Kenyan technology leader Michael Michie Kamau has been appointed the Responsible AI Governor for Kenya by the Global Council for Responsible AI (GCRAI), adding a Kenyan voice to the global conversation around the governance and responsible deployment of artificial intelligence.The appointment comes as Kenya moves to strengthen its AI ecosystem through policy, skills development, infrastructure and investment, while organisations across the country increasingly adopt AI tools.Michie brings more than 14 years of experience spanning artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, cloud infrastructure, data privacy, digital transformation and technology policy. He has contributed to the development of Kenya’s AI Policy and the National AI Strategy 2025–2030, particularly in areas including infrastructure, investment and intellectual property.“I am honoured to take on this role at a time when Kenya and Africa are moving rapidly from conversations about AI to real-world deployment. Responsible AI cannot end with principles, policies or compliance frameworks; we have to build the technical capacity, infrastructure, skills and assurance mechanisms that make those principles real,” says Michie.He is also involved in AI training and awareness programmes for Kenya’s Council of Governors, helping public-sector leaders build a better understanding of AI and its potential applications and risks.His work extends into international AI safety and evaluation. Michie represents Kenya within the International Network for Advanced AI Measurement, Evaluation and Science, where he works on issues including cybersecurity, prompt injection, multilingual AI models, AI ethics and approaches to evaluating AI systems.The combination of policy and technical experience is central to his new role. As AI adoption accelerates, responsible AI governance increasingly requires more than high-level principles. Governments and organisations also need the technical capacity to understand how AI systems work, assess their risks and establish appropriate safeguards.“I want to use this position to ensure that African countries are not simply adopting standards developed elsewhere, but are actively shaping how AI is governed globally, informed by our own realities, risks and ambitions. If we get this right, responsible AI should not become a constraint on African innovation; it should become part of the foundation that allows us to innovate with greater trust, sovereignty and confidence. I look forward to working with all the great minds at the Global Council for Responsible AI,” he says.Michie also brings experience in building AI infrastructure. As Founder and CEO of EverseTech, he is working on locally hosted GPU infrastructure, AI-as-a-Service and sovereign AI infrastructure aimed at supporting organisations seeking greater control over their AI workloads and data.His background also includes technology leadership roles in banking, financial services and the legal sector, giving him experience implementing cybersecurity, cloud and digital transformation solutions in complex organisations.As an adjunct faculty member at the Kenya School of Government, Michie has contributed to curriculum development for the Regional Centre of Competence for Digital and AI Skilling in the Public Service and trains professionals in areas including AI strategy, digital technology and cybersecurity.Through the GCRAI role, Michie is expected to bring Kenyan and broader African perspectives into international discussions on AI governance, including issues around infrastructure, data, cybersecurity, skills and access to AI capabilities.The appointment comes at a time when African countries are increasingly seeking a greater role in shaping global AI standards, ensuring that governance frameworks reflect the continent’s technological realities as well as its growing AI ambitions.
Read briefing Amazon Web Services (AWS) is investing $1 billion in a dedicated Forward Deployed Engineering (FDE) organisation that will place its AI engineers inside customer businesses to co-develop and deploy agentic AI systems.According to AWS, customers are moving beyond experimentation and looking to rebuild business processes around agentic AI. Increasingly, the company says, they want AI engineers working alongside their own teams rather than receiving advice from external consultants.AWS defines the model around three principles: an agentic-first approach, deployment timelines compressed from months to days, and customer self-sufficiency once an engagement ends.FDE teams embed AWS engineers, including engineers who build the company’s own AI services, directly within customer business, engineering and security teams. They work with purpose-built agents to put production systems into the customer’s environment, using the organisation’s own data, governance frameworks and processes.The delivery model is itself agentic. AWS uses what it calls the AI-Driven Development Lifecycle, which combines AI-powered execution with human oversight, allowing agents to accelerate each phase while human engineers verify and guide the work.AWS says the approach also allows knowledge and intelligence developed during each project to inform subsequent engagements.Engagements are structured around shared objectives and business outcomes rather than billable hours, a deliberate contrast with traditional consulting models, which AWS characterises as assessing, recommending and treating deployments as standalone projects.The most significant part of the proposition may be what remains after AWS engineers leave.At the centre is a semantic layer deployed within the customer’s own AWS account. It connects to enterprise data sources, enriches metadata and uses AI to create a governed, versioned knowledge graph.Agents can then reason over that graph. In AWS’s framing, this means domain expertise is embedded in the customer’s systems rather than remaining primarily as institutional knowledge held by individuals who may eventually leave the organisation.Customers also receive knowledge graphs, runbooks, architectural documentation and trained internal champions.AWS says customer engineers progress from observers to co-builders and ultimately to autonomous operators during an engagement.Security is built into the process from the outset, with AWS citing hardware-based isolation and end-to-end encryption. Customer data, the company says, remains within the customer’s governance framework.AWS partners will also form part of the model, contributing industry expertise, model knowledge and complementary capabilities. The company said it is investing in partner training, tools and resources to support FDE engagements.AWS says FDE teams are already working with the Allen Institute, Cox Automotive, the NBA, the NFL, Ricoh and Southwest Airlines.“The NFL has millions of fans who want to consume football content throughout the year, including the offseason. We innovate at the pace and scale needed to meet the high expectations of our fans,” said Gary Brantley, chief information officer of the National Football League.“To create new digital experiences for our fans, the NFL partnered with AWS FDE and got engineers building alongside our team to launch into production in just weeks. Together, we created new fan-facing products like NFL Fantasy AI and NFL IQ that allow fans to interact with NFL data like never before. The engagement from fans and broadcasters was measurable from day one and was made possible by AWS’s delivery model.”The initiative builds on work AWS traces back to 2017, when it began developing AI solutions for customers, as well as three years of the company’s Generative AI Innovation Centre, whose engineers have worked on thousands of customer solutions.AWS cites projects including work with BMW to reduce service disruptions across 23 million connected vehicles, a manufacturing assistant developed with Jabil, and a partnership with Lyft that it says resolved driver support issues 87 percent faster.AWS is targeting organisations that have moved beyond AI experimentation and need production systems operating within real business processes.The company is particularly focused on regulated industries, financial services and government, where security, governance and speed to production are critical considerations.That positioning makes the model particularly relevant in markets such as Africa, where some of the organisations furthest along in digital transformation are banks, insurers, telecommunications operators and government agencies.These organisations also face some of the strongest governance requirements and have little room for failed technology deployments.The model ultimately puts a testable proposition at the centre of AWS’s commercial offering: capability transfer.AWS is not only promising to build AI systems for customers, but to leave behind teams capable of operating and developing those systems themselves.
