• MTN CEO Ralph Mupita warned that Africa risks a “digital underclass” if it fails to harness AI for inclusive growth.
• He called for urgent action on energy, digital infrastructure, local AI models, skills development, job creation, and partnerships.
• Across Africa, countries such as the DRC, Sierra Leone, and Senegal are implementing AI strategies as the continent’s AI market is projected to grow from $4.5 billion in 2025 to $16.5 billion by 2030.

Africa must act swiftly to harness artificial intelligence (AI) for inclusive growth or risk deepening inequality and creating a “digital underclass,” MTN Group President and CEO Ralph Mupita has warned.

Speaking at the Kgalema Motlanthe Foundation Inclusive Growth Forum held October 10-12, Mupita described AI as “potentially the most powerful tool for inclusive growth in Africa” but cautioned that time was running out. “We must be obsessed and paranoid about not being left behind,” he said.

He outlined six urgent priorities for Africa’s AI journey: boosting electricity supply, scaling up digital infrastructure, developing local large language models (LLMs), investing in AI and digital skills development, promoting job creation, and strengthening partnerships across the public and private sectors.

Mupita cited the International Energy Agency’s estimate that Africa needs over US$200 billion annually to meet its energy and climate goals by 2030, noting that reliable power is crucial for data centres and AI systems. Africa currently holds less than 2% of global data centre capacity, underscoring a significant infrastructure gap.

He also urged investment in African-led LLMs, noting that mainstream AI models support fewer than 2% of the continent’s 2,000 languages. His remarks followed MTN’s support for Nigeria’s Atlas for Languages & AI at Scale (N-ATLAS) initiative, which aims to build multilingual, open-source datasets.

Emphasizing the importance of skills development, Mupita highlighted that 230 million digital jobs could emerge in Sub-Saharan Africa by 2030, presenting an opportunity to empower the continent’s rapidly growing youth population.

He called for stronger collaboration between governments, industry, and civil society to ensure Africa is not just a consumer of AI technologies but a creator. “If Africa is to turn its ambition into reality, partnerships on policy, data governance, and skills must happen now,” he said.

Mupita’s comments come as more African countries push forward with AI and digital strategies. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) recently launched its National Digital Plan (2026–2030) and its first National Artificial Intelligence Strategy, aiming to position the country as a regional digital hub. In Sierra Leone, the government has begun an AI Readiness Assessment in partnership with the World Bank as part of its Digital Transformation Project.

In Senegal, a US$233 million national program aims to train 100,000 teachers in digital and AI skills to modernize the country's education system. In Ethiopia, Huawei Digital Power has deployed AI-enabled data center technology at the Cooperative Bank of Oromia to handle the growing volume of digital transactions.

These developments show growing momentum for AI across Africa. According to a recent report by U.S. payments giant Mastercard, the continent’s artificial intelligence market is projected to grow from $ 4.51 billion in 2025 to $ 16.53 billion by 2030, reflecting an average annual growth rate of 27.4%.

Hikmatu Bilali