Zoho Insists on Bridging Africa’s Divide with Intelligent Infrastructure

Mr. Kehinde Ogundare, Country Head of Zoho Nigeria, said Africa now faces new constraints in software development capacity and technical talent. He noted that the cost of building digital tools requires a creative leap similar to the one that enabled Kenya’s M‑Pesa mobile payments platform.

He added that solving these challenges will demand practical innovation that has previously transformed financial inclusion across the continent.

“The numbers make the challenge plain. Africa’s internet economy was projected to contribute $180 billion (5.2 percent) of aggregate GDP by 2025. Meanwhile, cloud adoption is expanding at 25 to 30 percent annually, outpacing Europe and North America, while thousands of African companies are already experimenting with AI‑enabled operations. Yet, the human infrastructure required to sustain this momentum is not keeping pace. Unless the continent finds smarter and more scalable ways to build digital systems, Africa risks becoming the world’s largest consumer of a digital future it did not help design,” Ogundare said.

He explained that Africa’s AI challenge is not a lack of ambition or demand, but the widening gap between the pace of technological change and the availability of skills needed to support it. Across the continent, organisations are under growing pressure to build AI capability quickly, as shortages in specialised talent increasingly affect innovation, competitiveness, and the ability to fully participate in the global digital economy.