Read briefing Malawi has made significant progress in extending mobile connectivity, but most of its population remains offline despite living within areas covered by mobile broadband networks.A new report from the GSMA estimates that around 80% of Malawians live within mobile broadband coverage but do not use mobile internet, highlighting a growing gap between network availability and meaningful digital access.The report, Driving Digital Transformation of the Economy in Malawi: Opportunities, Policy Recommendations and the Role of Mobile, argues that closing this usage gap could have significant economic and social benefits for the country.According to the analysis, targeted digital reforms could generate an additional MWK 1.1 trillion in economic value and create about 490,000 jobs by 2030. The findings were released on 20 August 2026 during the GSMA’s Digital Africa Summit in Lilongwe, as policymakers and industry stakeholders consider how Malawi can accelerate digital adoption and support the country’s longer-term development ambitions.The report links greater digital access to potential improvements in areas such as education, financial services and access to digital government services. It also positions mobile connectivity as an important component of Malawi’s development plans, including Malawi 2063, the Government’s 2025–2030 manifesto, the Digital Malawi Acceleration Project and the Inclusive Digital Transformation for Malawi.Malawi’s connectivity infrastructure has expanded considerably in recent years. The country reached 87% 4G population coverage in 2025, while mobile data prices remain among the more affordable in Africa. Mobile money has also become an established part of the financial system. According to the GSMA report, 75% of adults actively use mobile money, with more than 576 million transactions worth MWK 8.6 trillion processed during 2025. Yet these gains have not translated into widespread mobile internet use.The GSMA estimates that unique mobile internet penetration stands at just 12.5%, while smartphone adoption is 33%. This leaves a substantial proportion of the population unable to take advantage of the digital services and economic opportunities enabled by mobile connectivity. The gap is particularly pronounced when compared with other African markets. Around 80% of Malawi’s population is estimated to be living within mobile broadband coverage without using mobile internet, compared with a regional usage gap of approximately 65%.The figures suggest that the next stage of Malawi’s digital transformation will require more than building additional networks. Infrastructure remains important, particularly in underserved areas, but getting people to actually use the networks will require attention to the cost of devices and services, digital skills and the wider economic environment.“Malawi has made strong progress in expanding connectivity and financial inclusion, but access alone is not enough. With 80% of the population still offline despite network coverage, the priority now must be turning access into meaningful use.“This requires decisive action to address affordability, digital skills and investment barriers. With the right policy environment in place, Malawi has a clear opportunity to unlock significant economic growth and ensure that digital transformation benefits everyone,” Caroline Mbugua, Senior Director Public Policy at GSMA Africa, said.The report identifies device affordability and limited digital skills among the key barriers preventing more Malawians from moving online. While mobile networks may be available, owning a smartphone capable of accessing modern digital services remains beyond the reach of many households. The relatively low smartphone adoption rate of 33% is therefore an important part of the wider usage challenge.The wider investment environment also presents obstacles. Foreign exchange shortages and high energy costs can increase the cost of maintaining and expanding telecommunications infrastructure, making it more difficult for operators to invest in network expansion and capacity. These challenges are particularly important outside urban areas, where lower population densities and higher infrastructure costs can make commercial investment more difficult.The GSMA therefore argues that Malawi needs policies that address both sides of the connectivity equation: ensuring that networks continue to expand while making it easier and more affordable for people to use them.The potential economic impact is one of the central findings of the report. If the recommended reforms are implemented, the GSMA estimates that Malawi could add 810,000 mobile internet users by 2030, taking the total number of users to about five million. The report projects that this could contribute MWK 1.1 trillion in additional economic value across key sectors and support the creation of approximately 490,000 jobs.There could also be an impact on government revenues. The GSMA estimates a net positive fiscal impact of MWK 179 billion by 2030, driven by increased digital adoption and improved tax compliance. The projections illustrate why the usage gap is increasingly being viewed as an economic issue rather than solely a telecommunications challenge.
Read briefing At the Gallagher Convention Centre, in a keynote hall built for a continent-sized conversation, AWS made its position clear: Africa does not need to follow the same digital path as the rest of the world. It can skip parts of it entirely.That was the thread running from Jyoti Ball, AWS General Manager for Sub-Saharan Africa, to Tanuja Randery, the company’s Managing Director for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.Ball’s argument was simple and, on this continent, familiar: progress does not have to be sequential, and Africa has the track record to prove it.The continent did not build copper landlines at scale before catching up with the West. It moved straight to mobile. Fewer than 10 per cent of connections run over fixed lines today, compared with roughly 115 million mobile connections and a mobile money ecosystem that has made Africa a global leader in digital payments.That is not a one-off. It is a recurring pattern of leapfrogging, and it is the evidence AWS points to for why AI adoption could follow a similar trajectory.Ball’s argument on stage was that AI is simply the next leap in that sequence. While mature markets are retrofitting AI onto decades of legacy IT investments, much of Africa is building from a comparatively clean slate, without the same legacy infrastructure to unwind or replace.Ball put a number on the opportunity: Africa’s AI market is valued at more than $16 billion and growing at 27 per cent annually, well ahead of the continent’s overall GDP growth rate of 4 per cent.The gap between those figures is the point AWS wants to make. AI adoption in Africa is not simply following the broader economy; it is outpacing it. In market terms, that is what a leapfrog looks like.The practical grounding came during a fireside conversation featuring Kgomotso Molabe, Group CIO for Personal Banking at Standard Bank, and Randery, who reinforced the leapfrog thesis while adding the discipline needed to make it work.Africa’s challenges are unique and require solutions designed around its realities. For Standard Bank, that means working backwards: starting with the business outcome it needs and then identifying the combination of technologies and tools that can deliver it, rather than starting with the technology stack and working forward.For a bank operating across multiple African markets, each with its own infrastructure, regulatory and talent realities, that discipline turns “leapfrog” from a slogan into an operating principle. Identify the outcome first, then let the problem determine which tools are needed.A continent shaped by mobile-first adoption and a history of leapfrogging has already demonstrated its ability to absorb transformative technologies without carrying all the legacy infrastructure that can slow adoption elsewhere.To reinforce the argument, Randery pointed to AWS’s investments in the continent. The company has invested $819 million in infrastructure across Africa since 2018 and has committed a further $1.5 billion through the end of 2029.AWS also says its skills programmes have trained 1 million people across the continent since 2017, while its AWS Africa (Cape Town) Region now offers 154 services locally.Taken together, the numbers form the foundation of AWS’s argument that Africa’s AI opportunity is no longer theoretical. The infrastructure is being built, the skills are being developed and, if the continent’s history of technological leapfrogging is any guide, the next major jump may already be underway.
