{"id":11318,"date":"2026-02-17T14:28:45","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T14:28:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/politics\/?p=11318"},"modified":"2026-02-17T14:50:39","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T14:50:39","slug":"unlocking-africas-ai-potential-lessons-from-an-industry-insider","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/politics\/2026\/02\/17\/unlocking-africas-ai-potential-lessons-from-an-industry-insider\/","title":{"rendered":"Unlocking Africa\u2019s AI Potential: Lessons From an Industry Insider"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Drawing on graduate Kojo Apeagyei\u2019s experience in Africa\u2019s AI sector, third year Joshua Bottomley examines how emerging technologies are reshaping development and opportunity across the continent.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

AI\u2019s relatively recent anointment as the world\u2019s preeminent automation and data broker has the potential to reach previously underutilised areas across the developing world. The quest for data to train AI is expanding into Africa, challenging the stereotypical assumption that surrounds novel technologies, that innovation, progress and adoption can only occur in America, Europe and Asia. Africa\u2019s utilisation of AI and recognition of potential for development on a national and continental level is in part fuelled by the contribution of Monday\u2019s alumni guest, Kojo Apeagyei, who joined us for our weekly \u2018Africa and the World\u2019 module.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After graduating from CCCU in 2015 with BSc Politics and IR, Kojo gained experience in the charity sector, working specifically with NGOs to supplement his degree with transferable skills and build expertise on domestic issues. His work with different organisations combined with his specialisation in African studies, led to a career change into the technology industry and AI, eventually securing employment as an AI consultant in Ghana\u2019s rising industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Kojo Apeagyei speaking to the Africa in the World Class in February 2026<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Restrained by ambitious aims and a shortage of coding and technology professionals, Ghana\u2019s 10-year AI strategy (2023 \u2013 2033)<\/a> aims to train one million coders to an employment standard in this period, highlighting the value of Kojo\u2019s work in the management of agricultural automation. For his part, Kojo spoke candidly about his role in the recruitment of aspiring AI professionals and the struggle and competition for African talent, in a continent all too aware of its vast potential and the opportunity AI presents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Africa\u2019s value as the biggest still untapped area of data for AI to learn from attracts international attention, as the non-digitised cultures of Africa prove enticing for monopolising new language models, for instance. The cultural and geographical proximity of African AI initiatives perfectly places Africa at the forefront of the opportunity to preserve endangered languages and cultures through AI. Despite the obvious embrace of AI in Africa, Kojo remained realistic about its limitations and existing challenges in Africa, such as corruption and the administrative and maintenance issues of AI hardware that may follow, a telling reminder that while new, progressive technologies may be transformational, they are only as effective as they can be trained and maintained. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Joshua Bottomley is a third year BSc International Relations student at CCCU.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Cover Photo Credit: Shutterstock<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Drawing on graduate Kojo Apeagyei\u2019s experience in Africa\u2019s AI sector, third year Joshua Bottomley examines how emerging technologies are reshaping development and opportunity across the continent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4437,"featured_media":11350,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2613,5,9,29],"tags":[2634,2734,2586,2521],"class_list":["post-11318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-commentary","category-events","category-students","tag-africa","tag-ai","tag-alumni","tag-graduates"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"authorName":"Laura Cashman","featuredImage":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/politics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/645\/2026\/02\/shutterstock_2700530821.jpg","postExcerpt":"Drawing on graduate Kojo Apeagyei\u2019s experience in Africa\u2019s AI sector, third year Joshua Bottomley examines how emerging technologies are reshaping development and opportunity across the continent.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4437"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11318"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11318\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11362,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11318\/revisions\/11362"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}