects as the Egyptian industrial group expands the technology across manufacturing, legal, human resources and customer service operations, company executives said. The company is also using AI to improve workplace safety, automate administrative processes and develop remote monitoring tools […]
SAS, a global data and AI company, is helping South African micro-farmers make better crop decisions, improve income potential and strengthen food security through a Data for Good initiative that brings advanced analytics to some of the country’s most resource-constrained farming communities. Working alongside data science consultancy dataDecisions.ai and the nonprofit The Dream, SAS analyzed […]
Egypt’s Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources is considering establishing a joint venture with Abu Dhabi-based AIQ to serve as a specialized platform for AI applications across the country’s petroleum sector. The proposed venture, to be named AIQ Egypt, would combine data from the Egypt Upstream Gateway with AIQ’s AI technologies and local expertise to […]
Ugandan technology entrepreneur Shifra Ainomugisha has been named the 2026 Commonwealth Young Person of the Year for developing AI and solar-powered agricultural technologies designed to reduce post-harvest losses, improve food security and strengthen the resilience of Africa’s smallholder farmers. The award, presented during the 2026 Commonwealth Youth Awards in London, recognized...
Venture capital firm Propeller has completed the inaugural edition of Kernel Camp, its eight-week Silicon Valley residency, graduating five AI and deep-tech startups from Tunisia, Morocco, Jordan and Egypt. Selected from the top 3% of applicants, the cohort worked through an intensive program of mentorship dinners, angel investor events and site visits, with access to […]
Rwandan Minister of ICT and Innovation Paula Ingabire and Egyptian Minister of Communications and Information Technology Raafat Hindi met in Cairo on June 29 to identify new areas of collaboration, agreeing to prepare a memorandum of understanding that will establish a framework for cooperation in information and communication technologies. The ministers focused their discussions on […]
Kenya’s Cabinet has established a Standing Cabinet Committee on Artificial Intelligence to drive the country’s national AI strategy, coordinate policy across government and position Kenya as a regional leader in responsible AI development. The committee’s remit spans AI-driven innovation, improvements to public service delivery, job creation and inclusive economic growth, along with...
Kenya’s Fikra API has launched an AI inference API built specifically for African developers, startups and businesses. Founded by James Miano earlier this year, Fikra API is an OpenAI-compatible inference API targeting African developers, with M-Pesa payments built in and pricing set in local terms rather than U.S. dollars. Developers can send requests to Fikra’s […]
By Roger Jantio The central point of this article is straightforward: Africa’s AI future will not be built by founders alone. Founders are essential. They discover problems. They build products. They test markets. They take risk. They force new possibilities into existence. But even the best founder cannot, company by company, solve unreliable power, weak […]
Factorial, a European enterprise technology scale-up with a growing presence in African markets, has closed a $150 million Series D funding round led by General Catalyst, valuing the company at $2.5 billion. The round also included participation from existing investors Atomico and Four Rivers. Alongside the equity investment, General Catalyst will provide an additional $540 […]
As South African companies race to embrace artificial intelligence to improve productivity and cut costs, a leading workplace mental health expert has warned that the technology could be accelerating burnout rather than easing employees’ workloads. While AI has been widely celebrated for boosting efficiency and automating routine tasks, Prof Renata Schoeman, head of healthcare leadership […]
Africa must move beyond being merely a consumer of artificial intelligence and instead become an active global force in creating, shaping and governing the technology, Tanzania’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Ambassador Mbelwa Kairuki, has argued. Delivering the keynote address at Hack the Law 2026, hosted by the King’s Entrepreneurship Lab at the University […]
Google has announced a series of new African infrastructure, AI and skills projects at its first Africa Cloud Summit in Johannesburg — including the continent’s first applied AI lab in Ghana and a new connectivity hub in South Africa’s Eastern Cape. The commitments build on Google’s 2025 launch of its Johannesburg cloud region, a major […]
South African legal artificial intelligence startup Anvaya has clinched the top prize at the South African chapter of the Start-up World Cup, earning a place at the competition’s global final in Silicon Valley. The Start-up World Cup, hosted by Pegasus Tech Ventures, is one of the most competitive global platforms for emerging tech startups. With […]
Alphabet’s Google and UK actor Idris Elba will fund access to artificial intelligence tools for African creators, aiming to help them produce high-quality content faster and more cheaply. The actor’s Elba Hope Foundation and Google will pay for access to Google’s flagship Gemini AI assistant and other digital products for about 100,000 creators in Nigeria, […]
President Cyril Ramaphosa has urged South Africa and the wider African continent to accelerate the adoption of artificial intelligence and cloud technologies, warning that hesitation will leave nations trailing in the global digital race. Delivering the keynote at the first Google Cloud Summit on African soil, held at the Sandton Convention Centre on Wednesday, Ramaphosa […]
Visa today outlined a series of AI, stablecoin, and token capabilities designed to help clients across the Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa (CEMEA) region participate in the next generation of commerce. Ahead of the Visa Payments Forum, taking place in Paris on July 1, Visa shared how two foundational shifts — artificial […]