Read briefing Amazon Web Services (AWS) is committing AI and cloud technology to support the expansion of NBA Math Hoops. This basketball-based education programme aims to reach 10,000 students across five African countries by the end of 2027.The partnership with nonprofit Learn Fresh will use AWS technology, infrastructure and technical expertise to expand the programme to students aged 8–14, including 1,000 learners in South Africa. The initiative builds on a three-year pilot that has trained more than 100 educators in South Africa, Botswana and Mozambique.NBA Math Hoops combines basketball with mathematics, allowing students to solve algebra problems using real NBA and WNBA player statistics while developing problem-solving and social-emotional skills.AWS will support the programme through its $100 million Education Equity Initiative, providing technology designed to help Learn Fresh scale the programme across different countries and languages.Amazon Bedrock will be used to personalise maths challenges based on students’ learning levels and pace, while Amazon Translate will localise content in English, Arabic, French and Swahili. Amazon Quick will provide real-time visibility into student engagement, learning outcomes and educator performance.The programme is targeting South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal and Egypt, with the first regional tournaments planned for the first half of 2027. Continental tournament participation is planned to be linked to the Basketball Africa League Finals by 2030.The expansion comes against a significant education challenge. UNESCO estimates that nearly 90 percent of children aged 6–14 in sub-Saharan Africa do not achieve minimum proficiency in numeracy.Learn Fresh’s programme has previously demonstrated measurable results. A randomised controlled trial conducted by WestEd found that students gained four to five months of mathematics learning after 17–24 hours of programme exposure.“AWS exists to help organisations build solutions that improve lives, and NBA Math Hoops is exactly the kind of program we want to see succeed,” said Francessca Vasquez, Vice President of Frontier AI Engineering and Services at AWS.Clare Akamanzi, CEO of NBA Africa, said the partnership would combine basketball’s appeal with technology and proven educational tools to equip young people with skills needed in school and beyond.Students will access the programme through NBA Africa’s network of offices, partners, community organisations and schools, while educators will undergo structured training before introducing the programme to learners.Calvin Sibert, Chief Mission Officer at Learn Fresh, said the partnership would allow the organisation to deepen its collaboration with NBA Africa and build on its work in South Africa and across the continent.
Read briefing Deloitte Africa has been named AWS Consulting Partner of the Year at the 2026 AWS Partner Summit and Awards, held at the Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand on Tuesday,18 August 2026.The AWS Consulting Partner of the Year Award recognises the top consulting partner that has demonstrated exceptional performance across key areas, including revenue growth, skills and capability development, and the achievement of AWS competencies and designations.“Winning AWS Consulting Partner of the Year for the second consecutive year is an incredible milestone for us. More importantly, it reflects the trust our clients place in Deloitte and AWS to turn bold ideas into reality. Together, we are harnessing the power of Cloud and AI to deliver measurable business impact and help some of Africa’s most important organisations transform and grow. This recognition strengthens our commitment to innovation across the continent and inspires us to continue raising the bar for the value we create for our clients and communities,” says Aasif Karachi, Partner and Deloitte Africa Alliance Leader.During the AWS Partner Summit, solutions delivered by Deloitte Africa in collaboration with Gold Fields and Trident Steel were highlighted as examples of innovation and impactful transformation.For Gold Fields, Deloitte implemented a solution that reduced incident reporting times from weeks to hours, significantly improving responsiveness and operational efficiency.In collaboration with AWS, Deloitte Africa also developed an advanced monitoring centre that combines human expertise with AI-driven intelligence to identify risks and generate incident reports in real time, enabling faster and more informed decision-making.As organisations across Africa continue to accelerate their digital transformation journeys, Deloitte Africa remains committed to partnering with clients and AWS to deliver innovative solutions that create lasting value and make an impact that matters.
Read briefing Kenya’s Communications Authority (CA) is targeting to equip 120,000 people across 19 counties with digital skills over the next three years as the country seeks to address gaps in digital literacy alongside expanding internet connectivity.The programme is being implemented through the Authority’s Universal Service Fund (USF) under its Digital Skilling Project, with a focus on communities in areas that remain unserved or underserved by digital infrastructure.The initiative recognises that expanding access to connectivity is only one part of closing Kenya’s digital divide. While more people are gaining access to internet services, a lack of digital skills can limit their ability to use those services effectively and take advantage of opportunities in the digital economy.The CA said the programme is therefore intended to complement ongoing connectivity initiatives by helping people develop the skills needed to use digital technologies confidently, safely and sustainably.Speaking during a stakeholders’ workshop on digital skilling, the Authority’s Director of Universal Service Fund, Eng. Dennis Chepkwony, emphasised the role of collaboration in implementing the programme and reaching communities where access to digital technologies remains limited.The focus on skills also reflects a broader challenge facing Kenya’s digital transformation. Investments in broadband networks and other digital infrastructure can improve access, but their economic and social impact depends partly on whether people have the knowledge and confidence to use the services available to them.The Digital Skilling Project forms part of Kenya’s wider efforts to expand digital capabilities under the Kenya National Digital Master Plan 2022–2032. The national strategy places digital skills among the areas that need to be strengthened as the country expands the use of technology across government, businesses and communities.For communities in underserved areas, digital literacy can influence how effectively people access online government services, education, employment opportunities, financial services and other digital platforms.The CA’s approach consequently links two elements of digital inclusion: access to connectivity and the ability to use it. The three-year programme is expected to extend these skills to 120,000 people across the 19 targeted counties, with implementation relying on collaboration between the Authority and other stakeholders.As Kenya continues to invest in nationwide connectivity, programmes such as the Digital Skilling Project point to the next challenge in the country’s digital transformation: ensuring that connectivity translates into meaningful participation in the digital economy rather than simply providing access to the internet.
