As Africa moves forward in artificial intelligence, the African Development Bank reaffirms its commitment to shaping a digital future that is inclusive, sovereign, and anchored in shared prosperity
ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast, June 19, 2025/APO Group/ --
One side event at the African Development Bank Group’s (www.AfDB.org) 2025 Annual Meetings unpacked the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a powerful tool to advance inclusive and sustainable development across the African continent.

From Strategy to Action: African Development Bank and Google Explore Africa’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) Future at the 2025 Annual Meetings (1)

Caroline Kende-Robb, Senior Director of Strategy and Operational Policies at the Bank

From Strategy to Action: African Development Bank and Google Explore Africa’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) Future at the 2025 Annual Meetings (2)
Held under the theme: “The AI Revolution: How Will AI Support the Delivery of the African Development Bank’s 2024–2033 Ten-Year Strategy and the Transformation of African Economies?”, the 90-minute session convened leading voices from across sectors. The event was co-hosted with Google AI Research.
At the heart of the discussion was the question: What will it take for Africa to become AI-ready? which was the central theme of the high-level panel discussion as part of the event.
In his opening remarks, Solomon Quaynor, Vice-President for Private Sector, Infrastructure & Industrialization of the African Development Bank underscored the critical role of digital transformation in shaping Africa’s future: “AI is not a luxury—it’s a necessity for Africa’s competitiveness, resilience, and long-term prosperity,” he said.
Caroline Kende-Robb, Senior Director of Strategy and Operational Policies at the Bank, framed the conversation within the context of the Bank’s 2024–2033 Ten-Year Strategy (https://apo-opa.co/3ZFWakh).
She stressed that “Investing in youth and data infrastructure is no longer optional—these are the foundations upon which Africa must build its AI future.” Her remarks echoed the strategy’s call to leapfrog development through innovation, anchored in African realities and driven by African talent.
Following her intervention, Abdoulaye Diack, Program Manager at Google AI Research Africa, highlighted the transformative potential of AI to address structural challenges and unlock progress in agriculture, education, climate adaptation, and public health.
Diack emphasized the importance of contextualizing AI for African environments, warning that “without local data and inclusive models, Africa risks becoming a passive consumer rather than an active creator of AI solutions.”
Ibrahim Kalil Konaté, Côte d’Ivoire’s Minister of Digital Transition and Digitalization, advocated for regional coordination and harmonized policy frameworks to enable responsible, cross-border implementation of AI technologies.
Robert Skjodt, Group CEO of Raxio Group, focused on the critical need for robust digital infrastructure—especially local data centers—to support the scale and speed required for Africa’s AI ambitions.
Ousmane Fall, Director of Private Sector Transaction Support at the Bank, called for the development of bankable, scalable digital infrastructure projects that can attract long-term investment.
Moustapha Cissé, CEO of Kera Health Platforms, and a respected pioneer in African AI research, stressed the need for ethical frameworks and AI systems that reflect African social, cultural, and healthcare contexts.
Muthoni Karubiu, Chief Operations Officer at Amini, concluded the panel with a call to enhance data sovereignty, especially in the context of agriculture and climate action, by ensuring access to localized and context-specific environmental data.
Harnessing the power of AI for Africa’s success
A strong consensus emerged across the panel - for Africa to harness AI effectively, it must focus on three foundational pillars:
- Human Capital: Equip the next generation with AI literacy and professional expertise.
- Data Infrastructure: Build the digital backbone for connectivity, storage, and secure data exchange.
- Localized Data: Train AI systems on African realities, including languages, culture, and societal needs.
With Africa holding just 1.3% of global data storage capacity and lagging in digital readiness, speakers agreed that the continent is at a crossroads and must urgently make the choice to invest now, or risk falling further behind.
As Africa moves forward in artificial intelligence, the African Development Bank reaffirms its commitment to shaping a digital future that is inclusive, sovereign, and anchored in shared prosperity.
For more information or to revisit this session, click here (https://apo-opa.co/4eu3i9P)
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Development Bank Group (AfDB).
We kindly request you to release all election funds for Somaliland without condition. If see a problem or concerned about its mismanagement, ask us to arrange a committee outside the election committee that more reliable, and we are capable to produce. Call it Election fund committee
Remember if you see a problem towards Somaliland Election- Committee, Somalilanders see a bigger problem then yours that is deeply entrenched to their culture, and the lesser evil will be the one they would embark on it and they have no choice. Their goal is to produce a fair and free election to the best of their ability that is even better then the previous one of 2003. They would thwart anything that is obstacle to that goal including ill prepared and ill timed voting registration. Inter-peace involved itself a small unrecognized country with struggling democracy that is not ready to their state-of arts election process. Let them wait at 2015.
Again may we kindly urge you -Donors-, to release the funds appropriated for the Somaliland Election and resign from insisting to purge some of their Election Committee; they have no time for that since 27 September of this year is marked for their election.
Please be patient with them. At least, Somaliland election is more fair and transparent then many African countries such as Egypt and Nigeria. One more thing, don’t forget to send a reliable observers to monitor a blazing African democracy at its infancy.
As Somali maxim put it, “ Libaax nin ganey iyo nin galadey kala og”. Rough translation: Lion knew who injure it, and who set it free. Believe me; I don’t know how our ancestors find out that, but it helps our recollection.
I cannot believe Somaliland people are falling for this Riwayad. This so called ‘donors’ and their brokers misused and stole the money allocated for Somaliland elections, created a huge tension among the Somaliland people, and trying to get away with it! If as they claiming the ‘Voters List’ is appropriate and valid why it never came out on agreed time earlier this year? Why they have been saying for a very long time the server was down and now suddenly the server is functional?! Why did they wait up to show the results till this moment (the time Somaliland is confused and fragile, right after the Ceelberbadle problems)? To me, enemy of Somaliland is behind these people, they trying to destroying our country, democracy and nation. I will ask the Somaliland people to unite this difficult time if they want to survive this turbulance. And I finally congratulate the government for expelling the traitors of Somaliland “Inter Peace organization” out of our beloved land.
When it comes to Somaliland, the so called Interpeace has one agenda and one agenda only, to make Somaliland and it's government noneexistant in the eyes of the world by dividing Somaliland leadership and causing crisis among it's people.
The Somaliland people have built their Country from scratch without the outside help and we will continue doing so as long as it takes.
Dear Donors,
If you are honostly helping my country as you calaiming, 1. why did you organize the meeting and trying to resurrect those war criminals who caused so much pain for SOmaliland? 2. why clinton is trying to break us into pieces by meeting some of our leaders and not others? 3. what is your intrest here if we turn into chaos like rest of our country??
hani