PwC: Africa Needs the Right AI Scale to Drive Growth

In a new AI performance report, PwC revealed that 82 % of African organisations are running pilot projects with artificial intelligence, yet only a small portion have rolled the technology out across their entire enterprises. The firm called on African governments to move beyond experimentation and deploy the right AI solutions to spur business growth, boost productivity and drive economic transformation.

The study, released yesterday, showed that while African companies display strong intent to adopt AI, they lag behind global leaders in converting that ambition into measurable results.

Across the continent, experimentation is widespread, but progress in scaling AI and using it to drive growth remains moderate.

PwC Africa chief executive Dion Shango said, “Africa’s challenge is both adopting AI at scale and implementing it fast enough to remain competitive.”

“While more than 82 % of organisations are running AI pilots, this is not yet translating into enterprise‑wide impact. The organisations that will win are not those running the most pilots, but those that scale the right AI to transform how they create value,” Shango added.

He noted that many firms treat AI as a series of isolated experiments, which builds capability but does not deliver transformation. “Without scale, AI remains incremental rather than a driver of sustained value creation,” he said.

Consulting and Risk Services Leader for PwC West Market Olufemi Osinubi warned, “Focusing AI only on efficiency is a narrowing strategy. The real opportunity lies in using AI to unlock growth, expand into underserved markets, and create entirely new business models.”

Chief AI Officer for PwC Nigeria Christopher Ogirri observed, “Africa’s structural complexity—fragmented markets, infrastructure gaps, and a growing youth population—positions it well for AI‑enabled convergence, if organisations design for ecosystems rather than sectors.”

The report highlighted key challenges for the continent, including financial inclusion, energy access and healthcare. It noted that AI can help organisations tackle these ecosystem issues, but adoption of such an approach remains limited.

To bridge the gap that hinders scaling, the study found that success requires strong foundations: trusted data, modern technology architecture and clear governance frameworks.

PwC South Africa’s Africa Cloud and Digital Leader Mark Allderman explained that without these elements, organisations struggle to move beyond experimentation and realise consistent returns. He added that gaps in investment, data modernisation, cloud adoption and access to AI talent continue to constrain progress.

The AI performance study surveyed 1,217 senior executives—director‑level or above—primarily from publicly listed companies with $1 billion or more in revenue across 25 sectors in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, North America and South America. Fieldwork was conducted in October and November 2025.