Read briefing For most smartphone buyers, battery life is one of those specifications that matters more in everyday use than it does on a product sheet. A powerful processor or a high-resolution display may attract attention, but none of it is particularly useful when the phone needs to be plugged in halfway through the day.The same is increasingly true of privacy. Smartphones now hold banking applications, mobile money accounts, personal conversations, photographs, work files and social media accounts. Handing your phone to someone else can therefore mean giving them access to far more than the single thing they asked to check.These are two areas where the vivo Y500 takes a somewhat different approach from many phones in its price range. Its biggest talking points are an 8,100mAh battery and a dedicated Privacy System, while the rest of the device is built around a large AMOLED display, durability and enough storage for everyday use. The Y500 sits in Kenya’s mid-range smartphone market, where it has to compete not only on specifications but on how useful those specifications are in real life.There is no getting around the size of the battery. At 8,100mAh, the Y500 has considerably more battery capacity than what is typical of smartphones in this segment. For context, many mainstream smartphones have settled around the 5,000mAh mark, making the Y500’s capacity one of its most significant differentiators.According to vivo, its laboratory testing produced up to 35 hours of local video playback, 29.6 hours of YouTube playback over Wi-Fi and 10.2 hours of continuous PUBG gaming. Those figures should be treated as laboratory benchmarks rather than an expectation of what every user will achieve, since battery performance depends heavily on brightness, network conditions, applications and how a phone is used. Still, the underlying advantage is that the Y500 is designed for people who would rather carry a larger battery than carry a charger everywhere.The company also says the battery is covered by a six-year battery health guarantee. That is particularly relevant for a device whose selling point is longevity, although the terms and conditions of the guarantee are worth checking before purchase. The trade-off, as with any phone carrying such a large battery, is that battery capacity is only one part of the overall experience. A bigger battery can add weight and thickness, and buyers who prioritise a particularly slim and lightweight phone may find the design less compelling than someone whose first concern is endurance.The second major feature is less visible than the battery but arguably more interesting. The Y500’s Privacy System creates a separate space on the phone where users can store applications, photos, videos and files. That space can be secured separately using a password or fingerprint. The usefulness becomes apparent in a situation that is common in Kenya where someone might ask to borrow your phone. Maybe they want to make a call, check something online or send a WhatsApp message. Ordinarily, giving them the phone means trusting them not to wander into other applications or files.A separate private space provides another layer of control. Instead of having to think about what is visible on the main device before handing it over, users can keep selected information away from the main interface. It is not a replacement for good security practices, but it is a practical addition to a problem that smartphone manufacturers do not always address directly. It is also a feature that could prove particularly useful for people who use one phone for both personal and work purposes. Keeping certain files and applications separate can make the device easier to share without necessarily making everything on it accessible.In that sense, the Privacy System is more interesting than some of the headline specifications because it addresses an everyday behaviour rather than simply adding another number to a specification sheet.The Y500 comes with a 6.83-inch 1.5K AMOLED display, a 120Hz refresh rate and a claimed peak brightness of up to 5,000 nits. The large screen is well suited to video, gaming and general content consumption. AMOLED also brings the usual advantages associated with the technology, including strong contrast and deep blacks. The 120Hz refresh rate is useful beyond gaming. Scrolling through social media feeds, moving between menus and navigating webpages generally feels smoother than on a conventional 60Hz display.Furthermore, the Y500 carries IP68 and IP69 ratings for dust and water resistance and is marketed with military-grade protection. The IP ratings are particularly useful for a device intended to be used throughout the day. Phones are exposed to rain, accidental spills, dust and the occasional drop, and additional protection can reduce some of the anxiety that comes with carrying a smartphone everywhere.The phone also supports underwater photography, although this is one feature where users should pay close attention to the manufacturer’s guidance. Water resistance is not an invitation to treat a smartphone as an underwater camera indefinitely, and protection can change over the life of a device. Still, the combination of water and dust resistance makes sense alongside the phone’s focus on durability and long-term use.
Read briefing South Africa’s National Treasury and the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) have published a draft Crypto Asset Manual for Cross-Border Activities for public comment, setting out proposed rules for cross-border cryptocurrency transactions and the regulation of authorised Crypto Asset Service Providers (CASPs).The draft Crypto Manual complements the draft Capital Flow Management Regulations, published in April, and provides greater detail on how authorities intend to implement the regulations’ crypto asset provisions.The proposed framework would establish rules for the authorisation and supervision of CASPs, define when crypto transactions are considered cross-border transactions, and introduce requirements governing the externalisation and repatriation of crypto assets. It would also impose reporting, operational, governance and compliance obligations on authorised CASPs.Under the proposed rules, a crypto transaction would generally be considered cross-border when assets move between a South African authorised CASP and an offshore CASP, or from a domestic authorised CASP to a non-custodial wallet, resulting in a cross-border inflow or outflow. Transactions between domestic authorised CASPs would remain domestic and would not be reportable to the SARB’s Financial Surveillance Department (FinSurv).For South African resident individuals, crypto assets could be transferred from domestic custodial wallets to offshore custodial or non-custodial wallets, subject to existing exchange-control allowances. These include the ZAR2 million single discretionary allowance and the ZAR10 million foreign capital allowance per calendar year.The proposed framework takes a more restrictive position on resident entities. While companies could acquire and dispose of crypto assets domestically, they would not be permitted to conduct crypto transactions classified as imports or exports of capital. This would include certain transfers between South African and offshore wallets.CASPs facilitating transactions classified as capital imports or exports would require authorisation from FinSurv and would face enhanced reporting requirements, including monitoring transactions through South African custodial wallets and maintaining systems capable of reconciling transaction data with information submitted to the regulator.The proposals signal a further move by South African authorities to bring cross-border crypto activity within the country’s existing exchange-control and financial-surveillance framework, while creating clearer obligations for businesses operating in the crypto ecosystem.Interested parties have until 30 September 2026 to submit written comments to the SARB. National Treasury and the SARB said both the draft CFM Regulations and the Crypto Manual remain subject to further refinement following public comments and stakeholder engagement.
