Publication - AI for Africa: Use Cases Delivering Impact
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AI holds immense potential to boost Africa’s economy and to support the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on the continent. While AI is already being developed and deployed to support a range of use cases across African countries, little research has focused on building a body of evidence of AI use cases for development on the continent.
This report is based on the analysis of over 90 use-case applications identified in Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa – which benefit from thriving tech ecosystems – across agriculture and food security, energy, and climate.
While many AI use cases are relatively nascent, with some being deployed as part of projects or pilot schemes, a number of commercially viable solutions have also emerged.
Often, AI is being incorporated into existing digital products and services, acting as an enabler to make digital solutions more relevant and efficient, amplify their impact, and facilitate scaling.
The agritech sector is seeing most of the AI innovation, especially in Kenya and Nigeria where agriculture continues to play a significant role in the economy. AI is already being used for agricultural advisory, with companies like TomorrowNow and ThriveAgric providing farm-level insights to farmers, and for financial services with companies like Apollo Agriculture developing alternative credit assessment methods. AI is also being deployed in the energy sector, especially in Nigeria, where emerging technologies like Internet of Things (IoT) act as an entry point for advanced data analytics in smart energy management. Use cases such as energy access monitoring and productive use asset financing, developed by companies like Nithio, remain at a developing or nascent stage but present significant potential to reduce energy poverty. AI is also supporting climate use cases especially for biodiversity monitoring and wildlife protection in Kenya and South Africa, driven by large tech
companies like Microsoft’s AI for Good Lab and nonprofit organisations such as Rainforest Connection.
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