Read briefing Nigeria’s National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has signed the regulatory instruments underpinning the National Sovereign Cloud Initiative (NSCI), establishing unified rules, technical standards and an investment roadmap for cloud service providers, data centres, artificial intelligence infrastructure and government digital assets.Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, NITDA Director-General signed three instruments at a ceremony in Abuja on 4 August, with the agency publishing the documents for public download this week. Attendees included Nadungu Gagare, Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy; Rakiya Opemi Yusuf, Director of the Payment Systems Supervision Department at the Central Bank of Nigeria; and Ikechukwu Nnamani, Chief Executive Officer of Medallion Data Centres.The composition of the gathering highlighted the intersection between financial-sector regulation and commercial data-centre operations.“Today’s signing marks our transition from policy development to implementation,” Abdullahi said.The initiative rests on four instruments. The National Cloud Computing Guideline sets the overarching rules for cloud adoption, while the National Cloud Technical Guideline establishes the technical standards providers must meet.The National Digital Infrastructure Assurance Framework (NDIAF) provides the assurance mechanism through which compliance is verified rather than simply asserted. Alongside these frameworks, NITDA unveiled the National Cloud Investment Strategy, a roadmap for attracting investment into cloud infrastructure, data centres, sovereign computing and AI infrastructure.The initiative builds on the federal government’s existing Cloud First Policy. NITDA said the instruments were developed through consultations involving government agencies, indigenous cloud providers, global hyperscalers, data-centre operators and development partners — a stakeholder base that matters because the framework will apply across the ecosystem.NITDA plans to operationalise a national digital regulatory platform by October 2026, through which it will conduct the onboarding, technical assessment, certification and regulation of cloud and digital infrastructure providers operating in Nigeria.That moves the framework from a statement of principles towards an enforceable regulatory regime with a defined start date. Providers serving the Nigerian market — domestic operators and international hyperscalers alike — will be assessed and certified against the technical standards established by the new instruments.Oversight will sit with a Sovereign Cloud Governance Committee, which the agency said would be constituted within two weeks of the signing.The term is used loosely across the industry, but the instruments give it more specific content.A sovereign cloud framework typically addresses where data physically resides, which legal jurisdiction applies to the provider and its subcontractors, who can access data and under what authority, what assurance and audit rights the state retains, and what happens to workloads if a provider withdraws or a commercial relationship ends.Abdullahi framed cloud infrastructure as a strategic national asset underpinning digital government, financial services, artificial intelligence, digital public infrastructure, innovation and digital trade.The presence of the Central Bank’s payment systems supervisor at the signing also reflects that overlap. Nigeria’s financial sector already operates under data-localisation expectations, while cloud certification could provide a technical and institutional mechanism for enforcing those requirements.Abdullahi told the ceremony that the country should “position ourselves not to serve Nigeria alone, but to serve West and Central Africa,” describing Nigeria as already the digital gateway to West Africa and arguing that achieving the wider ambition depends on building the infrastructure first.The IMF’s recent assessment of AI in sub-Saharan Africa counted roughly 160 data centres on the continent — about 5.5 percent of the global total — with nearly half concentrated in South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya.By capacity rather than facility count, the Africa Data Centres Association’s 2026 economic report places Africa at around 0.6 percent of global capacity.Nigeria is among the three markets that account for most of the continent’s existing capacity. Whether certification can attract the investment needed to expand that capacity is the question the National Cloud Investment Strategy is intended to address.The sovereign cloud instruments are the second major framework NITDA has issued in a month, following the National Software Quality Assurance Framework, signed on 30 July. That framework will make independent third-party testing a precondition for federal software deployment from the second quarter of 2027.Both sit within a broader Nigerian regulatory build-out this year that includes the NIMC Act 2026, which designates the identity commission as the country’s root of digital trust, and an executive order placing telecommunications infrastructure under critical national information infrastructure protection.
Read briefing Kevin Kinyanjui, one of the pioneers of Kenya’s IT profession and among the most respected CIOs of his generation, has been laid to rest. He was 59.The CIO community joined his family and friends in celebrating his life at the Karura Community Chapel.For those who worked alongside him, and there are many, across four decades and half a dozen of Kenya’s largest institutions, the loss is heavy. Kinyanjui belonged to the small cohort who built the CIO role in this country before it had a name. At a time when technology reported somewhere below finance and had to argue its way into every conversation. He argued well, and he did it without drawing attention.Kinyanjui entered the industry in 1986 as a systems designer and developer at Agman Computer Services, moving two years later into IT management consultancy at PwC. The training ground, he would later say, that taught him to look at technology through the lens of the business rather than the machine. In consultancy he worked across sectors and across African markets, helping companies find efficiency in finance, payroll, human resources, supply chain, inventory, sales and customer service.His own account of the journey ran through the Management Consultancy Services Division in the Office of the President; Barclays Bank across East Africa, Botswana and the United Kingdom; Bamburi Cement, where he served as Group Information Systems Manager and CIO from 1995; Housing Finance, as IT Director and CIO; Kenya Airways; East African Breweries under Diageo; and Old Mutual Life Assurance Kenya, where he spent seven years. He held a qualification from the Gordon Institute of Business Science at the University of Pretoria.It was at Kenya Airways, which he joined in early 2004 as Information Systems Director and CIO, that his reputation was made. He held the role for 13 years — an extraordinary tenure in a job whose average lifespan is measured in single-digit years — through the airline’s expansion, its fleet renewal and its most turbulent commercial period.“He mentored many, a pioneer CIO. He was one of the first Navision experts, before rolling out Oracle ERP and other large systems. He refused to be called IT director because he was one of the first experts to realize that the emphasis should be on systems and business enablement, not technology. Hence Information Systems Director at KQ,” said Francis Kamuyu, a mentee.His brief there, as he described it to our publication, was disarmingly simple and rather demanding: to ensure the IT strategy supported the business strategy as well as it possibly could — across core operations, customer service and internal efficiency. In practice that meant an airline’s entire nervous system: reservations, departure control, baggage, loyalty, maintenance, revenue accounting, and the mobile channels he pushed the carrier towards early, when self-service was still a novelty in African aviation.The recognition followed. In 2013, his team won the Computer Society of Kenya’s award for use of ICT in the air transport sector. In 2014, Kenya Airways took the overall East African honour at the CIO100 Awards for its baggage-tracking system — and Kinyanjui was named CIO of the Year, the highest individual recognition in the East African technology profession at the CIO100 Awards and Symposium in Naivasha.Beyond his corporate roles, he built other things, including the Golden Valley Livestock Cooperative, a reminder that his interest in systems extended well past the server room.“He was like a five-star general in the military,” said Harry Hare, Chairman and Co-Founder of CIO Africa by dx5, who knew him across the length of his career. “Calm, always calm, whatever the crisis — and wherever it came from, it’s now here, and he’s in charge. He had that quiet authority that doesn’t need to be proclaimed. He never ran, always walked and worked purposefully, as if every move had been rehearsed to perfection. He didn’t perform, didn’t try to impress, he was always unfazed.”Anyone who has run technology for an airline will recognise what that composure was worth. Aviation systems fail in public and at speed; a departure control outage is not an inconvenience but a queue of stranded passengers and aircraft going nowhere. The temperament Kinyanjui brought to those hours — unhurried, deliberate, entirely without theatre — is the rarest quality in the profession and the least teachable.The generation Kinyanjui belonged to did something that is easy to overlook now, when Kenya’s technology sector is celebrated globally and its engineers are recruited worldwide. They established, institution by institution, that technology leadership was a business discipline rather than a support function — that the person running the systems belonged in the room where the strategy was set. They did it without playbooks, mostly without budgets, and often without much recognition beyond their own peer group.That peer group is precisely what the CIO community in East Africa became, and Kinyanjui was among the figures who gave it standing. Those who came after him — the chief digital officers and chief technology officers now sitting on executive committees across the region — inherited an authority he and his contemporaries built.
Read briefing Artificial intelligence is becoming embedded in the everyday lives of younger users, but for Generation Z, its role is moving beyond search, study and work. Increasingly, AI is also being treated as something closer to a conversational companion.New research by Kaspersky’s internal market research centre, based on responses from 7,200 people globally, suggests that Gen Z is using AI more frequently than other generations and is also developing a more personal relationship with the technology.Almost half of Gen Z respondents, 47%, said they use AI every day or almost every day, the highest proportion among the demographic groups surveyed. Their most common uses include searching for information, reported by 56% of respondents, followed by studying at 49%, generating ideas at 47% and work at 39%.The findings point to a generation that is becoming increasingly comfortable incorporating AI into activities that once relied almost entirely on traditional search engines, teachers, colleagues or other people.But the more notable shift may be happening outside these practical applications.According to the survey, 27% of Gen Z respondents said they use AI as a friend. That is higher than the proportion reported among other generations and suggests that conversational AI is beginning to occupy a different space in people’s digital lives.For some young users, the appeal appears to be the ease with which they can initiate a conversation. AI systems are available on demand, can respond conversationally and do not carry the same social dynamics as speaking to another person. This has also made them a place where some users are willing to discuss issues they might otherwise keep to themselves.The survey found that 28% of Gen Z respondents use AI to discuss personal issues they would rather not share with other people.That growing familiarity, however, introduces questions about how users understand the boundaries between an AI system and a human relationship.An AI chatbot may respond in a conversational and reassuring way, but it does not have the judgement, accountability or understanding of a human friend. Its responses can also be inaccurate or inappropriate. At the same time, the sense of privacy created by a one-to-one conversation may encourage users to disclose information they would normally keep confidential.This creates a challenge for a generation that is otherwise among the most comfortable with emerging digital technologies: familiarity with AI does not necessarily translate into safer use of it.Kaspersky’s research found that only 42% of Gen Z respondents consistently take protective measures when using AI services.Such measures include checking information generated by AI against reliable sources and avoiding the disclosure of confidential or sensitive information.A further 52% said they take such precautions only occasionally, while 6% do not take them at all.The figures highlight a potential gap between AI adoption and AI literacy. Young people may be quick to experiment with new AI tools and understand their capabilities, but that familiarity can also make it easier to overlook the risks associated with using them.The issue becomes more significant as AI moves into areas such as education, work, communication and personal decision-making.An inaccurate AI-generated response could affect a student’s academic work or influence an everyday decision. More concerning is the information that users may voluntarily enter into these systems. A conversation with an AI service could contain personal documents, financial information, private correspondence, passwords or other sensitive details.The principle is relatively straightforward: information entered into an AI service should not automatically be assumed to be confidential simply because the interaction feels private.This is particularly relevant as conversational AI becomes more sophisticated. The more natural the interaction becomes, the easier it can be for users to forget that they are communicating with a technology platform rather than a person.The growing use of AI does not necessarily mean that young users should avoid the technology. Instead, it points to the need for responsible AI habits to develop alongside technical familiarity.One of the most important habits is verification. AI-generated information can be useful, but important claims should be checked against reliable sources, particularly when the subject involves education, finance, legal matters, healthcare or other areas where inaccurate information can have significant consequences.Users should think carefully before entering passwords, payment information, identity documents, private correspondence or other confidential material into AI platforms. Understanding how an AI service collects, processes and stores information can also help users make more informed decisions about what they share.Cybersecurity risks also extend beyond the AI systems themselves. As AI becomes more popular, criminals can exploit that interest through phishing campaigns, fraudulent websites and fake AI applications designed to trick users into handing over information or downloading malicious software.
Read briefing Airtel Africa has switched on satellite-to-mobile service in the Democratic Republic of Congo, marking what telecom outlets across the continent are uniformly describing as the first time the technology has moved from pilot to full commercial deployment anywhere in Africa. The launch was unveiled in Kinshasa on August 14, 2026, through Airtel’s partnership with Elon Musk’s SpaceX, and puts the DRC ahead of every other Airtel Africa market in bringing satellite-backed mobile connectivity to ordinary customers.The service lets customers with compatible smartphones connect directly to Starlink’s satellite network in areas with no terrestrial mobile coverage, provided they have a clear view of the sky. No dish, no separate satellite terminal, and no specialised equipment is required. At this stage, the service supports light-data applications only, WhatsApp messaging and SMS, delivered through what is being described as the largest satellite-to-mobile constellation in the world, with roughly 650 satellites currently in orbit. To use it, customers need a compatible Long Term Evolution (LTE) Android smartphone and either an active Airtel DRC data bundle or data roaming switched on. Eligible customers can register through the MyAirtel App for a free 30-day introductory trial, after which access moves to paid data bundles. Apple device support is expected to follow later, and SpaceX has said the service already works across more than 100 device models.The timeline behind the launch stretches back several months. Airtel Africa and Starlink first announced their strategic partnership in December 2025. That was followed by a pilot of Starlink Mobile’s data and messaging services in Kenya in March 2026 — a test run only, never opened commercially to customers. The DRC is where that groundwork turned into an actual product people can buy, and Airtel and industry coverage alike frame it as the first commercial go-live for the initiative anywhere on the continent.Airtel DRC Managing Director Thierry Diasnoma has pointed to the country’s size and geography as the reason terrestrial infrastructure is so difficult to deploy economically in remote areas, positioning the satellite layer as a way to keep customers reachable where ground networks don’t extend. “The commercial launch of Starlink Mobile is an important step in extending essential connectivity across the DRC,” Diasnoma said. “Our country’s size and geography mean that many people live, work and travel beyond the reach of conventional mobile infrastructure.” In a separate statement, he added: “This service provides an additional layer of connectivity, helping customers remain reachable, informed and connected even in areas where terrestrial coverage is unavailable.”Airtel Africa CEO Sunil Taldar framed the launch as a company-wide milestone rather than a DRC-only story, tying it to the broader strategic bet on pairing ground infrastructure with satellite coverage. “The first-ever commercial launch of Starlink Mobile in Africa is a significant milestone for Airtel Africa through our partnership with SpaceX,” Taldar said. “By combining Airtel’s terrestrial network with Starlink’s satellite technology, we are extending essential connectivity beyond the limits of conventional mobile infrastructure. The DRC is leading this important development, and the experience gained here will support the progressive expansion of the service across our markets, subject to country-specific regulatory approvals.”Airtel has said the service is expected to be particularly useful for transport and logistics operators, humanitarian organisations, health workers, farmers, mining operations, and communities living, working or travelling beyond the reach of conventional mobile infrastructure. It could also serve as a backup communications channel during emergencies, natural disasters, or temporary disruptions to terrestrial networks.On where this leaves the DRC among Airtel’s markets: it is currently the only one where the service is commercially live. Kenya remains the sole other market touched by the initiative, and only as a test case, not a launch. Taldar has said the DRC deployment is meant to serve as a blueprint for gradual expansion across Airtel Africa’s 14 markets in sub-Saharan Africa, but he tied that explicitly to country-specific regulatory approvals, no next market or timeline has been named publicly yet.Starlink separately holds its own telecommunications licence in the DRC, granted by the Congolese Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (ARPTC) to the locally registered Starlink DRC S.A., which allows Starlink to operate as an internet service provider in its own right — a dish-based broadband product, unrelated to the Airtel-branded satellite-to-mobile service, and one that has been available in the country since around December 2025. That ISP licence marked Starlink’s entry into its 22nd African market for that separate business line.
Read briefing Africa’s digital economy is growing rapidly, but much of the technology powering it has been designed elsewhere. Dennis Maina, Founder and Managing Partner of Suss Ads, believes that needs to change. His vision is to build advertising technology that reflects the realities of African consumers and businesses while creating solutions capable of competing on a global stage.In this interview, Maina explores why Africa needs technology built around its own markets, data and consumer behaviours; how AI could reshape digital advertising and business decision-making; and why privacy, trust and first-party data will become increasingly important. He also shares his perspective on scaling across diverse African markets, building world-class technology talent and balancing bold innovation with commercial discipline.For Maina, the opportunity goes beyond advertising. It is about shifting Africa from being primarily a consumer of technology to becoming a place where technology is designed, built and exported to the world.Q: What gap in the market something global platforms and existing African players weren’t solving made you decide to build Suss? What was the moment you knew this needed to exist?A: My journey into advertising technology was unconventional. I grew up in Mukuru kwa Reuben, studied political science and began my career in research before moving into media and digital marketing. That path taught me to look at people, systems and markets before looking at technology. As I worked across African markets, I kept seeing the same contradiction: Africa was generating enormous consumer activity, yet many of the tools used to understand and reach African audiences had been designed somewhere else, around different realities.For advertisers, the immediate problem was fragmentation. The major digital platforms operated as walled gardens: a client could see what was happening inside one platform, but not the full campaign or customer journey. Data, inventory, payments and reporting lived in separate systems. Local publishers and channels were often underrepresented, and when something went wrong, support could feel distant from the market and the moment.The moment of conviction came when I realised that we were repeatedly solving the same problem manually for clients. We needed one place where an African business could plan, buy, measure and optimise media across channels, with local context and accountable support. If that infrastructure did not exist, we had to build it.That is how Suss Ads began in 2021 – not simply as another agency, but as an effort to build advertising technology from Africa, for Africa, and eventually for the world. We started with programmatic advertising and expanded through integrations to create a more unified view of media. The larger vision is to ensure that African consumers, publishers and businesses are represented by technology that understands their realities, rather than being reduced to assumptions imported from elsewhere.Q: Beyond the slogan, what tangible advantages does locally developed technology give enterprises operating on the continent and where have global platforms fallen short?A: The advantage of locally developed technology is not geography alone; it is proximity to the problem. When the people building the product operate in the same markets as the people using it, feedback travels faster, context becomes product input and support becomes accountable.That has tangible consequences. African enterprises operate across different currencies, payment habits, languages, regulations, levels of data availability and media ecosystems. A platform designed around credit cards, abundant datasets and centralised support will not automatically fit a market where mobile money is the preferred payment method, connectivity varies and a campaign may need to combine the open web, digital out-of-home, radio, connected television and messaging channels. Locally built technology can make those realities part of the architecture rather than treating them as exceptions.At Suss Ads, one of our greatest strengths is reachable, responsive expertise. We do not measure success by how much a client spends; we measure it by whether the advertising works and whether the client can see, understand and improve the outcome. When a campaign encounters a problem, our team understands both the technology and the local market well enough to act quickly.Global platforms have delivered extraordinary scale, but they can fall short when they treat Africa as one market or as an extension of a global playbook. Our approach is not to reject global technology. We connect it with African inventory, channels, payment systems and intelligence. The opportunity is to build the connective layer that gives enterprises global reach without losing local relevance.Q: As AI reshapes industries, where do you see the biggest opportunities for African businesses to leverage it over the next five years?
Read briefing Safaricom PLC is reshaping its Board with the appointment of two senior Vodacom Group executives, bringing additional expertise in fintech, corporate finance, human resources and organisational transformation to the telecommunications company.Safaricom has appointed Mariam Cassim and Matimba Mbungela as Non-Executive Directors, effective August 13, 2026, subject to regulatory approvals. The company also announced the resignation of James Ludlow and Dr. (Eng.) John Kipng’etich Mosonik from the Board, effective the same date.Cassim, the Chief Executive Officer, FinTech at Vodacom Group, brings experience spanning corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, commercial management, innovation and business development. Her appointment comes as financial services become increasingly central to Safaricom’s growth strategy, particularly through M-PESA and other digital financial services.Mbungela, Vodacom Group’s Chief Officer, Human Resources, has more than two decades of experience in human resources and organisational leadership, including regional roles covering talent, organisational effectiveness and change.His appointment comes as Safaricom and the wider telecommunications industry navigate rapid technological change, including AI adoption, new workforce requirements and digital transformation.The composition of the new Board therefore points to two areas that are likely to be increasingly important to Safaricom’s next phase of growth: digital financial services and organisational transformation.Cassim’s fintech and corporate finance background could strengthen the Board’s oversight of Safaricom’s expanding financial-services business, while Mbungela’s expertise could support the company’s approach to talent, leadership and organisational change as technology reshapes the workplace.The appointments also deepen the representation of Vodacom Group, Safaricom’s parent company, on the Board, potentially strengthening strategic alignment between the Kenyan operator and the wider Vodacom Group.Safaricom said the new directors bring extensive experience that will support the company’s continued growth and transformation.The company thanked Ludlow and Mosonik for their contributions to Board and committee meetings and wished them well in their future endeavours.
Read briefing Kenya is seeking to deepen its partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to accelerate digital transformation, with a focus on digital skills, cloud computing, artificial intelligence and connectivity.The discussions were held during an official visit by Hon. William Kabogo, Cabinet Secretary for ICT and the Digital Economy, to the AWS offices in Nairobi.Through the AWS re/Start programme, thousands of Kenyans have been trained in cloud computing, with the programme recording a 45 per cent placement rate among trained participants.Kabogo said Kenya is looking to scale such programmes by leveraging existing infrastructure, including Jitume Digital Hubs, while strengthening partnerships with universities and other tertiary institutions.“We must ensure that our young people are not only trained, but equipped with practical, industry-relevant skills that respond to the evolving demands of the digital economy,” Kabogo said.The CS said the government would continue working with AWS to advance digital skills development, e-government, AI and connectivity, particularly in underserved communities.The meeting was attended by Robin Njiru, Head of Public Sector, Sub-Saharan Africa at AWS; Eng. John Tanui, Principal Secretary for ICT and the Digital Economy; and Paul Okwiri, CEO of Konza Technopolis, alongside other senior government officials.
Read briefing Kaspersky’s latest survey highlights a protection gap between macOS and Windows-based devices. While macOS has long been regarded as the more secure operating system, 12 percent of its users reported malware infections compared with 9percent of Windows users. Moreover, only 35percent of macOS owners install dedicated security software, versus 42 percent of Windows users. According to Kaspersky’s latest global survey, Windows users report a higher adoption rate for most security measures, while macOS users show a modest advantage in a few privacy‑focused actions. At the same time, during the past year macOS users reported higher percentages than Windows users for a number of cybersecurity incidents.The largest gap in cybersecurity approaches appears in the habit of not opening suspicious emails or links, with 62 percent of Windows users following this practice compared to 51 percent of macOS users. What’s more, when it comes to cybersecurity software installation, macOS users are also lagging behind. While among Windows users 42 percent reported using digital‑life‑protection software, for macOS this rate is only 35percent, what Kaspersky security experts call a worryingly low figure.It is noteworthy that 12 percent of macOS respondents said they fell victim to phishing (fake emails, websites or messages) over the past year compared with 9percent of Windows users. Moreover, during this period macOS users faced more scams and investment frauds (16 percent vs 13 percent), privacy violations (11 percent vs 8 percent) and thefts of personal data (12 percent vs 7 percent).To counter these specific threats, robust anti-malware and anti-phishing protection is essential. Malware authors put a lot of effort into developing new, more powerful and stealthier versions of stealers, spies and other classes of malicious payloads, while relying on phishing techniques that allows them to get access to user’s data.
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